GTA: San Andreas for Windows remains one of the best games of the original Grand Theft Auto trilogy. You will find everything you need: an exciting protagonist, a fascinating story, gangs, shootouts, car chases, and bike rides. This game has become a living legend.

Storyline

The story of Carl Johnson (CJ), the protagonist of San Andreas, is epic, as in all games from Rockstar North. CJ escaped from Los Santos, his hometown, five years ago to Liberty City. Now he has to go back because of his mother's death. After landing at the airport, our hero immediately gets into a whirlpool of unpleasant events: corrupt cops accuse him of killing his colleague and are trying to force him to "cooperate," there is discord and scandal in the family, the former CJ's gang has lost all respect in the streets, and even his brother is not very happy to meet him.

What should an ordinary guy do in such a situation, with nothing behind him but a family barn wreck on the edge of the feral ghetto? Whine and get drunk to a beastly state? Of course not! Carl is the character you have never dreamt you would be. He swears obscenely but grits his teeth, struggle with circumstances and defeats them successfully. At the same time, he does not look like the silly average computer game hero who is used to meeting any threat with a kick of his boot. Carl is afraid of corrupt cops Tenpenny and Pulaski (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Penn), is worried about his brother, and is always ready to help his friends. The part of CJ's life shown in San Andreas has so many events that they would be enough not even for a movie but for an entire TV series.

Versatility and various possibilities

The stuffy ghetto where CJ's family lives, the cold and impregnable skyscrapers of San Fierro, and the alluring lights of San Venturas — the developers show the most unsightly aspects of life in the United States. The drug trade, corrupt police officers, the injustice of the government, street prostitution, thieves who rob old ladies, and dirty shantytowns — that's all San Andreas is about.

Interesting characters

The perfectly developed personalities of all the characters in the story are a particular point in the list of the advantages of San Andreas. They fill the game world with life and Carl Johnson's existence with meaning. The duo of corrupt cops, consistently high hippie bro, a couple of British musicians, and eccentric ladies who prefer S&M to all pleasures of life... The boss of the Chinese Triad can be called the most memorable NPC of all time.

In San Andreas, even the crowd (random people on the streets) are not opposed to chatting. They make caustic comments about CJ's appearance, say bad words if you hit their cars, want to sell you drugs or punch you in your face, and do other unpleasant things. However, Carl responds to their behavior with actions and words.

A vast open world

The scale first catches your eye when you start Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The game world has not just become wider but has grown and gotten many small details. Instead of one city, there is an entire state with three megacities: Los Santos (Los Angeles was the actual prototype), San Fierro (San Francisco), and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Each city is unique and nearly identical to its real-life counterpart in architecture, style, and atmosphere. The San Andreas metropolitan areas are as vast as Vice City. Moreover, there are expansive suburbs with forests, mountains, fields, and small country towns.

However, roads are not enough for the developers. The hero of GTA for Windows is a real-man voyager who feels comfortable on the ground, in the water, or in the air. It opens up new areas for exploration and ways to kill your free time. You can ride a bicycle to the airport, jump into a plane, take off, scaring the crows in the neighborhood, do a couple of aerobatics, then land on a bridge, parachute out, plunge aboard a luxury yacht, drive out to sea to meet the dawn, and after meeting, jump overboard, swim two hundred meters, and drown. Except you can't go to Mars.

Do whatever you want

The plot of San Andreas is not limited to gangster showdowns and scandals with the police. In Carl's lifepath, he has to solve many significant problems. You can tie an Italian gangster to the hood of your car and ride him in the oncoming traffic lane until he screams in fear. You can burn down a cannabis field with a flamethrower and evade the police. You can steal the newest fighter jet off an aircraft carrier. In other words, you can do whatever you want. The tireless imagination of the developers throws Carl from one end of San Andreas to the other, forcing him to act as James Bond, Lara Croft, or even Casanova.

But the most exciting things happen outside the main missions: in local bars, remote villages, and the streets of large cities. You can find something interesting everywhere. There are more mini-games in San Andreas than in the previous series. Those who want to throw away money earned through other people's blood and sweat bring them to the casino (where there are poker, blackjack, roulette, wheel of fortune, and the traditional one-armed bandits), the races, or the billiard room. Nostalgic old-school gamers can go to the slot machines to drop a faint tear seeing two-dimensional shooters of the 80s. Those who prefer to relax behind the wheel can get a job as a police officer, taxi driver, delivery man, or even a pimp. Fans of mindless time-killing entertainment can climb on a tower crane and try to use a magnet to lift the cars passing far below into the air.

You can also dance in clubs, search for places where something isn't nailed down (CJ, who is sneaking around someone else's house with a stolen TV in his hands, is a scene that is worth to be seen), race through rough terrain, hunt for power-ups scattered everywhere, and so on.

That's just a tiny part of all kinds of entertainment. Want to change the appearance of the main character? Choose everything you want: a hairstyle, hair color, clothes, watches, and jewelry. Moreover, the complexion of the character has also changed in San Andreas. This is done not by a mouse click but with the help of long training or the lack thereof. Spending evenings in the gym, raising the bar, and winding kilometers on the exercise bike? Soon enough, CJ will learn to punch his enemies harder and become more durable. Time spent in the gym positively impacts his appearance: his body becomes strong and muscular, so the girls around him will appreciate this. If your character prefers hamburgers and pizza instead of doing sports, he can forget about a good-looking figure and biceps.