GTA: San Andreas – The Legacy Review

A look back at GTA: San Andreas, the bestselling game of 2004, and how it pushed open-world design to the limits of the PS2 era.

Remember 2004? It was a banner year for video games, with titles like World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Halo 2, Burnout 3, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Gran Turismo 4 all dropping. But emerging as the bestselling game of that legendary year was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. To stand out in such a stacked lineup, you had to be more than great—you had to be Grand.

While GTA III defined 3D open-world design and Vice City added vibrant '80s style, San Andreas pushed the formula to the absolute limits of what was possible on the PS2. Shipping just two years after Vice City, it introduced three full-scale cities—Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas—all within a fictional US state covering an area roughly six times larger than Vice City. And it was set in 1992, a nostalgic trip for anyone who grew up in the '90s.

Each city has its own unique identity. Los Santos is draped in smog, with a distinct orange haze and shimmering heat rising from the asphalt. San Fierro features severe hills and tramlines, with dense skyscrapers casting shadows below. Las Venturas, the gambling haven, is dry and flat, best experienced at night under neon lights. Between these hubs, you'll find rolling fields, redwood forests, rocky deserts, and tiny towns, farms, and factories.

But the real magic? You can travel across the entire state without a single loading screen. Coming from Vice City, where islands were separated by loading screens, this was a mindblowing advancement. Rockstar managed to stream the world in real-time, constantly juggling the PS2's limited 32MB of RAM and relentlessly accessing the disc drive. They even added a high-speed fighter jet, which is just showing off.

San Andreas' greatest victory isn't just its scale—it's the incredible density of systems, ideas, and side activities. I played it aggressively back in the day, torturing my PS2 until it made weird noises, then borrowed my sister's and tortured that too. Replaying now, I keep discovering side modes I'd completely forgotten: valet, trucking, lowrider duels. It's like finding $20 notes in every pocket of an old pair of trousers.

Take vehicles: around 200 of them, all handling with a genuine sense of heft. From bicycles to combine harvesters, quad bikes, semi-trailers, monster trucks, forklifts, hovercraft, a jump jet, and a jetpack—both the jet and the pack. It's like Rockstar executed every scribbled brainstorm note without trimming a single one.

There are times when it feels like no idea was cut. You can rob a house, go dancing, play arcade machines, hit the gym, gamble at a casino, run a triathlon, manage a business, go parachuting, shoot pool, or even role-play as a pimp. San Andreas almost never stops giving.

So, what's your fondest memory of San Andreas? Will you be revisiting it before GTA 6 arrives? Let us know in the comments!