Description: It may not be a splashy leap forward, but Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in its own deep, dark way does just as much to move and revolutionize video games as its two predecessors, Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. As in previous installments, here you play as a thug with problems you must steal and shoot your way out of, but the problems this time are disconcertingly more realistic. You play as Carl Johnson, known on the street as CJ, a likeable criminal type who has just returned to his hometown, Los Santos (a fictionalized Los Angeles), to find that his mother has been murdered and that the police have framed him for another murder. Reunions with his friends and a troubled relationship with his brother set off a sprawling, complex plot line, taking place at first in the immediate Los Santos area but eventually spilling into San Fierro (based on San Francisco) and Las Venturas (Las Vegas). Those three words are enough to fill the hearts of gamers with glee. The Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series has been around for a while now but it wasn't until GTA III that the gaming world was turned upside down. The biggest change between the previous versions of the first two games and the third game was the transition to a 3D viewpoint. But this change revolutionized the gaming world and gaming hasn't been the same since. Never before did gamers have an almost living, breathing world that allowed them to live out all of their secret criminal desires. It's sometimes hard to admit but running around killing characters in a game with a blow torch and being wanted by the cops, FBI and National Guard was an amazing experience. With GTA:San Andreas (GTA:SA) gamers are treated to the ultimate edition of GTA. The same, now classic, gameplay from the last two games is back but this time in a massive gaming world. Instead of just one or two cities to explore, GTA:SA allows gamers to explore one large state (San Andreas) with three different cities. The three cities are all based around cities in the United States. Los Santos is based on Los Angeles, San Fierro is based on San Fransisco and Las Venturas is based on Las Vegas. Each city has their own unique look that is specific to their the real-world counterpart, which helps created a sense of authenticity even though you're playing in a game world.