Sorry for the double post, but here is most of the important stuff from the article. Warning: this is a long post, and you may not want to read all of it if you do not care too much about the features of San Andreas.
On Graphics, Frame Rate, etc:
San Andreas in this near final state looks absolutely awesome. The technical standard of visuals is highly impressive, with the framerate now in a very healthy shape and in fact seeming to go up as high as the magical 50-60 mark in open areas (intriguingly, at one stage when we were flying around in a helicopter, the frame rate was at its highest despite an incredible draw distance). Animation, lighting, art style and effects - it is looking mighty hot. Put it next to Vice City on Xbox - let alone PS2 - and this looks five times better.
The Feel of Los Santos (Capital of San Andreas):
Towards the end of our demo we had returned back to San Andreas's Capital, Los Santos, and the feeling of a real, authentic world surrounding you seemed more pronounced than before, and indeed more so than in any previous title in the series, with aeroplanes and choppers flying around overhead, and impressively, police helicopters at night with their spotlights beaming down on gang contingents. That's just one example.
"There's so much stuff going on around you that doesn't involve you, but as a result you really feel part of the world," explains Product Manager, Dean Evans.
Some folks were hanging around chilling - we could have gotten fresh with them if we'd wanted, but many were rival gang members, so probably not advisable. Elsewhere, couples were walking around holding hands, others parking their vehicles.
Animation:
A bunch of gang members walk with a distinguishing "bowl" while a hot chick may pass them and get a "hey, wassup girl!" from the guys. It's basically one of the most sophisticated 'real-world' environments we've seen this generation.
Tight-Lipped:
Rockstar is still keeping the controller firmly in its grasp and not a single member of the gaming press has had a chance to play San Andreas yet (Rockstar was quick to point out the claim of one UK lifestyle magazine to have played it was totally unfounded). But from the demonstration it looks like the control and gameplay is shaping up wonderfully.
Controls:
R1 remains the button that engages the targeting system and you can still fire your weapon randomly by pressing Circle at any point. However, a brand new targeting control scheme has been implemented.
Once you've held down R1, a number of options open up for targeting enemies. CJ will first attempt to target the closest hostile enemy, circumventing any non-hostiles. Failing that, he'll target the closest target in front of him within a range just over 90 degrees. If there isn't a target within this field, he'll go into free aim mode with the weapon - the camera settles down behind him and a cross appears in the center of the screen. Additionally, the analog sticks now behave very differently than in normal on-foot action; the left analog moves CJ forward and backward, and strafes him left and right, while the right analog moves the camera angle.
It's now possible for CJ to lock on to opponent while wielding a weapon. This enables the player to circle their enemy, choosing the right time to make their attack. Pressing square also makes CJ block in different ways according to the weapon held.
The Country:
We know that the countryside links all three cities in San Andreas together, but is it really that big of a deal? Well, we spent half an hour in it, and didn't even scratch the surface. "It's absolutely huge," asserts Hamish, "it's living, breathing environments, not just a matter of a few miles with some mud and grass."
Suitably meandering, "lazy Sunday" redneck music accompanies an initial sleepy ride around the Angel Pine, in a monster truck with four-wheel-drive and four-wheel-steering - plus a lot of horsepower to navigate the tricky undulating terrain. At stages during the game, there will be a number of races that take place out in the country, whether its rock climbing in 4x4 or big air motorcross races, there'll be plenty to satisfy your off-road cravings, according to Rockstar. Hell, you can even get onto a lawnmower as a last-ditch ride out of sight!
The Environment:
Obviously Miami is generally a flat area and that is what Vice City reflected, but out here in the wilderness, there's an impressive level of variation in the natural environment geometry - and also in the stunning level of natural detail.
In fact, Rockstar North has developed a sophisticated technology that draws in foliage around you, a technique known as procedural rendering.
Mount Chiliad:
we see the sprawling Mount Chiliad, which we'd already encountered briefly in the demo when we drove through the tunnel beneath it. It's the tallest part of the game at 2,500 feet (nearly half a mile) high. If we wanted to get up there, which we'd need to in our next mission, our choice of vehicle would be critical. "A chopper could get you up there in about two minutes," advises Hamish, "but you could even run or take a bicycle up there, another way to keep CJ in top physical condition, as a way to keep customising the character."
Draw Distance:
On the way up the mountain we took a quick break from the journey just to appreciate the incredible view. The draw distance at this high vantage is four times what it was in Vice City. "North are using a number of techniques to make this possible, most notably mip-mapping, and hierarchical levels of detail on the models," reveals Hamish. We could use the camera CJ had brought with him to zoom into the tiniest of areas such as some huts in the distance. It was pretty impressive.
Weather:
This high up in the mountain, the clouds seemed only an arm's reach away. It's the first time the GTA series has seen such wildly dynamic and realistic weather. Indeed, after the main demonstration, Dean was able to use the build's debugging option to cycle through the different weather effects, showing the impressive range of lighting and environmental work that has gone into creating a fully believable west coast state. A heavy thunderstorm at night stood out as particularly impressive, especially considering it was a relatively humble PS2 behind the on-screen artistry.
The Moon:
Additionally, Dean demonstrated how the moon now goes through phases in San Andreas and the game keeps track of the days you've spent in the world, it even knows what day of the week it is. As time goes by, the moon will slowly cycle through a thirty-day change. We took a look up as night fell in the San Andreas countryside, and the sky is clearer out there and the moon is brighter.
Other Info:
"What we're going to do now is get into a classic vehicle that made its first appearance in GTA3," announced Hamish. We climbed into Dodo - a chopper no less - to get an aerial tour of the countryside. The three-minute journey to a small town called Dillimore gave an idea of the huge scale of the countryside space, not to mention the incredible engine behind the game from this vantage point.
Interaction:
Incidentally, just as we were jacking the bike, a huge pile-up occurred just down the road, resulting in a fair amount of carnage. It didn't seem like a fixed set piece, rather just a probability-enhanced but still-impressive indicator of the realistic world that is San Andreas.
The further we rode into Los Santos, the hotter things became, with more police cars on the streets, more sirens blazing, gangs banging, a couple of fires, and edgier types walking the streets. It became livelier as you'd expect to happen on any journey into deepest LA from, er, the countryside.
Extra Work:
RU Haul is a friendly little shipping company in the rolling hills west of Los Santos, the owner there is always happy to get an extra driver, and pay them cash for towing some cargo. Any time CJ wants to swing by, there will be work for him here.
👍
. I knew rockstar would make it it's own environment that didn't revolve around you but this all souns so great
