Always ahead of the curve, I just recently purchased Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the Xbox. It was the last copy the guy had in stock, and was a good deal. I suspect he wanted to give it to me free of charge, however, considering how hard he laughed after She Who Shall Not Be Named dutifully repeated the words "po-po" and "gangsta" for him.
As for the game itself...I may be a desensitized participant in a bankrupt, pornographic culture, but after a while, killing peace officers just loses some of its naughtiness. Especially when the game's opening sequence has you picked up by dirty cops who blackmail you by threatening to finger you for the murder of a decorated policeman. This would be a frightening prospect, if I hadn't already murdered 50 on my own (admittedly, most of those were a result of my poor driving skills). What are they going to do, use an extra large needle for my lethal injection?
Overall, it's still a fun game. Like Vice City, you can pretty much go anywhere and do anything you want. I've mostly stuck close to the missions, but have taken a few side trips to explore. I've also enjoyed buffing C.J. (your character) up at the gym and getting lots of tattoos.
One of the rewards for successfully completing the low-rider competition is that you get very own low-rider (from C.J.'s sister's boyfriend, a Latino banger whose friendship you need to keep from getting filleted by the "Vagos"). In my endless (and largely unsuccessful) quest to include The Wife in my immature pursuits, I thought I'd ask her to help customize it (you can choose everything from color schemes to bumper styles). It wasn't quite as successful as I'd hoped:
Me: How's this color?
The Wife: Too pink. And use silver for the interior.
Me: Ooookay.
TW: You also need new rims.
Me: I can't afford new rims right now. They're like, $3000.
TW: It's your car. I'd be pretty embarassed to drive around on those.
Me: What are you talking about? I got the bass boost, didn't I?
TW: Please. You're a pretty sad gangster.
Me: Why do you say that?
TW: Because no self-respecting "gangsta" would waste money on bass boost while he was still driving around on those shitty rims.
And this is why the second Xbox controller remains inert and covered with dust.
in my estimation, the wife's got the right idea about those rims. rims and pipes, dude.
Here I am again ironically being the voice of morality. I know that after a long day of playing Tony Hawk Underground, I start to look at curbs and ramps for trick/grind potential. Why wouldn't I, after a day of shooting cops and picking up hookers, look at the world around me slightly askew? I know it's "just a game," but how can anyone justify a game that rewards behavior like killing a hooker or ramming a squad car? Violence is one thing, but I really wonder where one should draw the line.
Maybe THE WIFE would be more interested in playing your silly games if you'd lose the pink, girlie man.
I know it's "just a game," but how can anyone justify a game that rewards behavior like killing a hooker or ramming a squad car? Violence is one thing, but I really wonder where one should draw the line.
The game does not reward you for doing either of those things, it just allows you to do them. In fact, the results are fairly similar to real life- killing a hooker is largely ignored unless you do it in the middle of the street in broad daylight, and ramming a squad car brings a lot of heat down on you.
That said, I was done after Vice City. San Andreas wasn't enough of a difference from GTA3 or Vice City for me to retain any kind of interest.
Apparently, nailing a hooker restores health points, or something like that, but anyway...
I know that after a long day of playing Tony Hawk Underground, I start to look at curbs and ramps for trick/grind potential.
I wouldn't try it in that shitty car of yours.
Maybe THE WIFE would be more interested in playing your silly games if you'd lose the pink, girlie man.
It was more of a dusky rose, and...never mind.
killing a hooker is largely ignored unless you do it in the middle of the street in broad daylight, and ramming a squad car brings a lot of heat down on you.
Yeah. The most surprising thing to me was that running red lights and driving on the sidewalk in front of the police elicits no reaction. Started getting around a lot quicker after that.
These games are rated MA for a reason. I'm old enough to know the difference between driving a fire truck through a crowd of pedestrians in a game and trying the same thing in real life. I can't say how a child would react to it, but no child should be playing a game like GTA in the first place. I don't see it as any different than an adult enjoying a movie like Day of the Dead or Scarface.
Apparently, nailing a hooker restores health points, or something like that
Not in San Andreas. Can't speak for the others (I only played Vice City a couple times, and GTA3 not at all).
And how pathetic is it that the game got pulled from shelves - not because you could, for example, stomp an old lady to death, but because there's a cheat that allows you to have sex with your girlfriend?
Basshole - hope you don't watch any movies that feature a murder or death of any kind. I also hope you didn't see any Road Runner cartoons as a kid, lest you begin dropping anvils on your tormenters' heads or use an Acme magnet and roller skates to try and capture your prey.
Video games feature cartoon or suspension of disbelief violence... just like movies and cartoons have featured since the very first moving images were captured or created. And while I loved Tom & Jerry (for example) as a kid, I have never once been tempted to hit my cat with a mallet or run a lawn mover over his scalp. Most kids who watched cartoon violence when we were growing up were never inclined to go crashing cars around like Dukes of Hazzard or Smokey and the Bandit.
If someone is inclined to violence due to something he/she saw in a video game, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that they might have had a slight anti-social tendency long before they plugged in the PlayStation. And as for the kids who play this... sorry, I am not letting the parents off the hook that easy. Aren't parents supposed to be teaching little Johnny that running over people -- or deliberately hurting anyone in any way -- is wrong and shouldn't be done under any circumstances?
Parents... the anti-mug.
I'll drop this. Really. But watching a violent movie with characters that may be good or bad guys is a far cry from actively being the bad guy. If it was something as blatant as a robed Klansman lynching for life points, would it make a difference to you?
I feel ya, Pete. But the thing is, having a uterus and giving birth just seems to take the fun outta killing.
I'll drop this. Really. But watching a violent movie with characters that may be good or bad guys is a far cry from actively being the bad guy. If it was something as blatant as a robed Klansman lynching for life points, would it make a difference to you?
The original point of the GTA series after 3 is not that you are required to do horrible, ghastly things to other characters in the game (and believe me, the graphics are not the most realistic out there), it is simply that you can. You can also take ambulance missions and pick up injured people and take them to the hospital for money, or serveral other more altruistic missions. Vice City played like a cross between Miami Vice and Goodfellas to me, with just the right amount of 80s cheese (the radio stations were awesome). I feel more uncomfortable with San Andreas and it's portrayal of early 90s gang-banging, and hence have opted not to play it.
At no point would I EVER let a child play these games, just like I would never let them listen to music with explicit lyrics, watch a really scary horror movie with excessive gore, or watch a porn flick. Some entertainment is for adults, plain and simple, and the fact of the matter is the majority of gamers these days are over the age of 18. RockStar Games, the makers of the GTA series, thrives on the controversy it's games generate. In fact, I'm sure it's the core of their marketing plan. The reason why the Hot Coffee mod got them slapped down is because they included it with the surity that someone would unlock it and cause more controversy, which equals more sales of the game. Never mind the damage it does to the game industry as a whole...
Anyway, let me stop rambling.
But watching a violent movie with characters that may be good or bad guys is a far cry from actively being the bad guy.
So enjoying and/or repeatedly watching the following movies/TV shows is all right, because you aren't actually controlling their actions?
The Public Enemy
The Wild Bunch
Bonnie and Clyde
High Plains Drifter
Escape From New York
Friday the 13th
Scarface
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Silence of the Lambs
Man Bites Dog
Bad Lieutenant
The Usual Suspects
Pulp Fiction
Grosse Pointe Blank
Pitch Black
The Sopranos
The Shield
All feature characters, many of whom are straight up bad guys, who perform morally reprehensible acts onscreen and are portrayed in a sympathetic (if not adulatory) fashion.
If it was something as blatant as a robed Klansman lynching for life points, would it make a difference to you?
Gee, I don't know. Would I get to choose my robe colors?
Are you seriously comparing a game in a fictional setting that uses characters with the ability to commit heinous acts (yet aren't required to) with a game glorifying hate crimes?
Vice City played like a cross between Miami Vice and Goodfellas to me, with just the right amount of 80s cheese (the radio stations were awesome). I feel more uncomfortable with San Andreas and it's portrayal of early 90s gang-banging, and hence have opted not to play it.
Yeah but. Tommy's missions in Vice City are similar to C.J.s in GTA:SA, you're going after rival criminals and other assorted scumbags. None of the missions require you to murder innocent people or cops, in either game. Is the time in which it's set the only reason one is more palatable than the other?
Is the time in which it's set the only reason one is more palatable than the other?
I just didn't find the milieu of San Andreas interesting. GTA3 was groundbreaking, Vice City was nostalgic, San Andreas is steeped in a thug lifestyle that I'm just not interested in. Honestly, I was bored with the mechanics of the game after Vice City, and I'm getting tired of the knock-offs too.
Yeah, I can't get my wife to play Xbox either. Likewise, I have a second dust-covered controller. I just got DarkWatch yesterday and it is pretty cool. It is a FPS is the vein of vampires in the old west and has some pretty nifty scenes, with lots of undead for you to pick off with pistols, carbines, range rifles, and my favorite so far, the gatlin gun. Similar to Halo, but with nifty vampire powers thrown in, and some pretty damn difty nasties to put down.