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Okay, it’s been half a year since San Andreas busted up the PS2 scene, and the dust has long since settled on the hype surrounding the game, but it has finally hit the Xbox (reviewed) and PC (review coming soon). Xbox gamers had to wait a lot longer for III and <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Vice City last year, but the wait earned them the best versions of the great titles. Improved graphics, shortened load times and custom radio stations were the highlights of the Xbox GTA party last time, but what does Rockstar have for us now?

By now, if you have any interest in Grand Theft Auto at all, you know what San Andreas is all about: Carl “CJ” Johnson comes home after a long absence when he finds out his mother has been killed. Within the first hour of gameplay, you have crooked cops, Carl reforming the gang he left, car jacking, breaking and entering, theft, homicide… let’s just say San Andreas deserves its M rating.

Again, if you have any interest in San Andreas, you already know pretty much everything there is to know, so I’m not going to bother going in-depth on gameplay elements right away. I’m simply going to get straight to the point, which is: what’s different in the Xbox version?

The obvious is the visual elements in the game. The draw distance in the PS2 version was good, but it’s better on the Xbox. You can see further, and you have less instances of pop up problems. The game supports 16:9 widescreen as well, for those with the TVs to utilize it. The games textures are sharper, making it easier to read street signs and billboards, but the in-game models themselves haven’t really seen much of a boost in terms of polygon count, or clarity. Yes, the Xbox version looks better than PS2, and it’s an obvious difference, but it’s not a significant one. Where you could immediately notice a strong difference between GTA III on PS2 and Xbox, the difference is more subtle for San Andreas.

The best improvement, in my opinion, from the previous GTA games on Xbox was the ability to use custom soundtracks to create your own radio station. This was especially great in Vice City, because I absolutely hated all the music in that game. San Andreas has a massive soundtrack that dwarfs even the huge Vice City, and it’s sound is extremely varied, offering up some of the best music you can find from the early 90’s period. You can almost always find something you’ll enjoy listening to in San Andreas, but the option to rip your favorite songs and listen to them as you run down rival gang members or pull a drive by with 3 of your mates in a car is something far more rewarding. Unfortunately, the custom radio station in San Andreas selects tracks randomly from all your soundtracks, instead of allowing you to switch which soundtrack to play from like in Vice and III. It’s not horrible, but I have soundtracks on my Xbox that I make for specific games, and just don’t fit the feel and atmosphere of San Andreas. The inability to skip tracks on the custom station is another small downfall.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s touch on what makes San Andreas worth your money 6 months after its release:

First off, San Andreas itself is absolutely huge. I know you’ve heard it a thousand times from as many people, but it is. Each city (San Andreas is actually a state) is about the size of the entirety of Vice City. Yeah, it’s big. Not only is it big, but the cities all feel different, and have very distinct visual flairs to them, earning themselves personalities that you will come to familiarize yourself with through the course of the massive game.

When I say massive, I mean ‘you’re never going to 100% this game’ massive. After a good 60-70 hours, you still won’t have seen and done everything in San Andreas. You’ll have done a fair bit, but you won’t be anywhere near done. If you know someone claiming to have 100% on San Andreas, they are one of two things: a liar or someone with no girlfriend and way too much time on their hands, it’s that simple. The game is just too massive.

The gameplay in previous GTA games has all been very straightforward. San Andreas breaks that trend with the addition of Manhunt-like stealth gameplay that sees you breaking and entering random homes for items to sell for some extra cash. You can fly planes, ride BMX bikes, boats, cars, trucks… the list goes on and on. Another great addition (that should have been implemented in III so far as I’m concerned) is CJs ability to swim! Yes, swim! You will no longer sit swearing at your television after diving your car into the river trying to escape the police after pulling off a massive killing spree! Simply swim away until the Coast Guard meets up with you and peppers your body with bullets! Of course, you can also jack boats from in the water, so death is not always imminent when swimming. There’s also the chance that you can make it back to shore before you get slaughtered too.

Customizing CJ is fun, from choosing his clothing to his haircut, to deciding if he’ll be fit, muscular, or a fat slob. NPC characters even treat him differently depending on his physical condition! Rockstar left no stone unturned in San Andreas. Keeping your character in the shape you want isn’t all that taxing, either, which is great. Simply spend 5 minutes every in-game day at the gym to buff your guy up, or pig out on fast food to pork him out. It’s totally up to you, but know that gameplay is directly affected one way or the other. If your CJ is a buffed up beast, then his melee damage actually increases, but if you make him a porker, he won’t be able to run very fast or very far before running out of breath. It’s these small details that really make San Andreas a work of digital car jacking art.

By the time you even started reading this review, you knew if you were going to buy San Andreas for your Xbox or not. You’re just here to see if it’s worth your money. That, however, depends largely on if you already own the title for PS2. If this will be your first purchase of the title, I hugely recommend it. You need this game, it’s as simple as that. This could very well be called the most immersive game to ever be created. If you have it for PS2, however, the additions for the Xbox version don’t make it worth another buy. Yes, it’s the better version of the two, but it’s not so significantly greater that you should shell out the money for it all over again. If you have yet to have the pleasure of surrounding yourself in the splendor of San Andreas, this is your chance, Xbox owners. Don’t pass this one up.