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The GTA series has always provided an immersive atmosphere based within a believable (and unbelievably addictive) game world, however, the first thing that will hit you is the sheer vastness of San Andreas. Rather than the single cities of Vice or Liberty City, San Andreas is an entire state, with three distinct Metropolis. Los Santos is loosely modeled on Los Angeles with its beaches and the hills of Vinewood. San Fierro is somewhat similar to San Francisco with the trams and streets on the hills dominated by the Gant Bridge. Finally Las Venturas depicts the neon lights and Casinos of Las Vegas,and I haven't even mentioned the numerous small towns and villages you will come across in between. Joining these cities is a vast countryside of differing landscapes, from the mountainous peak of Mount Chilliad, to the dry desert of Bone Country, to the Grassland and forests of Red Country. Each locale of San Andreas has its own distinct feel and atmosphere. The physical game world is truly massive, being around 5 times the area of Vice City and offering plenty to explore and discover.

It doesn't stop there! On top of this the already impressive list of drivable vehicles has been expanded further. On the road, you can now grab yourself a push-bike (you can even do bunny-hops!) or even a combine harvester. Boats and helicopters are still available, but with some new inclusions. You can even hijack a train. However, the most notable addition has to be flyable aircraft. There are numerous planes to fly, from small one-man stunt planes, right up to huge commercial jets. This offers a whole new experience and really shows off just how big the state of San Andreas actually is.

So, there is plenty sink your teeth stuck into, although admittedly none of this impacts the core gameplay that much. Rockstar, felt it needed to do something different. Inspired by the RPG world, they have introduced player stats for various things. For example, drive motorbikes a lot and your bike skill will gradually be upgraded, meaning you are less likely to fall off in a heap. Complete either the flying or driving schools and the relevant stats will be improved making it easier to drive or fly. This isn't all though, your character has his own set of personal stats too. Muscle and Stamina can be improved by making regular visits to the gym and if you ignore the gym (all to easy to do!) then you will pile on the pounds, making you run slower and sprint shorter distances. You also have a fat stat, so you can keep an eye on that weight gain, influenced by how much you eat and yes you have to eat too! Although rather disturbingly, all San Andreas can offer for your culinary delight is a variety of junk food. Obviously not very health conscious then

The addition of these stats are great it and really adds a level of character development to the gameplay. You can choose to shape up and become a proper beefcake or just slob out and be a bit of a fatty. We aren't talking a full on RPG level of depth here though, remember GTA is about fun and not hours and hours grinding away at tasks to improve stats. They are a most welcome addition all the same. As well as stats, there are other ways in which you can customize the look of your character. You can go and get a variety of tattoos, choose from different styles of hair cut and even a considerably larger range of clothing than in Vice City, from various different shops.

So, armed with a new physique and a whole new world (well, state at least) to explore, you can tackle the missions San Andreas has to offer. Without giving too much of the storyline away, Rockstar has dropped Tommy Vercetti from the previous two games (although he does make a guest appearance) in favor of Carl Johnson, otherwise known as 'CJ'. CJ returns to his hometown Los Santos from Liberty city on the death of his mom and sets about reuniting his 'homies' as part of the 'Grove Street Family'. Queue gang warfare, corrupt cops and about every cliché to do with 90's black American youth you can think of. To be fair, though, on the whole the storyline is really rather good. It offers plenty of twists and turns as you embark on your journey through San Andreas' dark underbelly. It is more cohesive than Vice City's story line and in particular, the Los Santos missions drip with that early 90's American atmosphere it tries to re-create.

Naturally, the story provides ample excuse for a whole variety of missions. From sneaking aboard cargo ships, to starting gang wars, chasing after trains abd blowing up warehouses. As you progress from mission to mission, you open up new areas of the map and obtain new property, which is genuinely useful unless you want a rather long drive to save your game. I have to say though, that on the most part I found San Andreas' missions slightly easier than those of Vice City, although there are still occasions where having attempted something for the hundredth time you feel like hurling your keyboard out of the window (radio control planes anyone?). As it is then, there is enough to keep anybody happy for a long time and even after the story-led missions you can explore even further and undertake secondary missions. These include the ever-present taxi/vigilante missions, but also the new burglar and freight train missions and even pimping missions!