Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (scheduled to be released October 19, 2004 in North America and October 22 in Europe) is the fourth sequel to the hit video game Grand Theft Auto. It is a Rockstar Entertainment production and will be available for the Playstation 2.
Very little is known about the game yet and Rockstar Games only made an official announcement of the title on March 1, 2004. Speculation that a Grand Theft Auto game set in the fictional city of "San Andreas" (modeled after a combination of San Francisco and Los Angeles, California) was rampant due to the original GTA games being set in three cities: Liberty City (which was modeled after New York City present day and the setting of the original Grand Theft Auto III), Vice City (which was modeled after Miami 1986 and the setting of GTA III's sequel, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City) and San Andreas.
UPDATE: Game Informer Magazine published an article in their June 2004 issue an exclusive first look at Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. According to the article, it is set in the early 1990s in the fictional state of San Andreas, which consists of Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturra, which are loosely-based on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, respectively. You will play as Carl Johnson, a former street thug returning to his birthplace of Los Santos to attend his mother's funeral. On the way, he is framed for homicide, and his quest to clear his name and punish those responsible begins.
The game is reportedly 3 times bigger than Vice City and bigger than the total area of all five previous games. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will also implement new gameplay features and graphical upgrades, such as the consuming of food for stamina, exercising, bicycles, swimming, 4-person drive-bys, home break-ins, independent night animations, and real-time reflections, just to name a few. It will also employ a new skill system, which will have the player-character learn a new skill almost every mission. It has also been said that Don Salvatore Leone, a character in Grand Theft Auto III, will also make appearances in this game. For more information, read the article in June 2004's Game Informer magazine or their official website.
