Previews// Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)

But just like it was back in the day, the 5-0 (The narcs, the feds, the fuzz, the pigs, the filth, the babylon) will only ever be one step away; and this time their behaviour is markedly more aggressive. The police open fire on people other than CJ, and take an active interest in all suspicious looking citizens. CJ might be sat in his car, parked by the curb, contemplating his next move, when a police chopper search-light will scan across the street. You look at your wanted rating, notice you've got 2 stars. Gasp! What to do? Then the searchlight passes across the street onto a gaggle of dodgy looking homeys loitering on the corner: you're in the clear, edge back and leg it!

There's also a difference between the separate police departments that watch over the play area. Rockstar was quite proud to declare that this is the first game where you can do that Blues Brother or Smokey and The Bandit type thing, where you race across the county border, leaving the city cops behind you as the rural sheriff team takes over within its jurisdiction. Should you escape the (presumably tobacco-chewing) sheriff, you'll then find yourself deep in GTA SA's redneck territory, boyee!

Although we were denied the opportunity to see the full cross-county tour, San Andreas does boast a surprisingly eclectic variety of landscapes. If CJ wants to fit in accordingly, there are fairly obvious ways to do so. The LA-inspired streets of Los Santos are mostly about gang affiliations, and dressing like a no-good street hustler. San Fierro, based on San Francisco, has a more laidback vibe to it, and to mingle with the hippies and yuppies, CJ can afford to appear a little less menacing. Las Ventura, the third and final of San Andreas’ cities, is based on Las Vegas - and as such, CJ can get in the holiday mood, don his glad-rags and saunter down to a casino. And if the constant urban hustle and bustle gets too much, between these three settlements lie rolling rural pastures, rocky mountains and deserts: which happen to feature a massive earthen phallus (the ’giant rock cock’ spied by keen-eyed SPOnG reader -Choi!) and possibly other indirect geological references to naughty bits (again, no official confirmation on this one).