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Oct 5th, 2008 at 22:54:19 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PC) |
Giving GTA: San Andreas another go today, I decided to pause doing missions and simply move around the city of Los Santos to find somethings to do. Immediately I was made aware of how bad of a driver I am in the game. It could be me, but I suspect that the game engine and the layout of a virtual city makes it very hard to drive a car around without bumping into something a few times.
My casual ride turned out to be quite a bit rougher than I expected. I have yet to become accustomed to driving in GTA, so my speed control was terrible. I bumped into other cars, I ran over and injured a few people. At 2-star wanted level, the police chased me around, and I managed to hide from them long enough to get a paint job to escape going to jail. The weird thing is: I managed to get a 2-star wanted level a lot faster than when I was working on the missions, and I wasn't even trying to.
This prompts an interesting ethical question about goodwill and its outcome. According to Kant, even if a person's best effort at doing good should fall short and cause harm, the good will behind the effort is still good. I did not have any ill-intentions while driving, yet I caused accidents and the police turned on me. It seems that Kantianism and the categorical imperative does not apply in the game.
This entry has been edited 2 times. It was last edited on Oct 6th, 2008 at 00:18:31.
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Oct 5th, 2008 at 20:07:38 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PC) |
Today I played GTA: San Andreas for the first time on the PC. The main playable character in the game is Carl Johnson, and most people call him Carl or CJ. The opening cinematic shows CJ coming back from Liberty City after learning about Mama's death through Sweet (his brother). He came back to find his gang in total disorder. It seems that players will have to guide CJ through the various missions to strengthen his gang once again, and also find out about Mama's death.
My first reaction is that although "GTA: SA" is just a game, emotional attachment and relationship plays a strong emphasis, especially in the core missions of the game. The gang members tell CJ so themselves: "Respect has to be earned, just like money." Sweet is unhappy about his sister Kendl's relationship with Cesar, who is the leader of a rival gang Varrios Los Aztecas. Sweet, himself is a powerful character, who is extremely loyal to the gang and the hood. Loyalty certainly plays a major part in the game. Sweet even demanded that CJ wears green to show his affiliation with the gang. All of this leads me to believe that the game will possess a very powerful storyline to be revealed later on.
As expected of a game about gangs like GTA, swearing and racial slangs are also thrown around incessantly, which made me cringe a few times while playing, having never played the previous GTA games before. My personal favorite quote though is from Officer Frank Tenpenny: "I can shit on you from such a height, you'll think God himself took a crap on you." Violence is displayed in every other scene and mission in the game. Soon after CJ came back to the neighborhood, he and Sweet got attacked by the Ballas. Guns are brandished and shot freely, and NPCs can be beaten to death with very little consequences. This aspect of the game was exactly what discouraged me from purchasing and playing the previous games in the series.
This entry has been edited 4 times. It was last edited on Oct 5th, 2008 at 22:55:44.
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