“To a certain degree, it’s almost impossible for a game as highly anticipated as GTA: San Andreas to fail. The appearance of a single screenshot, detail, or even the smallest rumor engenders a feeding frenzy you don’t often see outside of a school of starved piranha.”
Gamespot.com
When previews come, they certainly do come big. Gamespot has spared no expense in treating us to one heck of a preview this time round.
Much like the IGN preview that we reported on earlier today, this huge 6-page preview looks at some of the new features in San Andreas – as well as the bits improved upon from previous games.
From weight training to amazing new visuals, here’s some of the highlights of this immense preview:
- Carjacking has gotten a whole lot tougher. No longer will civilians just give up their wheels to a wandering thug.
- In response to this, CJ has a variety of ways to pursuade drivers into surrendering their vehicle. The most interesting method so far? Smashing the guy’s head off of the dashboard. It seems to work quite well.
- Missions will be more open-ended then in Vice or GTA3, blurring the lines between when you’re on a mission and when you’re not.
- Stats have a whole lot more meaning now. The more you shoot, the more accurate you become. The more you find yourself behind the wheel of a car, the more skilled you become at driving, and so on.
- In addition to building up strength at the gym, you can also learn new fighting techniques (think True Crime). Depending on where you are in SA, the fighting techniques you learn will vary.
- Speaking of fighting, you can now lock onto opponents during hand-to-hand combat. This makes it much easier to bust up a few faces and break a few jawbones… not that we approve of that sort of behaviour, of course. CJ can now block attacks in melee combat, as well.
- The Police chopper searchlight now serves a much more important purpose. When shining down on you, you’ll find that the searchlight impaires your ability to see clearly, making it harder to drive and shoot.
- San Andreas will include tons of licensed music, similar to Vice City. You can expect more of it, too, since there are quite a few radio stations available throughout SA.
In addition to this massive article, Gamespot has also released some astounding new screenshots.
Related Links: GameSpot.com Article, GameSpot.com SA Screenshots