Back to the mean streets

"Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" is the newest title in the series of mayhem-inducing, violence-driven games that question moral values. Utilizing the worst language ever seen on a video game and the usual encouraged killing and destruction, this year's game is obviously not intended for impressionable audiences.\nNew features to "San Andreas" come in the form of lame bicycles and gyms for working out to increase muscle mass for inflicting greater damage to your enemies. As the player makes his way through a massive city board from location to location completing tasks to earn respect from a street gang, there comes a point when how far is too far must be asked. Emphasizing stereotypes and making light of drug usage and violence, the game certainly breeds poor decision-making and illegal behavior. \nWith improved graphics and different cars, guns and objectives, "GTA: San Andreas" scratches the itch many have for the latest role-playing platform, but also encourages such a twisted view of reality that the game must be taken in context. Moving through the city, pulling off drive-bys and drug deals, the characters must dodge rival gang members and overly-aggressive officers of the law. The police in San Andreas tend to be considerably more prevalent and angry than ever before, and don't hesitate to send every resource available to put your ex-con ass behind bars.\nAnother new feature to the "GTA" game is a collection of meters gauging your health, hunger level and physical fitness. As if stealing guns and shooting people weren't enough, now you have to eat to keep yourself healthy and alive.\nFans of the "GTA" series will have all the freedoms they have come to expect from these massive city game boards, as the gamer needs to rely on stolen wheels to navigate the violent metropolitan sprawl. Though the game is entertaining and new, the originality of the concept has been played before, and the missions seem to just be recycled from previous titles.\nOverall, the game can be enjoyed simply on an entertainment basis; however, the content really questions what direction we as consumers are heading when we seek such grim depictions for our entertainment. With more blood and drugs and racial bigotry than any game of its kind, this new title will probably prove popular amongst the consumer-driven market, but will be looked drastically down upon by family interest and church groups nationwide.