Electronic Gaming Monthly: Upping The Ante

Don’t say Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is the final slice of the GTA PlayStation 2 trilogy. San Andreas is a trilogy all by itself: One state, three cities, and all the wilderness in between. But Rockstar’s latest epic not only replicates the West Coast’s most celebrated spots—it also tells an early ’90s thug tale hardcore enough to make the Hughes brothers blush.

On Oct. 19, the journey begins in the smogged-out Compton clone of Los Santos, winds through the hills of upscale San Francisco replica San Fierro, and leads to the sin and slot-machine din of Las Vegas facsimile Las Venturas. “This is the single biggest playing area in videogame history,” says Sam Houser, president of GTA publisher Rockstar. “I can say that with absolute confidence.”

We can say—with as much aplomb—that our cover story reveals more of this altered state than you’ll find anywhere else. It all begins with our exclusive tour of heretofore uncharted Las Venturas, a glitzy sprawl of Day-glo casinos that by itself raises the stakes in terms of the series’ selection of minigames. Later, we duck for cover in the turf wars of Los Santos, where main man Carl “CJ” Johnson conquers enemy gangland and recruits thugs, adding a sick twist of RISK-style gameplay to the series. Roll the dice, turn the page, and respect, fool.

This story is rated TL...

...for Thug Life, meaning you’re reading about a game that has you waging turf wars, breaking and entering, stealing wheels, dealing drugs, shooting the sheriff and the deputy, and a doing a dozen other dirty deeds you’d never try in real life. But then San Andreas isn’t real; it’s just a game—one that only adults can buy and play.

Welcome to Las Venturas

You first see it as a smudge of apocalyptic pink on the desert horizon. But cruise closer to Las Venturas on your soft-seated Wayfarer—San Andreas’ version of a classic luxury touring cycle from the early ’90s—and the smoldering simmer resolves into sprawling neon boulevards decked with nods to past GTAs. The famous waving neon cowboy figure you spy lighting the desert sky is not the animatronic cowpoke in the real Vegas—it’s Vice City’s very own southern-fried real-estate dealer Avery Carrington writ large in glowing light. Around the corner is a bigger-than-life billboard featuring the bigger-than-life endowments of the leggy Vice City porn star Candy Suxxx.

But Las Venturas’ sites and decor reflect not only series in-jokes but also real places in Sin City. The V-Rock Casino takes the place of Vegas’ off-the-Strip Hard Rock Cafe. Naturally, the V-Rock isn’t the only action in town. It was one of the many casinos we glimpsed, most of which were recognizable from our own forays down the Strip: Caligula’s Palace (Caesar’s Palace), the Visage (the Mirage), Pirates in Men’s Pants (Treasure Island), and the Pink Swan (the Flamingo), to name a few. The game mimics the Luxor, Excalibur, Circus Circus, Bally’s, and plenty of others, along with scores of other old-school casinos if you want to yank on one-armed bandits while kibitzing with blue hairs. “We’ve really worked on the details to make this city come alive,” says Rockstar PR guy Jeff Castaneda, “to capture the spirit of Las Vegas.” And while you can’t saunter into every casino you see in town, you can enter most of them.

Exactly why from-the-hood hero CJ ends up in this Vegas-inspired metropolis is a plot twist Rockstar won’t reveal. Nor will the developers come right out and say that CJ can buy and run his own casino (although Rockstar reps exchanged a knowing smile when we asked about the possibility). We know Las Venturas is the last of three cities he’ll visit in the game (with Los Santos first and San Fierro second). And we certainly know what CJ can do here when not completing the story missions: “The casinos are like nothing we’ve ever done in Grand Theft Auto,” Castaneda says. “There are tons of games you can play.” Among them, blackjack, craps (best odds in the house!), slots, roulette, video poker, and even wheel of fortune.

While different casinos have different gaming options, one thing is consistent: You’re not going to be a high roller unless you’ve earned enough respect—a major ingredient in your character’s development this time. You’ll get skill points for gambling, just like you do for gunning down rival gangs earlier in the game. Your max bet is based on that skill. If you gamble like Tom Cruise in Rain Man, you’ll get access to the high-rollers’ tables, easy. If you stick with minimum bets, you’ll be stuck with the table of unshowered truck drivers from Kansas. So if you want to drop the hammer and put 10 large on the roulette wheel on lucky number 47, you’ll have to get the attention and respect of the guys pulling the strings.

And when it comes to the look of the casinos...well, it was a dirty job, but developer Rockstar North had to do it, racking up mondo frequent-flier miles on research trips to the real Vegas to capture the city’s sights, sounds, and surliness. Consequently, you’ll find drunken multicultural Elvis impersonators itching for fights in the gambling pits. Mosey into Caligula’s Palace and you’ll be treated to the ensnaring ring-ding-ding of casino noise before your Timberlands hit the pillow-soft plush carpet. But it’s more than the atmosphere that’ll keep you inside, away from the sun-dappled sidewalks, the pestering big-bellied tourists, and the mirage-causing heat. It’s also the sculpted interior. You’ll find marble walls, detailed carpeting, dazzling chandeliers, huge archways, and sky-scraping ceilings. The presentation is as epic, as breathtaking, as over-the-top, and as magnificently tacky as a bona fide casino’s.

And much like its real-life counterpart, Las Venturas never rolls up its sidewalks; you can belly up to the blackjack table any time, day or night. It’s just one of the many new diversions that has Rockstar claiming that San Andreas will take persistent gamers more than 150 hours to complete. “It totally depends on your style,” Houser says. “If all you want to do is play missions really quickly, it will take a long time because there are a lot of them. But if you want to take your time, the game could never end, in some ways.”

Welcome to San Fierro

Unfortunately, our tour of Las Venturas does have to end—time to head north to San Fierro, based on San Francisco and the second town CJ visits in the game. While he’ll be clear of his hometown hood of Los Santos and all of its Crenshaw Blvd.–style gangbanging, he’ll still find plenty of Triad-gang thug life in the scenically pristine San Fierro. By far the prettiest municipality in the GTA universe, San Fierro features Victorian houses, rolling hills, a switchbacking Lombard Street shout-out, and carbon copies of the massive Golden Gate and Bay bridges. “San Fierro was built to be more driving focused, because of the hills,” Houser says. “It’s all about car chases and more vehicle-based stuff.”

Take some downtime from driving, however, and San Fierro is the perfect setting in which to brush up on your hand-to-hand. CJ can now do more than standard right-left-right fisticuff combos. Scoot to the Cobra Martial Arts Dojo in Chinatown and he’ll get schooled by a sensei in the fine art of whoop-ass. Learn roundhouse kicks, drop-heel kicks (perfect for groin shots), and running front kicks. The new combos will have you pocketing your pistol in lieu of brass knuckles or a sword—all in the name of well-rounded thugdom.

After tenderizing the dojo’s human punching bags, you can head to another SF hotspot: Otto’s Autos. Because no self-respecting hood should trolley around the streets of Hashbury during the Hashbury & Garcia “Joint Festival” in a run-of-the-mill hoopty, you’ll want to meet up with your homey, Cesar, the emperor of car customization. Otto’s is a paradise for DUB Magazine subscribers and 2 Fast 2 Furious fanboys. Here you can modify any ride in the game, tweaking paint jobs (flames, anyone?) or rearranging the front bumper, rear bumper, exhaust pipes, spoiler, and rims. You can even install nitrous for supersonic getaways.

Different cars allow for different mods, making Otto’s a frequent stop. Of course, all of these mods’ll cost you, but a few muggings in San Fierro’s rip-off of the Presidio will fatten that wallet.

Welcome to Los Santos

Continued from page 1.

It seems right to end our tour of San Andreas’ three cities in the town where the game begins: Los Santos, a parody of smoggy L.A. Just don’t expect the welcome wagon to roll up—home ain’t no heyday, homey. CJ’s mom’s funeral is interrupted by a drive-by, his hood is teeming with more crack than a late-night Skinemax classic, and his local gang is in disarray. It’s time to take the power back—but he can’t do it alone.

If you’re going to be a leader with followers, start by earning respect. No thug wants to take orders from some punk-ass apprentice. Put the finishing touches on a few missions, bust caps in some rival gangsters, and big up your tag by spray painting it around town. Then, when you’re ready, take over some territory. Fo’ real. You can now stomp over to a rival’s region, start blasting fools, and make that gang’s land your own. Nothing’s easy about engaging in a turf war, though; you’ll have to survive wave after wave of your rivals’ attacks. Survive and you’ll expand your posse’s territory. “The gangster stuff in this game is something we’ve just never done before,” says Houser.

After a takeover, homies from your local clan, the Orange Grove Families, will start loitering on street corners while wearing the OGF colors. If the opposition (cops, gangs) rolls into your hood, your dawgs will start shooting. It’s faultless backup if you’ve got the po-po on your tail during a mission. Of course, newly copped turf must be defended—at some point there’s gonna be young blood from a competing gang wanting to make a name for himself.

Still, you won’t have to defend your area alone. With enough respect you can recruit your own personal posse. Step up to any perp wearing like-colored gear and ask him to join the fight. If your rep’s high enough, he’ll pledge allegiance by throwing up the Orange Grove Families gang sign. If your rep’s too low, he’ll ignore your request, tip back his 40, and guzzle.

The great outdoors

When urban cats step outside of the city limits in San Andreas, it’s a whole new world. Exit off the Los Santos Mulholland interchange (a nod to the L.A. freeway system’s cloverleafs), head into the outskirts and beyond, and get ready for a fright. Fresh air, scores of trees, unsullied grass, dirt roads, small towns, one-seat tractors, combine harvesters—that shizzle’s scary! Especially when the jingle jangle of Deliverance smarts your tympanic. But at least you won’t have load times busting the mood. In Vice City, crossing bridges means a 10-second blackout—one you won’t suffer from when driving through the state of San Andreas. Ever.

The outlandish size of the wilderness makes it a perfect hiding place when the law-dogs are hot on your tail. Going from city to city can take anywhere from five to 10 minutes on the highway, but if you want to bumble around on the varied topography (including deserts, forests, and mountains), you can stunt jump for hours without even seeing the haze of the inner-city smog. Best advice: Swindle the new and improved Dodo and wing it from one end of the state to the other. Just be sure to head back to your hometown when you’ve got some dough.

“The good thing about Los Santos is you start there and it’s one vibe, but then you come back later in the game and you’re much more Hollywood,” Houser says. “To see a city from two sides—after spending weeks of real time away from it—is a very cool thing.”

Name: Carl “CJ” Johnson

His role: Main character

His deal: After a five-year hiatus in Liberty City, CJ returns home to Los Santos to avenge the death of his mom and build a street-gang empire.

Name: Sweet Johnson

His role: CJ’s brother

His deal: Sweet still blames CJ for the death of their youngest brother, Brian, five years ago. Now he has to reconcile with CJ and help lead the Orange Grove Families back to prominence.

Name: Cesar Vialpando

His role: Boyfriend of CJ’s sister, Kendl

His deal: A proud member of the Varrios Los Aztecas gang from the south side of Los Santos, Cesar’s all about hot rods. He often rolls with CJ.

Lady killer: While brothel rumors persist, the only thing we know for sure is that the snappier CJ dresses and the more cash he flashes, the more the ladies love him.

New in Town: Respect

Respect in San Andreas is everything—a vital new character trait that you can tweak and boost throughout the game. It decides who’ll follow you, what story lines are open to you, what you can buy, and what casino tables you can sit at. How do you earn it? It all depends on the quality and color of your clothing, your physique (flab is bad), your haircut, whom you’ve capped, whom you’ve robbed, what areas you’ve taken over, and other factors. Without respect, you’re going nowhere.

Every girl’s crazy ’bout a sharp-dressed thug.

New in Town: Completing the Look

Sporting a crusty wife-beater and a nappy ’do just ain’t right, and your respect will suffer until you clean up your act and your wardrobe. Stop by a barbershop to get your top cropped. Hairstyles vary in each city, but in Los Santos, you can score an Afro, Jheri curl, or cornrows—or go hair free. As for new duds, you’ll find lots of stores and clothing options, depending on what you can afford. Victim, our personal blood-stained favorite, is in Los Santos’ trendiest area.

New in Town: Shooting Straight

Mowin’ down haters in the cities of San Andreas is a blast. The new targeting system lets you pick off perps when you’re on the move, and you can even roll to dodge cross fire. If you’re in desperate need of a kill shot, you can crouch down for accuracy. The more death you dish out, the more accurate you’ll be, since successful kills build your shooting skills. If stealth is your game, you can even pull off silent kills if you master the fine art of tiptoeing.

New in Town: Shaping Up

Eating helps you stay sharp and builds your new stamina bar, but don’t go hog wild on the fast food. Overeat all the time and your body will go Pillsbury Doughboy (binge too much in one sitting and you’ll even puke). To keep your weight sensible, feel the burn while pedaling your BMX, shoot some hoops, or hit the gym. At San Fierro’s dojo, you can hop on a workout cycle or pump iron. The latter is a sort of minigame, requiring you to hit buttons Track & Field–style to complete reps.

New in Town: Get up and Get Down

In previous GTAs, you felt like you had freedom. But while carving up innocents with a chain saw and jackin’ rides offered a nice approximation of autonomy, you still suffered plenty of restrictions. In San Andreas, all bets are off. You can swim and dive down into the depths. You can climb fences and walls and clamber onto the tops of boxes. Grab a Dodo airplane and you can soar three times higher than in Vice City. How’s that for a state of independence?

New in Town: Grand Theft Residence

Forget O-Dawg-style liquor store holdups in San Andreas—now you can rob someone’s house! The latest in GTA side missions, burglary has you heisting a moving truck, then cleaning out some poor sap’s crib. Grab a ski mask from a local store to enter full-time stealth mode and bring a bat or a knife to keep the killing quiet if anyone’s home. Check all the rooms to gank the most valuable, easiest-to-carry items, like TVs and stereos. Then go sell it all!

Street cleaner: As CJ rides up the respect ladder, young gangstas like this one will swear allegiance to the Orange Grove Families and help CJ out during missions.