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By Reid Davenport

“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”

Available on PS2

Developer: Rockstar North

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Rated M for Mature

Grade A

It’s that time again: all of your college buddies have suddenly vanished. All you see of them are their away messages, all of them reading something about never leaving their rooms again. You walk down the hall of your dorm and you could swear that it sounds like a gunfight is going on inside your dorm. You give in to temptation and run out to make a purchase that you told yourself you couldn’t make because there’s way to much work to be done, but then you lock your door, start your Playstation 2, and lose yourself in the new “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.”

It has been a few years since gamers were able to rush out to grab their own copies of “GTA: Vice City” and trash up the streets set back in the 1980s. This time around, Rockstar Games has created more havoc for players to get lost in for hours. This game has all the makings to be one of the best in the “Grand Theft Auto” series.

Your character, CJ, is an ex-con from Liberty City (of GTA III notoriety) and the murder of his mother has brought him back. Along with your gang of thugs, you can tear up the streets resembling 1990’s California. This time through you will have almost an entire state to cause chaos in.

CJ is able to change clothing, like you were able to do in “Vice City,” but this time around it affects your abilities. If you pick up some gang colors, your thug buddies will have more respect for you, but you shouldn’t expect the ladies to come flocking. The exact opposite happens if you decide to pimp out in khakis and a sweater. You can also go get new hairstyles and such to improve your appearance.

This new style system goes along with the new element that you have skills to develop this time around. It will be up to you to train CJ in how to drive certain vehicles, use certain weapons, build up stamina, and even watch what he eats. That’s right, you have him eating burgers and fries then he’ll become the African American equivalent of Michael Moore, but you can always spend a few hours running around town to work off those love handles.

The new skills system is designed to reward players for just screwing around on the streets of San Andreas. Jumping a motorcycle over a ramp or just driving around will help you improve your skills. You can also play mini-games to increase your abilities and they will become even greater when you reach the final stage. There you will be able to interact with a city that never sleeps – most likely due to all the bright lights – if you catch the drift.

Like most “GTA” games, it has its ups and downs. There are still times you will find yourself whipping your controller down in frustration, as you will fail an almost completed mission due to your character catching a glitch with the environment. There is also the similar situation with certain missions where the police can catch you easily or sometimes it just becomes down right impossible. Of course, once you finish off the mission, all is forgotten until the problem arises again.

One less frustration is that CJ can actually swim. Unlike past games, you won’t go nuts if your car happens to end up in the ocean. Thankfully Rockstar realized that yes; people can actually swim, and that not being able to do so frustrated gamers in the past two “GTA” games. The ability is good, but you will sometimes find yourself too far away to even bother with swimming back to land. If you make a jump too far out, restarting the game is easier than swimming back to shore.

This “GTA” game also comes with all-star talent for you to interact with and listen to. Charlie Murphy of Chappelle Show fame, David Cross from Mr. Show, rapper Ice-T, Chris Penn of Reservoir Dogs fame, and even Mr. Samuel L. Jackson provide voices for some of the random characters that CJ will interact with throughout the game.

The radio is just as good as it was in “Vice City” with tracks from Guns ‘N Roses, Public Enemy, Rick James, Rage Against the Machine, James Brown, Cypress Hill, and even Willie Nelson.

Rockstar has definitely delivered a new and exciting addition to the “GTA” line of games. Although some of the same glitches will aggravate players as they did in the previous two games, you can’t always make a game this big and this detailed without a few problems. The new ability to build up your character through mini-games, some of which involve dating the lovely young ladies of San Andreas, along with the increase in interactive ability should keep players content.

“Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” is available now for PS2 for $49.99 and looks to be release on the X-Box some time in 2005.