When Rockstar debuted its extended look at GTA 6 on Netflix, it was as if the developer had uploaded a one-off episode of a crime thriller to the platform. Sure, this was a gameplay reveal and there was certainly plenty of what was clearly a person playing a video game, but it nonetheless felt like a cinematic event. Compelling characters, building tension, slick action, and beautiful camera direction – it was as if Michael Mann had shadow-dropped a CGI short.
None of that will have come as a surprise. Rockstar has always had one eye on the movies – the game that shot it to stardom is a love-letter to Goodfellas, and its most recent open-world is the greatest Western never filmed. But the cinematic ambition we associate with the studio truly came to fruition in 2004 with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Its predecessors, GTA 3 and Vice City, had been packed with references to classic crime cinema and voiced by genuine Hollywood talent. But that wasn’t enough for San Andreas. For this ‘90s-set Californian epic, Rockstar wanted to put you in the movies. And so it designed missions that felt like they’d been pulled from the silver screen.
There’s no better example of this than Reuniting the Families, the penultimate chapter of San Andreas’ opening act. It’s a highly-scripted, expertly directed slice of interactive storytelling that casts you in the leading role. And by trading the freedom of its open world for a tighter, more authored experience, San Andreas makes this gripping getaway feel more dramatic than any story the series had told thus far.
It remains true even today that the vast majority of Grand Theft Auto’s missions take place outdoors. This is a series built on the city sandbox. One of its most appealing facets is that you’re free to go anywhere – every road, alley, and freeway is fair game. Causing trouble in that mass sprawl of concrete and asphalt was simply what GTA was during the first two games of the series’ 3D era, which for the most part only permitted you to come indoors when an NPC invited you in for a cutscene.
But the indoors offers something the open-world can't: Control. Direction. Oversight. Rooms and corridors are the perfect container for scenes and set-pieces, untouched by the continual simulation of metropolitan life. And so it’s no surprise that San Andreas, with its substantially loftier storytelling goals, frequently sends you into buildings all over its digital golden state. As Carl “CJ” Johnson, you stealthily murder your way through a music mogul’s mansion, steal rifles from a sleeping weapons hoarder, and rescue a damsel in distress from a burning condo – all moments that, thanks to a stronger guiding hand and purposeful level design, feel akin to playing through a movie scene.
That feeling peaks in Reuniting the Families, a turning point for the failing Grove Street gang. With the rival Ballas having practically overrun the city of Los Santos with its drug pushing operation, CJ’s brother Sweet decides it’s time to pull together the gang’s fractured families. He’ll meet the heads of the sets at the Jefferson Motel. CJ and fellow gang members Ryder and Smoke will accompany him, but remain outside while the negotiations take place. Soon, a rejuvenated Grove Street will strike back at their enemies and reclaim the streets.
If only crime were that simple. As soon as Sweet enters the building, the police turn up in force. Ryder and Smoke scarper – “It’s every motherf*cker for himself!” – but CJ heads into the motel to rescue his brother.
Confined by the complex’s small rooms and enclosed hallways, San Andreas suddenly transforms from an open-world playground into a third-person shooter. The motel’s layout functions akin to a level in a linear video game, its corridors guiding you forward through a series of pre-determined moments and combat encounters. The tense atmosphere this scripting creates is apparent from the moment you load in – a fellow Grove Street member is shot to pieces and sent flailing over the hall’s upper balcony. Another lies dead in the stairwell. A woman runs for her life. As you head on up to the main floor, you’re hit by an unexpected jump scare: a SWAT officer rolls through the door and opens fire. You’re about to enter a criminal's worst nightmare, a house of horrors where the law is waiting to pop out from behind every door.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-san-andreas-mission-you-need-to-play-before-gta-6
