It was, and remains, the best GTA game of all time. You could visit the barber, show off your new trim on an evening date, play pool with your crew, or hit the basketball court, and an RPG-like stats system for every vehicle and weapon type in the game added extra customisation. At times, San Andreas felt almost like a life sim: you could build muscle at the gym provided you ate enough to maintain your bulk, but if you stuffed yourself too often you’d put on weight. The bit we remember fondest is the roleplaying. You went from pinching sports cars to stealing combine harvesters. The ambitious plot wasn’t afraid to change pace, and at one point plucked you from the streets of Los Santos and dumped you in the hilly countryside between the three cities. Protagonist and gangster Carl 'CJ' Johnson managed to keep the story on track despite the absurdity of everything you could do, from robbing a casino to stealing a jetpack from a top-secret government bunker and blasting away from the scene. San Andreas built on the brilliance of Vice City in every way: it was more than three times the size, and each of its cities - Rockstar’s versions of LA, San Francisco and Vegas - felt unique.
