Released in 2004 on PlayStation 2, San Andreas did things nothing else was attempting: three full cities in one state, countryside between them, character stats that improved with use, gang territory control, aircraft, and a story about a family falling apart that was considerably more grounded than its reputation for jetpacks suggests.
What still works
- Scale and variety. Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas plus desert and countryside. Even now, few open worlds vary this much within one map.
- The story. CJ returning home for his mother's funeral is a stronger premise than most of what followed, and Samuel L. Jackson's Officer Tenpenny is one of the great video game antagonists.
- Progression. Stamina, muscle, driving skill, weapon skill, respect. It gave the game a sense of growth that GTA has mostly abandoned since.
- Freedom. It handed you aircraft, a jetpack and a parachute without much ceremony. Later entries are stingier.
What has aged
What works
- Enormous variety and a genuinely great story
- Character progression that gives the long playtime a shape
- Extremely cheap in every form
- Still the most-cited GTA by people who played it at the right age
What doesn't
- Mission design is 2004 mission design — long missions, no mid-mission checkpoints in the original
- Aircraft controls and a handful of notoriously punishing missions
- Shooting is very dated, with lock-on doing most of the work
- The dating and stat-maintenance systems are chores
Which version
| Version | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Definitive Edition | The practical choice. Launched in a bad state in 2021 and has been patched extensively since. Modern controls, GTA 5-style targeting, higher resolution, and it runs on current consoles |
| Original PS2 / Xbox / PC | The purist choice. The original art direction and the complete original soundtrack. Cheap on disc, but you need the hardware or a display setup that suits it |
| Mobile | Playable and convenient, but the touch controls are the weakest way to experience it |
The soundtrack is the real differentiator. Licensed music expires, and re-releases across the series have lost tracks over the years. If specific radio stations are core to your memory of the game, an original copy is the only guaranteed way to get all of them. Our full assessment of the remaster is in Is the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition worth buying.
Worth playing before GTA 6?
As nostalgia, yes. As preparation, less so — GTA 6 is drawing on Red Dead Redemption 2's design language far more than on the PS2 era. If you have limited time before November, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the more informative play.
That said, San Andreas is short by modern standards, it is cheap, and its influence on GTA 6's return to progression and escalation is real. If you have never played it, it is a straightforward recommendation.