By now you know how this works, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas comes out in October, but only for the PlayStation 2. Xbox owners have to wait a year for their own version of San Andreas, but now it's finally here on Microsoft's console. The good news is that it's an enhanced version of the game with HD Resolution and, just like the "GTA: Double Pack" before it, Custom Soundtracks (which is really fun to use). The bad news is that, in terms of pushing the hardware, the PlayStation 2 version is better.
Carl Johnson a.k.a. CJ has escaped from the pressures of life in Los Santos and stayed away for 5 years to live the life in Liberty City. 5 years later, he gets a call from his brother Sweet to inform him of their mother's recent death. CJ arrives in Los Santos, but is greeted by corrupt officers Tenpenny and Pulaski just so that CJ could be informed to do police jobs for them or be blamed for the death of a police officer. CJ then gets dropped off in an alleyway and bikes his way back to his old childhood neighborhood and home. There, he runs into one of his childhood friends Big Smoke, who drives CJ to the cementary to meet up with the rest of the gang. Once there, Sweet is angry at CJ for being away for so long and not being there for the family when they needed him the most. While leaving the cementary and about to ride in Big Smoke's car, the Ballas show up to try and kill the gang. But CJ, Sweet, Big Smoke and Ryder have finally made it back to Groove Street, safe and sound. CJ then has to put Groove Street back on the map and save his family and friends from anything that goes wrong and that's exactly where the full story comes into effect as you progress through the game.
On Xbox, The character models are great and while 98-99% is superbly detailed, the developers could've used a little more work with bumping up more of the character model detail. I mean just look at the "Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack", the characters were 100% polished with not even one minor visual quirk. But even with this problem, it's just a minor grip. The environments are also tremendous and it's not just only one city to explore in, which is Los Santos, but it's statewide. Yes, you can explore the countryside, forests, oceans and lakes, deserts and San Fierro and Las Venturas. You have so many weapons to chose from, it's just insane and fun to get ahold of.
Audio is another one of the game's impressive qualities. You can rip CDs onto the Xbox's hard drive and listen to them into your in-car radio, so that way you can turn on any song that you please. The sound effects are bombastic and are in great quality.
The controls have been changed to fit the Xbox control scheme, just like they were for the GTA: Double Pack on Xbox. Your gas and brake for when you're in a vehicle are the L and R triggers. Left analog stick for moving CJ around. X for jumping and climbing over stuff. Y for getting into a vehicle and karate kicks. White and Black buttons for switching weapons. R trigger for aiming. B for shooting and punching. Right analog stick for moving camera, you can also press select for different camera views.
Although the Xbox version does have a bit of enhancements, it doesn't quite exactly push the hardware limits like the original PS2 release did back in 2004, or like the "Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack" on Xbox did in 2003. But with that said, it's still as fun and amazing on Xbox and the bit of enhancements really pleased me. It's one of the best PlayStation 2 games of 2004 and one of the greatest Xbox games of 2005. 4.5 out of 5.