Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a 2004 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh overall entry in the Grand Theft Auto series and the fifth main game, following 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Set within the fictional U.S. state of San Andreas (based on California and Nevada) in 1992, the game follows Carl "CJ" Johnson, who returns home after his mother's murder. Finding his street gang in decline, CJ works to rebuild it while clashing with corrupt authorities and rival criminals, and gradually uncovers the truth behind his mother's death.

The game is played from a third-person perspective and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. The open world design lets the player freely roam San Andreas, consisting of three major metropolitan cities: Los Santos, San Fierro, and Las Venturas, based on Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Las Vegas, respectively. Rockstar conducted on-site research in each city and consulted Los Angeles natives DJ Pooh, Estevan Oriol, and Mister Cartoon for help imitating the city's culture. The narrative is based on multiple real-life events in Los Angeles, including the Bloods and Crips street gang rivalry, the 1990s crack epidemic, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the Rampart scandal. The 75-person development team spent nearly two years creating the game. San Andreas was released in October 2004 for the PlayStation 2.