With GTA 6 on the horizon, a new era of the franchise is about to unfold, and it looks to be the most ambitious entry in the beloved franchise yet. The Grand Theft Auto series is full of genre-defining moments that have shaped the video game landscape over the years, and it's likely that GTA 6 will also be a trendsetter in this regard. However, the bar for overall impact on gaming as a whole is incredibly high, med Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas laying the groundwork for modern games as one of the most impactful games of all time.
When GTA: San Andreas was released back in 2004, the franchise was already pretty well established. Having moved on from the 2D era of GTA 1 and GTA 2, GTA 3 introduced the concept of a 3D open world for players to explore, accept quests and treat as a sandbox for their imaginations. As the third entry in the 3D era of Grand Theft Auto franchise, San Andreas elevated the map design and gameplay mechanics of its predecessors to create one of the most impressive and robust open world maps of its time, and is unlikely to GTA 6 has the means to really match the influence that San Andreas would have for the open-world genre upon its release.
Grand Theft Auto fans have a major concern when it comes to GTA 6
Anticipation around GTA continues to grow, and a major concern is focused on the game's environmental realism.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas set the standard for the open world map over 20 years ago
It's hard to understand how important a game is San Andreas was for pioneering the open world genre in the early 2000s looking back on it today. Modern gaming is full of sprawling open worlds to the point where it has largely become standard. But at that time GTA: San Andreas released, there were few examples to point to in comparison outside of the previous entries in the franchise.
The other open world games that existed around the time of San Andreass release really couldn't compare to the scale of its open world. A game that The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowindwhich was released in 2002, had an impressive map size at the time, but would have been more comparable to GTA: Vice Citywhich was released the same year. Even open world games like Shadow of the Colossus, Bullyor Fallout 3which would be released years after San Andreasdidn't have nearly as impressive maps.
San Andreas' major locations segment the game into distinct chapters
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Los Santos
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San Andreas countryside
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San Fierro
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The desert
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Las Venturas
Although the map size of San Andreas has been surpassed by games released in the years since, its scope is hard to compete with. The game not only introduces Los Santos to GTA franchise, but it brings with it two other full cities in the state of San Andreas, San Fierro and Las Venturas, as well as the areas in between, such as The Desert and San Andreas Countryside. Together, these places make San Andreas feels larger than life, even if it's technically smaller than many modern open-world games.
Another factor that contributes to the extent of San Andreas is how the game uses its large locations to break up story chapters. The feeling of exploring Los Santos in the first act only for CJ to end up in the San Andreas Countryside really put the scale of the game into perspective. The same can be said for diving into the San Fierro Arch and eventually the Las Venturas Arch as well.
San Andreas laid the foundation for Future Rockstar Games to follow
The news of San Andreass massive multi-city map has lost its luster somewhat, given the Rockstar games that have followed it. GTA 4 built on this world design by separating Liberty City into distinct areas associated with each major plot, despite all still being in one city. The Red Dead Redemption games also followed this trend, with Red Dead Redemption 2 is the latest Rockstart game to orient its story around specific regions such as New Hanover, West Elizabeth, Ambarino, Lemoyne, and New Austin. But that was it San Andreas that pioneered this format, and there was nothing quite like it at the time of the game's release.
While GTA 6's map is the largest in the franchise, it may not hold a candle to San Andreas
GTA 5 brought players back to Los Santos for the first time since then San Andreasand while the city itself is much larger and more fleshed out, GTA 5 lacks the access to San Fierro and Las Venturas that San Andreas had. The map above GTA 5 is greater than San Andreasalmost twice as big actually, but without San Fierro and Las Venturas the scale doesn't feel quite as impressive in comparison. Probably, GTA 5 has the better version of Los Santos too, but the world building it San Andreas offered with its additional cities across the state of San Andreas is the best in the franchise bar none.
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This sets GTA 6 in a tough position when it comes to upping the ante of map scale. While GTA 6 is an ambitious game that will include Vice City and parts of the surrounding state of Leonida, it is not clear how much of this state will be included in the game's map. GTA 6s map may technically be the largest in the entire franchise, potentially one of the largest of any game to date, but it comes at a time when huge open worlds don't need to be tied to major franchises like Grand Theft Autolike this year's Crimson Desert has shown. As such, it is unlikely GTA 6s map will be its defining feature as GTA: San Andreasit was, and it is unlikely any future GTA the game's map will have the same impact on the genre.
- Released
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October 26, 2004
- ESRB
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M for adult: blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content, use of drugs
- Engine
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RenderWare
