Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for Android

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas drops players back into Los Santos with Carl Johnson struggling to rebuild street cred in a state-wide turf war. The open-world sandbox lets mobile gamers cruise, fight, and hustle at their own pace, making every commute, shoot-out, or side hustle feel naturally mobile-friendly.

For longtime fans and newcomers alike, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas still defines mobile crime epics. Its mission-based progression threads gang politics, driving challenges, and outrageous mini-games into a story that rewards risk-taking and exploration, giving competitive players a portable benchmark for freedom, scale, and pure mischief any time, any place.

Playing a console classic on phones

Bouncing between drive-bys, gym workouts, and laugh-out-loud side jobs, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas keeps its momentum by mixing tight shooting with arcade-style driving and light RPG stats. Tutorials pop up contextually, so players learn while escaping cops or recruiting homies. The customizable controls toggle aim-assist and button placement, making long sessions doable even on budget screens without sacrificing the chaotic rhythm that fuels every street, desert, and sky sequence.

Performance holds steady on mid-range hardware, yet heavy traffic scenes can momentarily dip frames, reminding players of the title’s console roots. Thankfully, cloud save support means progress survives device swaps; resume the turf war on a tablet after commuting on a phone. Those wanting a lighter introduction to open-city crime may sample Gangstar Vegas, but Rockstar’s dense map still offers unmatched mission variety and emergent chaos.

Precision matters when timing drive-by shots or drift turns, and touch targets can feel fussy during crowded firefights; hooking up a pad fixes that instantly thanks to gamepad compatibility. Offline play works once downloaded, but the package demands over two gigabytes of space, so clear storage first. Still, quick checkpoints, autosave cues, and radio-fueled road trips stitch every mechanic together into a compulsive cycle of risk, reward, and reckless fun.

While the mobile edition of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas offers better graphics and richer colors than the original console version, CJ's adventures in Los Santos are just as gritty -- and entertaining -- as when the blockbuster action game first debuted in 2004.

Pros

Great, gritty story: You play as CJ, an ex-gang-member who returns home to Los Santos to unravel the mystery around his mother's death and save his family and old friends from disaster.

Improved graphics: The graphics of the original console version can look a bit dated. For the mobile version of GTA, Rockstar Games redid and improved the game's graphics, adding more detail to characters, improving the lighting, and expanding the color palette. The game retains its inner-city feel; it's just richer looking.

Controls: The game offers three control modes to choose from as well as support for gamepads. While none of the three modes are quite perfect, you should be able to pick one that suits your playing style.

Hours of gameplay for $6.99: Including the main story and side missions, the game offers dozens and dozens of hours of gameplay, and at $6.99, it's much less expensive than the console versions of the game.

Can still surprise: Despite nearly everyone knowing the story, the characters' actions and language can still, after so many years, be shocking.

Cons

A bit dated: Even with the updated graphics for the mobile version, the game shows its age, visually and, at times, thematically.

Bottom Line

Although it shows its age at times, the expansive and seedy Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is just as fun -- and shocking -- to play on your Android phone as it was when it first came out for consoles.

Still the king of mobile crime 

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas delivers the same sprawling caper that defined a console generation, now trimmed for pocket play without losing its hard-hitting missions or infectious radio chatter. Responsive control schemes, cross-device saves, and optional gamepad support ensure both casual drives and 100% completion runs feel natural on modern phones. Anyone craving unfiltered urban mayhem on demand will find this premium download easily justifies its price and megabytes.

• Assorted bug fixes improve overall stability.