Though there are still so many questions surrounding fan concept sees CJ return in GTA: San Andreas 2. It's extremely unlikely that Rockstar will bring back CJ, let alone set the sequel in San Andreas again, but the fan trailer is interesting, and it's a great way to honor one of the most groundbreaking console games ever made.
However, while San Andreas might have been a seminal moment in gaming, that was 18 years ago, and players will likely get whiplash upon replaying a game that was once revolutionary. Between the rough dialogue, the repetitive missions, and a debunked Bigfoot theory, San Andreas still holds up, but it isn't without its shortcomings.
Most Modes Of Travelling Are Tedious
While the main way of traveling around the enormous map is by car, there's a wealth of other modes of transportation too. Players can run, cycle, and even fly from one location to another, but the problem is that none of them are actually any fun. Each car has different settings when it comes to handling, acceleration, and speed, making each one so much fun to control, but cycling and running becomes so tedious, not to mention sore on the thumb after repeatedly hitting X.
When it comes to running, though CJ getting out of breath and having to break is realistic, it's also tiresome. And cycling is almost more monotonous than running. The last thing gamers want to do when replaying the game is to find themselves in a deserted area with no car available.
The Dialogue Is Cringworthy
Every Grand Theft Auto game is full of hilarious one-liners, and San Andreas is no different. Even something as simple as Big Smoke ordering food has become an iconic line of dialogue. However, a lot of the dialogue hasn't aged very well, and most of the game is filled with clichéd slang and stereotypical "gangster" vernacular.
Whether it's the constant use of the N-word or the derogatory remarks about almost every culture, race, and gender, it's tough to listen to a lot of conversations between the characters. GTA has always been satirical, but the dialogue in San Andreas feels like it's glamorizing the offensive vocabulary more than satirizing it.
The ing Characters Are More Interesting Than CJ
Of all the playable characters in the Grand Theft Auto universe, CJ is by far the least interesting. Along with being a stereotype, he doesn't share the same humor as any playable character that came before or after him. And he stands out as uninteresting even more when he's surrounded by so many colorful ing characters in the game.
The aforementioned Big Smoke can make a fast food order hilarious, and his character arc is full of surprises. Not only that, but Officer Frank Tenpenny is a three-dimensional antagonist too. It helps that Pulp Fiction or with any of his other roles, it's clear from his performance as Tenpenny.
The Missions Are Repetitive
San Andreas will throw in a mission that lets players control a jet every once in a while, but for the most part, every mission follows the exact same formula. Players must drive across the map to a specific location, then they get caught in a gunfight, then they have to drive back. Every now and then players must do both at the same time, and that's as varied as the game gets.
While it's a criticism that can even be applied to the new games in the franchise, GTA IV and GTA V did introduce exciting new types of gameplay, such as the heist missions. And the same could be said for the GTA games preceding San Andreas, but given that there are so many missions in the game, the repetition hits players harder than any other release.
The Lack Of Checkpoints
Some of the missions in San Andreas are extremely hard, and some fans will have forgotten the difficulty level until they replay it. However, part of what makes them so hard isn't because they're genuinely challenging or throw curveballs at players, but because of the lack of checkpoints.
The checkpoints in the 2004 game are spaced out so unfairly throughout the missions that it led to thousands of undeserved deaths. Though there's a GTA cheat code that gives players infinite health, if gamers don't use that, they'll find themselves in some frustrating situations. As the missions are so long, there could have been more thought behind the checkpoint placement.
Mount Chiliad Isn't That Big
Mount Chiliad was almost as much of an open world itself in GTA V, and there are so many hidden locations of the iconic mountain to explore. And if the theory is to be believed, there's still a GTA secret that hasn't been found. But after climbing the mountain in the 2013 game, it gives players a false sense of how big it is in San Andreas.
Compared to the mountain in GTA V, Mount Chiliad in the 2004 game is basically flat. Even the little viewing deck on GTA V's Mount Chilliard is almost as big as the entire surface of the top of 2004's Mount Chiliad. Back in 2004, the mountain's size was almost impossible for gamers to comprehend, but not so much anymore.
The Load Times Are Too Long
It might have been improved with the remastered version of the game, and even the portable game versions' load times are much better, but the loading screens in the original game are tediously long. The loading screen art might have been irable, especially as it's a trope that has continued with every new GTA release, but the same selection of images of minor characters quickly got uninteresting.
The long load times are a small price to pay given that the game is so expansive, especially for its time. However, it's hard to quickly turn on and mess around in the open world if players have a few minutes to spare, as it'll be time to turn off the game by the time it has finally loaded.
The Open World Is Unnecessarily Big
Considering how much of the San Andreas map is actually used for levels, the size of San Andreas is unnecessary. And even outside of what's used for levels, when it comes to exploration, there's not much use in having such a huge map if so little of it has any interesting landmarks or noteworthy buildings.
However, San Andreas is far from the worst offender, as it still has an engaging story, brilliant RPG elements, and fun gameplay. By the mid-2000s, it was almost as if open-world games became less about gameplay and more about competing over how big a world developers could create. The best example of this is Just Cause, which has a map that's more than five times the size of San Andreas, but it's mostly copy-and-pasted flora with a few small villages dotted around.
Over-Reliance On The Map
While many fans believe that San Andreas has the best GTA map, not much time is spent looking at the tiny details of the world. Whether it's the main map or the mini-map in the corner of the screen, players find themselves looking at them more than the actual world.
It's so hard for gamers to know where they're going, as the GTA series didn't introduce GPS until GTA IV. Upon replaying the classic, players will find themselves constantly pausing and pulling over to squint at the black lines way more than they . The over-reliance on the map completely pulls players out of the immersion that Rockstar worked so hard to achieve.
There's No Bigfoot
Along with the secrets of Mount Chiliad, one of the most popular GTA fan theories is that a sasquatch roams the woods in San Andreas. Rockstar even played into the fan theory in GTA V, As the Los Santos logo features a sasquatch, and Trevor even hunts a sasquatch in a side mission, though it turns out to be a man in a costume.
However, though fans wish it was true, there is no Bigfoot in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Players can explore the woods in the game for hours on end all they like, but they, unfortunately, won't find what they're looking for.
