Colors
Sonically, GTA:SA brings it in spades. We’ll start with the ambient sounds, which are subtle and set at just the right level to interfere with the main action. In fact, you only really notice the distant rumble of cars or dogs barking in near-by back yards if you sit around and do nothing for a few moments.
The voice acting deserves a mention too, if only for the names involved. Top billing has to go to Samuel L. Jackson, in my opinion wasted as corrupt Officer Tenpenny and they should have used him in a much more prominent character. That’s not to say he doesn’t do a fine job as Tenpenny, but come on, this is Samuel L. Jackson we’re talking about here! Other notable names are class acts who either grew up in the era the game is set in or shot to fame back then. We’ve got MC Eight (of “Straight Up Menace” fame) in the role of Ryder and Ice-T as rapper Madd Dogg. Special mention has to go to James Woods doing an excellent job as Mike Toreno. You spend a fair bit of time with his character further on in the game and its worth playing to there just for those missions.
The radio has long been a big part of the GTA series with Vice City even spawning a CD box set of the music. San Andreas is no different with several different stations available, all pumping out a wide variety of music. What really made GTA:VC feel like it was set in the eighties was the music. I know a certain HEXUS forum member who still gets misty eyed and nostalgic as soon as he hears the opening bars of ‘Crockett’s Theme’ and playing Vice City with classic eighties tracks belting out was a seminal experience.
GTA: San Andreas tries to replicate this feeling but for some strange reason it just doesn’t pull it off as well. This is probably because the violent gang culture was tied in so closely with the music and Rockstar have seen fit to include radio stations that, while playing authentic music from the early Nineties, just don’t fit in with the game itself. It’s a different experience to play San Andreas with a country and western station playing some bint bleating about her man running off with a horse or whatever. There is a rap station here with music from Dr Dre and Tupac, so if you really want to get into the game, leave it stuck on that or, as with previous GTA titles, slap your own MP3s into it and play them instead.
It’s still worth parking up somewhere quiet on your own and just listening to the radio… besides the rap station you’ve got a classic rock, funk, a talk show and a variety of other stations that, while not really suited to the gansta theme of the game are still worth a listen… and the adverts are just as hilarious as those in Vice City. And make sure you listen out for Axl Rose DJ’ing on the classic rock station as well as Public Enemy’s Chuck D hosting the classic rap station. And you’ll be pleased to know that self-proclaimed ladies man Lazlow is still going strong and ready to set us right with our love lives. The radio also has the added bonus of giving you hints to plot line and sub-missions, though its not essential to listen, it can help speed things along if you get a little lost.