With GTA 6 on the horizon, let’s have a look at the reasons why GTA: San Andreas is still the best GTA game in the whole franchise.
GTA: San Andreas is truly a special game that is way ahead of its time. Naturally, it’s also among the best games ever made. Despite launching all the way back in 2004, it introduced some of the most compelling features that anyone had ever seen before.
Although its successors did become household names, the experience GTA: San Andreas offers stays unique from the beginning until the very end. While hoping for much more from the long-awaited GTA 6, here are five reasons why GTA: San Andreas is the best GTA game in the series.
5. Best Soundtrack in Any GTA Game
There is no doubt that every entry in the series has a catchy and memorable theme song. But pretty much every song in GTA: San Andreas was incredibly iconic. From White Wedding to Eminence Front, even the radios of this game made it arguably the best GTA game ever. Similarly, GTA: San Andreas also has the best trailer in the series with that unforgettable theme song.
The music of GTA: San Andreas was so amazing that it actually made the world more immersive as well. It truly felt like the people talking on the radio actually lived in San Andreas.
4. Massive Size and a Myriad of Content
For a game that launched 20 years ago, GTA: San Andreas gets nearly everything right. Its most important feature lies in rich content and huge map size, though.
Although it follows the story of an ex-gang member who faces betrayal at every corner, GTA: San Andreas delivers a massive world that’s filled with immersion-boosting activities. For instance, making CJ eat too much would cause him to gain weight, which would affect his other stats. Naturally, running too much and leaving him starving would make him skinny.
On top of realistic aspects like those, GTA: San Andreas also features the expertise mechanics we often see in RPG games. For example, CJ would get a lot better at using a certain weapon if he used it for a long time. It was aspects like this that made GTA: San Andreas the best GTA game ever.
3. Most Memorable Characters in the History of Gaming
The GTA franchise is famous for a ton of reasons. But one of their best aspects is their unforgettable protagonists and memorable characters. However, GTA: San Andreas had a brilliant roster of characters as the best GTA game.
Make no mistake, the protagonists in the GTA games are well-developed characters with depth, as well. They also feel genuine and deserve a place among the most iconic characters in gaming history. That said, the character GTA: San Andreas introduced just can’t be topped for many reasons. From CJ to Big Smoke, Wu Zi Mu to The Truth, the faces of GTA: San Andreas are just impossible to forget. Who can forget Tenpenny and his evil monologues or Catalina and her threats to CJ?
2. Best Missions in Gaming
The way GTA: San Andreas presented these missions became so iconic that almost everyone knows about the games’ missions. That’s because Rockstar Games successfully incorporated the game’s unique mechanics into its missions. Since GTA: San Andreas is filled with mechanics, every mission feels like a brand-new experience. That’s why we’ll never forget the dreaded train pursue mission with Big Smoke or house infiltration with Ryder.
1. Interesting Story and Bulletproof Setting
GTA: San Andreas has one of the best storylines we’ve ever seen. The story that revolves around CJ takes place in three different cities and a wide variety of other places.
Rockstar Games designed Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas so brilliantly that they felt massive and spacious. It’s definitely worth noting that GTA: San Andreas was a game from 2004. So the fact that it featured three completely explorable cities with a plethora of vehicles is just mind-puzzling.
Final Thoughts
Even the staunchest fans of Rockstar Games and their works would agree with the list above. Many other things make GTA: San Andreas the best GTA game ever, of course.
Although we appreciate the brilliant innovations that arrived with the successors, GTA: San Andreas had an incredibly captivating aspect that still endures to this date.
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