With the imminent release of Grand Theft Auto 6, I decided it was time to revisit what was probably the biggest game of my childhood: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In 2005, GTA: San Andreas was one of the first four games I bought for the PlayStation 2, alongside Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, and Devil May Cry 3. Since I can no longer enjoy that version of the game I played so many times as a kid, I picked up the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — Definitive Edition, which includes San Andreas, on Steam and booted up the game.
Also there was no way I was playing GTA: San Andreas on a controller. It's been 22 years since San Andreas was released. Back then, this game not only seemed like a technological revolution, with its gigantic map and endless list of things you could do, but also presented what felt like an urban epic.
We follow a street gang member named Carl “CJ” Johnson, and man, I still feel as if I know him like a childhood friend. He goes back to his hometown to learn more about his mother's death, just to find his friends from his old gang Grove Street Families trying to survive a gang war. The game begins with him being throw out of a police car after a quick demonstration of systemic violence.
To go to his old neighborhood, he grabs a nearby bike. The moment I got on the bike during the opening sequence and rode into Grove Street I was my 14-year-old self again — a more tired version of it, sure, but one that's still earning respect and kicking ass in style. But riding that bike also reminded me how roughly controlled Rockstar Games used to be.
Turning the bike feels like I'm trying to drive a truck, and running around with CJ while trying to aim drove me mad more often than not as the digital avatar insisted on abruptly changing direction. Sure, playing San Andreas after witnessing how much game development and technology in general evolved over the past two decades requires some concessions, but oh my god, returning to a 22-year-old Grand Theft Auto game really puts it into perspective. This contrast of loving the exploration and the characters while hating the controls came to a head in one mission: the “OG Loc” mission.“OG Loc” is one of the Big Smoke's missions, in which he, Sweet, and CJ go to the police station to pick up Jeffrey, an old friend of theirs.
In his endless search to enter the gangster life, Jeffrey assumed a new identity, “OG Loc,” and started committing small crimes, which led him to be arrested. When in jail, Jeffrey is sexually assaulted by another inmate who, according to him, stole his rhymes. A weekly cheat sheet to what you’ll eventually love to play.
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