Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Special Edition) [PS2]

Rockstar has also incorporated several of the gunplay elements from 2003's brutal stealth actioner Manhunt. Players can move, fire, and zoom in on their opponents all at the same time with deadly accuracy. The optional manual targeting camera (which can be activated at any time with the right analog stick) feels terrific and enables players to pinpoint specific locations on their victims. To supplement this feature, your proficiency with each weapon is increased each time you fire it -- which opens up new abilities as your skills progress. When mastering the micro sub-machine guns, for example, players will eventually gain the ability to strafe and fire their weapons simultaneously while wielding two guns instead of one. Hand-to-hand combat has also been drastically upgraded with a wider variety of moves, the option to learn new techniques at gyms across the state, and the incorporation of a limited combo system.

But the targeting system isn't the only aspect of Manhunt that San Andreas has claimed for its own, as it's taken its stealth-oriented mechanics as well. Though not as important in comparison, the need to crouch in the shadows and sneak up behind your victims adds a nice touch. In truth, the stealth missions are among my favorites: with the heavy breathing of CJ the only sound you can hear while sneaking from place to place and silently cutting throats. These sequences aren't nearly as brutal, graphic, or meticulous as they were in Manhunt either, which makes them feel a little safer for your conscious. Then again, that's really what makes San Andreas so appealing in the first place -- its ability to consistently present players with missions that introduce all-new gameplay features while making everything feel important regardless of whether they're directly tied into the storyline or not.

But stealth is only one example of the many different kinds of missions that players can look forward to. San Andreas does offer more than 100 different quests and challenges after all, and boasts everything from the sneaky stuff mentioned above to escort missions, stealth-oriented home robberies, on-rails shooting situations, traditional car races, and lots, lots more. There's even an unparalleled selection of mini-games to undertake in your spare time -- including a Dance Dance Revolution-type rhythm challenge, a small collection of arcade games that play exactly like Tempest, Asteroids, and Defender, and a fully-realized pool game that has its own physics system and betting option. Don't forget, you can bet on horse races, gamble with nearly every known casino game, and even team up with a second player for two-person rampages as well.

Presentation Rules Graphics fiends will probably be San Andreas' biggest enemies. Though it has been improved upon in several ways technologically when compared to Vice City, it still has a lot of the pop-in, framerate, and collision issues I mentioned earlier. In the game's defense, however, the sheer number of objects, vehicles, and land area being displayed on the screen at once is so impressive that it's more than forgivable. In a perfect world, these snags wouldn't rear their ugly heads at all, but given the power of the PS2 and how much activity is going on in the game, it's hard to imagine it getting any smoother than it already is without several more months (years?) of optimization (and the Xbox version didn't make that big of improvement with the extra power anyway).

I do have to admit, though, that it's still disappointing that progressive scan isn't an option for us High Definition users. But at least widescreen mode is fully supported and it looks great on the televisions that can handle it. I'm also happy to report that those bothersome trails from the previous two games have been removed entirely.

The rest of the game, however, looks fantastic and provides a terrific amalgamation of the all the popular landmarks taken from all over Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. The Watts Towers, Lombard Street, the Las Vegas Strip, the Great Western Forum, are just a few of hundreds of different recognizable areas. The number of polygons for each object has been nearly doubled from Vice City too, and the number of animations, particle effects, and weather patterns are more realistic than ever.