Both Play Magazine UK and Official Playstation 2 Magazine Australia have done new San Andreas previews. The bulleted lists strike again!
From Play UK:
- R* reckon that it takes 100 hours to complete the main story missions.
- Cop helicopter fly around the cities, searching for criminals even when you havent got any stars.
- Kung fu, boxing street fighting can all be learnt, once you have learnt them you can use them and mix and match between them.
- Possibility of hot dog R3 missions!
- The Gant bridge is SO big that the weather can be different on both ends.
- you have 360 degree camera control. The faster you go the less rotation is allowed – eg. go fast and you can only look left and right.
- Los Santos property costs a lot of money.
- You can drive a combine harvester into the city.
- No 2 buildings are the same (with the exception of a selection of houses in estates which would look the same in real life).
- CJ can vault over ledges one handed.
Now for the Australians, the Australian release date has been confirmed by the magazine’s editors as November 12, 2004. The other details from the magazine..
- The bulldozer will be steered by the rear wheels rather than the front.
- The riding lawnmower is the slowest vehicle in the game.
- Along with the already-confirmed katana, the golf club makes a return, too.
- The BMX and mountain bike are different in that the mountain bike has gears that are chosen automatically. Manual gear shifting is not yet confirmed.
- Just as you could stop criminals from running from the cops in Vice City and get $50, you can do the same except with putting out fires in San Andreas. The money reward amount is not confirmed.
- One animation improvement is that Carl will not only change his stance with each new weapon, but he will also change stances with the same weapon as his skills increase with that particular weapon.
- One of the ways that aircraft are more improved in San Andreas is that the crop duster can preform maneuvers such as barrel rolls, hammerheads and loops.
- Carl automatically targets enemies heads when he is at the correct range.
- The first place you find the desert eagle and the shovel is in the desert.
- Characters will respond to noise (gunshots, explosions) more realistically.
- Carl can lock onto anyone in the game (even if he isn’t holding a weapon).
- Some of the time, you will be able to block (depends on the weapon that Carl is holding).
- Fires will play a bigger role than you might think. Through explosions from cars, grenades or even molotov cocktails, you could set fire to a huge portion of the map. This includes buildings, countryside and more. This can be used to your advantage, of course.
- You will be able to fire at enemies when backing up on your motorcycle or bike.
- A plough is in the game and Carl can use it to smash through buildings, flip cars and cause chaos all over San Andreas.
- There are several environmental objects that you will be able to destroy: milk crates, chain-linked and barb-wire fences, several types of plants, couches, chairs, other furniture and etc.
Thanks to dave100 at the Gamespot forums for the Play UK details, xeroer at edgeforums for the OPS2M Australia details, and a big thanks to Jordan from our partnersite PlanetGrandTheftAuto.