What Rockstar didn't do right in GTA San Andreas

Modified Jul 23, 2024 09:43 GMT

While GTA San Andreas is considered one of the best games from the Grand Theft Auto 3D Universe, Rockstar Games left out many aspects that could've been fixed. It was a massive game that still alludes to fans. However, what's overlooked often bugs new-age players. While the studio fixed many issues with the Definitive Edition, they're still prevalent in the original version.

Here's a brief discussion of things Rockstar Games didn't do right while developing GTA San Andreas.

Note: This article is subjective and only reflects the writer’s opinions.

Things that weren't well-designed by Rockstar in GTA San Andreas

There is no doubt that the immersion and details in GTA San Andreas are unmatched. It has the biggest game map of the 3D Universe consisting of three major cities.

However, while the area of the open world is big, the details are somewhat hollow. Most of the GTA San Andreas map has nothing except barren lands and deserts. In simple words, the map's vastness map doesn't incentivize players to explore it.

If you visit a non-populated location, you’ll find nothing to do except aimlessly roam around. While some areas have Easter eggs, the map is too big to consider them enough.

The lack of proper mission checkpoints was another issue Rockstar finally fixed with the Grand Theft Auto remastered trilogy. However, if you play the original GTA San Andreas and fail a mission, you’ll have to start from the very beginning. The issue becomes more obnoxious when you do hard missions like Wrong Side of the Tracks.

Once you fail a mission, the game will simply leave you at your current location. From there, you'll have to travel back to the mission marker to start the mission again. However, the traveling process is also not easy as Grand Theft Auto San Andreas has no GPS.

You have to either guess the route or move back and forth between the game and the map to reach your destination. This was a major issue in the 3D Universe games of the Grand Theft Auto series.

Lastly, the poor rendering tech used in the game was never a pleasant experience. As you traverse the map, many objects suddenly appear before you, breaking the continuity. This looks quite unrealistic for a high-profile game like GTA San Andreas. Unfortunately, this problem persists in Grand Theft Auto Trilogy Definitive Edition.

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Edited by Angad Sharma