Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on 26 October 2004 for the PlayStation 2 console, and on 7 June 2005 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox. It is the seventh title in the Grand Theft Auto series, and the first main entry since 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It was released on the same day as the handheld game Grand Theft Auto Advance.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is played from a third-person perspective in an open world environment, allowing the player to interact with the game world at their leisure. The game is set within the fictional US state of San Andreas, which is heavily based on California and Nevada.The state of San Andreas consists of three metropolitan cities: Los Santos, based on Los Angeles; San Fierro, based on San Francisco; and Las Venturas, based on Las Vegas. The single-player story follows Carl "CJ" Johnson, who returns home to Los Santos from Liberty City after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his old friends and family in disarray, and over the course of the game he attempts to re-establish his old gang, clashes with corrupt cops, and gradually unravels the truth behind his mother's murder. The plot is based on multiple real-life events in Los Angeles, including the rivalry between the Bloods, Crips and Hispanic street gangs, the 1980s crack epidemic, the LAPD Rampart scandal, and the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Upon its release, the game was acclaimed by many reviewers who praised the music, story and gameplay. It became the best-selling video game of 2004, and has sold over 27.5 million copies worldwide as of 2011; it remains the best-selling PlayStation 2 game of all time. The game, like its predecessors, is cited as a landmark in video games for its far-reaching influence within the industry. However, the violence and sexual content of San Andreas has been the source of much public concern and controversy. In particular, a player-made software patch, dubbed the "Hot Coffee mod", unlocked a previously hidden sexual scene.

The next main entry in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV, was released on 29 April 2008, also to critical acclaim. San Andreas has been ported to various other platforms and services, such as OS X, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and mobile devices (iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Fire OS). In October 2014, the game was taken off the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store. It was later announced that the game would be re-released and enhanced for Xbox 360 to celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2014. PlayStation 3 now has the remastered version, though to the disappointment of some fans this version has had numerous changes and is missing part of the original soundtrack due to the expiration of Rockstar's license to use these songs. The PlayStation 4 version is largely identical to the PlayStation 2 version; improved with a higher resolution and trophy support, but missing the same songs as the enhanced remaster.

Storyline:

In 1992, Carl "CJ" Johnson returns to Los Santos after spending five years living in Liberty City when his brother Sean "Sweet" Johnson calls to inform him of their mother's murder. Shortly after leaving the airport, CJ is intercepted by a group of corrupt LSPD C.R.A.S.H. officers led by Frank Tenpenny, and consisting of three officers, Eddie Pulaski, Jimmy Hernandez, and Tenpenny himself, with whom CJ has a history. Tenpenny implicates CJ in the murder of a police officer, Officer Pendlebury, that Tenpenny himself committed, as he was on the verge of exposing him to Internal Affairs, and threatens to frame him for it if he does not co-operate with them.

CJ returns to his former home on Grove Street and reunites with his brother Sweet, his sister Kendl, and members of his old gang, Big Smoke and Ryder. Finding that the Grove Street Families (GSF) have lost much of their territory while he was gone, CJ decides to stay in town. Working with the others to re-establish the GSF, CJ gradually restores the gang to power, by helping to reunite the various Grove Street sets who had previously splintered, allying himself with Kendl's boyfriend, Cesar Vialpando, leader of the Varrios Los Aztecas, and together they drive off the rival Ballas and Vagos gangs, reducing the amount of drugs on the streets. In doing so, CJ regains the respect of Sweet, who was disappointed that he had left Grove Street after the death of their brother, Brian. While en route to join Sweet for a showdown against the Ballas, CJ is called by Cesar, who tells him to meet with him outside a garage where they witness Smoke and Ryder meeting with Tenpenny and a group of Ballas, learning that they had been working with Tenpenny all along, and were responsible for his mother's murder, explaining their suspicious behaviour. Suspecting a set-up, CJ rushes to Sweet's aid, who was wounded in the ambush, and fights off the Ballas, but the police arrive shortly afterward. Sweet is thrown in jail while Tenpenny takes CJ into the countryside and dumps him there. With the GSF in shambles, Smoke and Ryder, now openly allied with the Ballas, take over Los Santos and flood the streets with drugs.

Exiled in the countryside, CJ is forced to carry out favours for C.R.A.S.H, particularly by killing people with incriminating evidence against Tenpenny, under threat of his imprisoned brother being transferred to the cell block where Ballas affiliates are housed. He also works with Cesar's cousin Catalina to make money by carrying out several heists in the area. He also befriends a hippie called The Truth and a blind Triad leader named Woozie. After winning the deed to a garage in San Fierro in a race against Catalina and her new boyfriend, CJ goes there with The Truth, Cesar and Kendl to get it up and running so they can make a living. While in San Fierro, CJ crosses paths with the Loco Syndicate, Smoke and Ryder's drug connection. CJ infiltrates the organisation and identifies its leader, the mysterious Mike Toreno. Along with Cesar and the Triad, CJ kills Ryder and the other Loco Syndicate leaders, Jizzy B and T-Bone Mendez, and shoots down Toreno's helicopter. CJ then destroys the Syndicate's drug factory.

Soon after, CJ is contacted by a person using a digitally-distorted voice and encourages CJ to meet him at a ranch in the desert. There, CJ is stunned to find Toreno is alive and well thus revealing Toreno as the mysterious caller. Toreno reveals that he is actually a government agent and enlists CJ's help in several shady operations in exchange for Sweet's freedom. Meanwhile, CJ travels to Las Venturas, where Woozie invites him to become a partner in the Four Dragons Casino, where the organisation is facing problems from the mob families that control the city. Seeking to wrest control of Venturas from them, CJ helps Woozie plot a robbery of the mob's casino and gains the mob's trust through various jobs for mob boss, Salvatore Leone. Eventually the heist is carried out successfully, earning the Triad a place of power in Las Venturas, although causing the mob to distrust CJ. CJ also encounters disgraced rapper Madd Dogg, from whom he stole a rhyme book to help new rapper OG Loc become a name in the business. After rescuing Madd Dogg from a suicide attempt, he asks CJ to be his manager once he returns from rehab.

Tenpenny, fearing his arrest is inevitable, tasks his partner Pulaski with killing CJ and disposing of the body of Hernandez, whom Tenpenny found out was informing on them to Internal Affairs. While CJ is digging a grave for both Hernandez and himself, Hernandez, still alive but wounded after being hit in the back of the head with a shovel by Tenpenny several times, manages to attack Pulaski, leading to him being consequently killed. Pulaski then flees, but CJ pursues and kills him.

Madd Dogg returns from rehab, prompting CJ to return to Los Santos to get his music career started again. Toreno contacts CJ for one last favour, destroying some spy ships in the area, and finally has Sweet released from prison. Now rich and successful, CJ attempts to cut Sweet in on his businesses, but Sweet becomes angry that he ran away and let their home be taken over by drug dealers to make his fortune. While CJ helps Sweet once again drive off the rival gangs, Tenpenny is arrested and tried for several felonies that he has been charged with, but the charges are surprisingly dropped due to lack of evidence, prompting a city-wide riot. CJ helps Caesar regain control over the barrio and also regain territory for his gang, so as to have enough power to obtain knowledge of Smoke's whereabouts.

Sweet soon learns that Smoke is holed up in a fortified crack den in the city, and seeking to stop the flow of drugs on the street, he and CJ go there to confront him. CJ enters the building alone, fighting his way to the top floor and confronting Smoke. CJ attempts to reason with Smoke when the latter admits that he's made a success and cannot be touched, but Smoke refuses and instead engages CJ in a gunfight battle. CJ eventually wins and Smoke confesses that he got caught up with the power and money in order to see his opportunity, with his dying breath "When I'm gone, everyone gonna remember my name, Big Smoke!", Smoke dies of his wounds and CJ remorsefully replies "What a waste". Just then, Tenpenny appears, holds CJ at gunpoint and steals Smoke's drug money, intending to use it to leave the city before the rioters kill him. Tenpenny then prepares to kill CJ, but CJ yells Sweet's name, tricking Tenpenny into thinking Sweet is behind him. Having fallen for CJ's trick and missing his chance to shoot CJ, who has taken cover from Tenpenny's gunshots, Tenpenny quickly sets the path out of the building on fire, then he rushes out. CJ escapes before the building explodes and he and Sweet pursue Tenpenny as he flees in a fire truck. While CJ and Sweet are in pursuit, Tenpenny eventually loses control of the truck, driving off the bridge over the Grove Street cul-de-sac and crashing at the entrance to it. CJ and his friends watch as Tenpenny crawls from the wreckage and dies of his injuries.

In the aftermath, CJ's family and friends arrive at the Johnson house for a meeting. Cesar proposes to Kendl and Madd Dogg announces his first gold record. As his friends and allies celebrate their success, CJ turns to leave. When Kendl asks where he's going, he replies, "Fittin' to hit the block, see what's happening."