Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for Android
Editors' Review
by
Clifford Colby
/ March 13, 2018
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.
