General

It's only available on the Playstation2 console

The release dates are explained here

The game's storyline is explained here

No loading times in the game except when entering buildings *NEW*

Cities and Maps

The game takes place in the fictional state of San Andreas

This state has three cities explained here

Each city is the size of Vice City, meaning the entire game will be four to six times larger than Vice City

San Fierro will have many hills, and be driving based

You can drive from Los Santos, through the countryside, up a mountain and into San Fierro, then onto Las Ventura

Driving through the desert will be alive with weird things to see

There will be more buildings you can enter

Graphics

The graphics engine has been tweaked, not changed

There will be smog effects in Los Santos

Real-time reflections on cars, mirrors, and windows

Radial lighting which gives realistic shadowing

Soft-shadow lighting for interiors

Unique models for objects for night and day to add more realism

Able to say four times further into the distance than in Vice City *NEW*

Gameplay

There is 'rag-doll' phsyics, or 'impact animation' (adds realism)

In Las Ventura (Las Vegas), you can buy casinos and run them

You can gamble your money in casinos

You need to eat to keep up your stamina

Eat too much and you will become fat and be made fun of

Work off the fat by going to the gym to exercise

You can rob homes with careful planning

More mini jobs such as taxi driving, etc

Anything done outside of a mission can change your abilities, appearance, and progress

Hundreds of different skills to learn

'Dynamic Difficulty' changes the difficulty of the gameplay to match your skill

You can recruit gang members, and use them to do four person drive-by shootings

Ability to swim

Use your gang to take over parts of the city *NEW*

The police will do ANYTHING to take you down, including grabbing on to your rear bumper! *NEW*

Characters

The main character's name is Carl Johnson

Characters from the old game will return

References to old characters from past GTA games will be in the game, only recognizable by hardcore fans

You can get haircuts which changes your appearance *NEW*

Your looks will change how people interact with you *NEW*

Weapons

Carl can use dual pistols, and other weapons

Improved gun targeting system

More hand to hand fighting techniques available

Weapons match those available in the early '90s

Weapons all feel unique

New improved targeting system includes targets with full health have a green bar, if slightly injured have yellow health, and enemies that are almost dead will have a red health bar *NEW*

Vehicles

90's versions of GTA3 and VC vehicles will be in the game

Many more new vehicles

Improved driving physics

The police have motorcycles they use *NEW*

Specialty vehicles can be unlocked

There are bicycles, and to make them go faster you'll have to hit X faster

You can perform wheelies on bikes *NEW* (to clarify, this is wheelies on the bicycles, we all know you can do wheelies on the motorcycles!)

Police helicopters are back

More ways to steal cars

Artificial Intelligence

Pedestrians are a lot smarter now, and react if you start beating someone in the streets

Peds have over 1 hour's worth of various comments, compared to 10 mins from Vice City

Music

There is a confirmed rap station

There are other stations yet not yet confirmed

There is music from the '90s as well as a classic station

 

 

Confirmed GameInformer information from http://www.gta-sanandreas.com, our affiliate. Any of this information might be changed, as no one knows 100% what will be in the final version except Rockstar.

wow sounds awesome really looking forward to some of these features, especially the way you can get fat by eating too much (insert insult to person here) and having to burn it off lol thats gonan be my fav feature- im going to nickname it the stephanie mcmahon feature - the ability to gain lots of weight within a few days

Meh, i still sense shoddy graphics

Not true they have tweaked the lot of it so non of the graphics will be square unless they are meant to be. Plus I like the graphics the way they are if it was like The Getaway instead i woudlnt like it as much

Watching Jack Bibby post news with a link to the source...*sniff*...I'm so proud. It's like when a dad goes to see his son score a goal in a cup final. Well done, ahm fillin' up. :)

 

Oh, and the game looks quite good. GTA:VC sucked, in my opinion, as it was exactly the same as GTA3, but with a slightly bigger map, more celeb voices and a few more cars and guns. There's only so many times you can do the same kind of missions over and over until you get bored. Drive to point X in Y seconds, blow up/kill object/person Z and drive back to the start in a set time or while avoiding the police. It was fresh and original in GTA 3, by the end of GTA:VC I was praying for something away from the norm. With the three cities, all of which are very different, I'm optimistic that Rockstar can make me a very happy gamer again.

This new GTA is 4-6 times as big as Vice City which is awesome

I am so so so excited for this, sounds absolutely amazing, and I've seen some screenshots in Game Master last week and the graphics look to be much improved, a lot smoother with less jaggy edges.

 

Can't wait for October, gonna be great this christmas for games, GTA SA and MGS3 :xyx

I think it is really good you have your own gang too. On other games you had them but they never did anything and you (the boss) had to do all the missions which was crap really. This game will be a bestseller definetly.

i agree with russ i got bored with vice city aswell, its all to samey as is gta 3 in hindsight

 

i hope this is the refreshing break the series needs

Complain all you want, you'll all end up buying it lol

I cant wait till the new gta is out it will be the best 1 ever

Yeah This Game Gonna Be Great Its A Must Buy When It Comes Out

GTA Games are 1 big pile of crap :devil

Not True GTA Games Rule But There Not As Good As WWE Games Tho :D

wwe games, thats what i call samey, but the updated rosters, caw's andgraphics make up for it, a bit like the GTA's with graphics, cars and size

I can't wait! I just hope that you can use the direction pad, and not be limited to analogue only.