Post by Tom Rice on Sept 8, 2004 18:45:30 GMT
Country life in San Andreas - less milking cows, more running over someone's head in a ride-able lawnmower. From raging forest fires to downhill bike races to garden shovel trade-offs, the outskirts of San Andreas offers almost as much excitement as the polluted, noisy metropolis of its city centres.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
While Vice City introduced golf clubs and chainsaws, San Andreas has a few extra items hidden up its sleeve. The garden shovel, for example, not only allows you to dig shallow graves (Rockstar never disclosed whether this allows you to bury folk), but it also enables you to enjoy the satisfying 'klunk' or a shovel connecting with somebody's bonce.
Apparently, each melee weapon - and there are a few other new additions too - features a number of attacks, and as a first, CJ can now both lock onto opponents and block incoming blows. Very handy.
BULLDOZIN' OFF
The bulldozer is one of several new vehicles you can operate. This weighty beast boasts a plough (controllable with the right-analogue stick) that allows you to flip cars, frighten passers-by and destroy vast parts of the scenery. Be warned though - the bulldozer utilises rear-wheel steering (where the front wheels are locked into place), and can be a right git to drive.
FLYIN' HIGH
Thanks to San Andreas' incredibly huge environments, air travel is rising to prominence, with a number of plane varieties to fly. The Dodo has miraculously grown wings, and handles far better as a consequence, while the Crop Duster biplane benefits from improved plane physics, enabling you to perform barrel rolls, loops and hammerheads.
ON YER BIKE
Endure a tiring traipse to the top of Mount Chiliad, and CJ can enter into a perilous downhill mountain bike race all the way back to the bottom. Numerous gears enable riders to travel faster, plus there are a number of obstacles to be avoided/leapt. Be warned though - your fellow competitors are all mischievous foes, and will have no hesitation in knocking you flying - not that similar tactics cannot be employed by your good self, of course.
TWISTED FIRESTARTER
Fires can spread like, well, wildfire, and it's not unknown for one burning car to start off another and another, and before you know it, it's panic time! Although the San Andreas Fire Department is often at hand to solve such burning issues, you can't always count on it. Thankfully, CJ can also fight flames with extinguishers, rescuing damsels in distress as he sprays flames from the bottom upwards.
Seeing that firefighting was listed under 'countryside details', we're guessing that the threat of fires is far more serious in the proximity of surrounding forests.
LAWNMOWER MAN
Not exactly the fastest vehicle around, but if you're desperate, you can always pick up a lift with a riding lawnmower - at least they'll get you over tricky terrain. Plus, we imagine it would make a nasty mess if you run someone down. Ouch!
BIG TRUCK
Short of cash and passing through the rolling hills west of Los Santos? Then get some work with the RU Haul shipping company, where your daily task will involve transporting cargo (some legal, some 'hot') to various destinations in an 18-wheeler truck. This monstrous vehicle promises authentic handling and physics, meaning that it's possible to jack-knife if you lose grip, plus if you crash too much, expect to go up in a ball of flames.
ROAD RASHIN'
For boy racers with a difference, the countryside hosts numerous race events for you to enter. From 4x4 truck jaunts to motocross action, simply take your pick.
GUNS A-GUNG-HO!
San Andreas features an entirely reworked shooting system. While R1 still raises your weapon and Circle fires it, it also gives you a number of targeting options - firstly, it will try to lock on to the nearest aggressor. Failing that, it will select the closest target in front of you within a range of just over 90-degrees. If this still fails, you enter 'free aim' mode, which gives you an over-the-shoulder, behind-character camera and a targeting reticule in the centre of the screen.
Left analogue is then used to move CJ backwards and forwards and strafe left and right, while right analogue operates the camera. L1 now becomes your trigger button. The aim of this targeting mode is to deliver a more classic third-person shooter feel during intense shootouts. However, R2 and L2 can still be used to cycle through locked targets.
WEAPON SKILL
CJ is graded in various categories of weapon use. The more he uses a firearm, the better he becomes with that particular item. The specific areas are: reload time; fire rate (shoot more bullets in less time); accuracy (your reticule becomes larger); weapon stance and movement (each weapon boasts unlockable abilities such as moving whilst firing, faster strafe speed and moving backwards whilst firing); and dual weapons (using two firearms at once).
COUNTRY GUNS
The countryside features one weapon totally exclusive to it - the Desert Eagle, or simply, the DEAGLE. This strapping handgun is extremely powerful, but very difficult to use. In fact, CJ will look like a right muppet when he first tries to squeeze its trigger.
CAN YOU DIG IT?
While Vice City introduced golf clubs and chainsaws, San Andreas has a few extra items hidden up its sleeve. The garden shovel, for example, not only allows you to dig shallow graves (Rockstar never disclosed whether this allows you to bury folk), but it also enables you to enjoy the satisfying 'klunk' or a shovel connecting with somebody's bonce.
Apparently, each melee weapon - and there are a few other new additions too - features a number of attacks, and as a first, CJ can now both lock onto opponents and block incoming blows. Very handy.
BULLDOZIN' OFF
The bulldozer is one of several new vehicles you can operate. This weighty beast boasts a plough (controllable with the right-analogue stick) that allows you to flip cars, frighten passers-by and destroy vast parts of the scenery. Be warned though - the bulldozer utilises rear-wheel steering (where the front wheels are locked into place), and can be a right git to drive.
FLYIN' HIGH
Thanks to San Andreas' incredibly huge environments, air travel is rising to prominence, with a number of plane varieties to fly. The Dodo has miraculously grown wings, and handles far better as a consequence, while the Crop Duster biplane benefits from improved plane physics, enabling you to perform barrel rolls, loops and hammerheads.
ON YER BIKE
Endure a tiring traipse to the top of Mount Chiliad, and CJ can enter into a perilous downhill mountain bike race all the way back to the bottom. Numerous gears enable riders to travel faster, plus there are a number of obstacles to be avoided/leapt. Be warned though - your fellow competitors are all mischievous foes, and will have no hesitation in knocking you flying - not that similar tactics cannot be employed by your good self, of course.
TWISTED FIRESTARTER
Fires can spread like, well, wildfire, and it's not unknown for one burning car to start off another and another, and before you know it, it's panic time! Although the San Andreas Fire Department is often at hand to solve such burning issues, you can't always count on it. Thankfully, CJ can also fight flames with extinguishers, rescuing damsels in distress as he sprays flames from the bottom upwards.
Seeing that firefighting was listed under 'countryside details', we're guessing that the threat of fires is far more serious in the proximity of surrounding forests.
LAWNMOWER MAN
Not exactly the fastest vehicle around, but if you're desperate, you can always pick up a lift with a riding lawnmower - at least they'll get you over tricky terrain. Plus, we imagine it would make a nasty mess if you run someone down. Ouch!
BIG TRUCK
Short of cash and passing through the rolling hills west of Los Santos? Then get some work with the RU Haul shipping company, where your daily task will involve transporting cargo (some legal, some 'hot') to various destinations in an 18-wheeler truck. This monstrous vehicle promises authentic handling and physics, meaning that it's possible to jack-knife if you lose grip, plus if you crash too much, expect to go up in a ball of flames.
ROAD RASHIN'
For boy racers with a difference, the countryside hosts numerous race events for you to enter. From 4x4 truck jaunts to motocross action, simply take your pick.
GUNS A-GUNG-HO!
San Andreas features an entirely reworked shooting system. While R1 still raises your weapon and Circle fires it, it also gives you a number of targeting options - firstly, it will try to lock on to the nearest aggressor. Failing that, it will select the closest target in front of you within a range of just over 90-degrees. If this still fails, you enter 'free aim' mode, which gives you an over-the-shoulder, behind-character camera and a targeting reticule in the centre of the screen.
Left analogue is then used to move CJ backwards and forwards and strafe left and right, while right analogue operates the camera. L1 now becomes your trigger button. The aim of this targeting mode is to deliver a more classic third-person shooter feel during intense shootouts. However, R2 and L2 can still be used to cycle through locked targets.
WEAPON SKILL
CJ is graded in various categories of weapon use. The more he uses a firearm, the better he becomes with that particular item. The specific areas are: reload time; fire rate (shoot more bullets in less time); accuracy (your reticule becomes larger); weapon stance and movement (each weapon boasts unlockable abilities such as moving whilst firing, faster strafe speed and moving backwards whilst firing); and dual weapons (using two firearms at once).
COUNTRY GUNS
The countryside features one weapon totally exclusive to it - the Desert Eagle, or simply, the DEAGLE. This strapping handgun is extremely powerful, but very difficult to use. In fact, CJ will look like a right muppet when he first tries to squeeze its trigger.
