  When it comes to the San Andreas turf war, Xbox is firing blanks. |
There's probably no bigger source of teeth-gnashin' jealousy among Xbox owners than the sad fact the current generation of Grand Theft Auto games have all been exclusive to the PlayStation 2, at least for a period of many months.
It's like seeing wrinkly old fart Michael Douglas with the still-slinky Catherine Zeta-Jones. Argh! Sweetheart, what are you thinking? You could do so much better than him! Money isn't everything, you know! Okay, yeah, it is.
The release of the Grand Theft Auto Double Pack for Xbox, which combined GTA III and GTA: Vice City into one tasty, graphically enhanced bundle, helped ease some of that pain. As did word that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which landed on the PS2 last October, would be coming out for the Xbox and PC this month.
Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is mostly for PC owners, who are getting a version of San Andreas that not only has the Xbox perks like being able to play your own custom MP3 soundtracks in-game, but can be graphically scaled up to match whatever your rig is capable of. High-res visuals, fast load times, USB gamepad control if you want it -- it's all there. The PC version also comes on a single DVD-ROM (no disc-swapping during installation, joy!) and a very handsome hardcover manual. It's the definitive version of San Andreas, even if the character models still retain that low-tech console look.
The bad news is that the Xbox version is a bit of a letdown. While many X-fans were expecting sharper graphics, better draw distances and zippier load times, the reality is that there's only been an incremental improvement in each area, and in some cases the game's "jaggies" actually look worse than on the PS2.
Don't get me wrong, this epic saga of one man from the mean streets of a semi-satirical reimagining of '90s southern California is still one of the biggest, most involving and best-produced games of the past 10 years, and deserves to be owned by anyone who has even a passing interest in the genre. But PC owners definitely will fare better than their Xbox counterparts in this particular gang war.
BOTTOM LINES
A great game made even greater through its translation to two more powerful platforms. But Xbox owners might be miffed that the long-anticipated improvements are in reality so minimal.
