GTA: San Andreas - 2026 REVIEW

 Don’t be no Busta man.

By Zay

GTA: San Andreas is the pursuit of what it means to be true to yourself and the ones you care for. While the game is still the traditional chaotic fun the GTA Series is known for, it’s the writing and Open World that has helped it stand the test of time over 20 years later. 

STORY

San Andreas is an engaging story about what it means to be authentic to your surroundings. CJ is one of Rockstar’s best characters, not because he goes on a deep philosophical mental journey, but because he’s pretty self aware with his actions. The game does not pretend he is a great guy, he’s honestly a psychopath and with that honesty brings amazing characters and narrative moments. 

Every single major side character introduced has a part in the story of San Andreas. They are not simple canon fodder as their own stories drive the main plot forward. The game does an amazing job not only exceeding your expectations, but subverting them. 

You would think the game is just a well done tribute to early 90s hood films akin to Vice City being a tribute to classic 80s movies and shows. But no, just only after the first act does San Andreas turn into a state trotting adventure about learning what it means to not lose yourself. 

The writing is done by the legendary Dan Houser and industry leading legend DJ Pooh. It is authentic and humorous with all the characters. Big Smoke, Ryder and Sweet all feel like real people from that side of Los Angeles. And other characters like Truth, Wu Zi and even Toreno feel sharply written for their demographic as well. 

What I love about the story of San Andreas is that it teaches a lesson. The major lesson is that status means nothing if you are not integral to yourself, quite simply. CJ learns this exact lesson by the end of the game, and he understands why he was seen as a “busta”. This is why he chooses to go after Big Smoke alone and it just hits every time when he admits to Sweet that what he did wasn’t right. It’s just another moment of great writing in a series led by it. 

GAMEPLAY 

GTA: San Andreas innovates on GTAIII and GTA:VC in so many ways. The driving is the best of the 3D trilogy with every car feeling different with suspension. The gunplay is improved as well with the removal of a first person reticle for assault rifles to allow manual or lock on abilities. But the biggest innovation for San Andreas is the RPG elements and customization. 

In Vice City you could change the appearance of Tommy with outfit tokens but that was about it. In San Andreas you can change CJ’s muscle, hair, body fat, individual clothing pieces, accessories and so much more. The amount of options for a game released in 2004 is unprecedented and still holds up for today. There’s also more incentive to practice with your weapons as there are now skill levels that affect how you handle weapons and how you use them. 

Missions have been majorly improved design wise from the prior titles, with less reliance on AI companions to slow your pace down. Looking at you Lance in Cop Land. In addition to the missions themselves not taking too long most of the time, which can make you forget this game has over 100 missions. You also have a decent amount of freedom in them as well and won’t be plastered with ‘Mission Failed’ for going off the beaten path. Yea some missions can be a little difficult for today’s standards, but after beating Grand Theft Auto III they are nothing in comparison. 

Now this is a 22 year old game so there are outdated elements. The UI for selecting customization options, with CJ manually having to enter and exit the changing room every time you want to change an item. As well as the aiming itself not allowing you shoot while walking backwards, you just shoot up in the air like it’s Red Dead Redemption 2. The original game has no checkpoints and that could be frustrating in certain missions that could be too long. Difficultly wise this game is much easier than GTAIII but maybe a little harder than Vice City. Even though the weapon skill level system was just praised, if you upgrade pistols and small machine guns to the max you are able to dual wield them but cannot downgrade or turn off the option, leaving me to prefer to not use them. 

OPEN WORLD 

This is Rockstar’s magnum opus when it comes to map design. San Andreas truly feels like a state even though the map is far smaller than Southern San Andreas from Grand Theft Auto V. What sells the illusion of a bigger map are how the roads are placed and the ability to travel to three cities. As well as multiple interiors that you can enter that are not even present on the map. San Fierro and Las Venturas are not North and South from each other so this makes the surrounding regions feel even bigger. Between each major city, there are multiple small towns that packs the density and avoids the map from feeling empty. Each major area includes their own weather and unique skybox like sandstorms and the purple sky in Venturas. There is not a single corner in this game that doesn’t feel touched upon, it all just works. 

You are also rewarded for exploring the map and partaking in activities. If you complete all the firefighter missions you are immune to fire and if you complete all the paramedic missions then you get maximum health. Then you have secret vehicles that have permanent spawn rates in the cities and higher level weapons that you wouldn’t normally unlock until you progress the story. Taking your time with the Open World will assist with making missions far simpler and will force you to learn the mechanics of the game. 

This is the last Grand Theft Auto Game to allow you to manually purchase living properties in the story mode. Not only are these interiors really nice and detailed but they give you multiple locations to save in a game that does not have auto save mechanics. You can buy beach houses, hotel rooms and trailer parks. Again the amount of options is just insane for a two decade old game. 

There is so much to do in this game, and the best part of it is that it is not told to you in objective markers or tutorials. There are gas stations and bars you can enter with their own activities within them. Clubs are also not on the map and when you enter those interiors you can partake in the dance mini game you saw in story mode. Completing dances unlock new tracks and harder rhythm  games. 

Rockstar has always done an excellent job at  culture work and the three major cities of San Andreas are no exception. Los Santos is a great blend of poverty in the hood blocks and the higher class towards downtown. 

San Fierro and Las Venturas are even more interesting because these two cities have not been seen in the HD iteration of Grand Theft Auto. Sure they have been mentioned, but we have no idea what they could even look like. San Fierro feels a lot more modern in concept than Los Santos, and has a more blue tone alluding to that design choice. Las Venturas is surrounded by a desert biome and is absolutely authentic to Las Vegas. The city is home to the game’s packed casinos with multiple gambling games you can master. Just be sure to not get too greedy as rockstar even thought about sending hitmen after you if don’t pay your debts. Just another example of how the world is integrated into the gameplay, and it is just so cool man. 

FINAL VERDICT 

Arguably Rockstar’s greatest game of all time. Over two decades later and this special piece of entertainment still lives on today. Grand Theft Auto VI is fast approaching, and I can only hope it will be the HD version of this monumental achievement 

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a timeless masterpiece.

GTA: San Andreas - 10/10 - Masterpiece