Just Like My Life, But Lazier and Better

I recently purchased Grand Theft Auto for my PSP, and I am once again reminded of why I play video games. Grand Theft Auto is pure genius on so many levels, though the PSP version is still nothing compared to the 2005 release, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

In the game you are C.J., a young and freshly paroled thug trying to make a living for yourself on the streets of basically Los Angeles. The game is perfect because you can do whatever you want. You live in a house within a massive city, and in order to progress through the game you have to work for various people and do jobs, such as make drug deals, steal a particular car, drive your boss around town, etc. You work your way up from small time thug to massive kingpin.

However, the real appeal of the game isn't the story, its everything else. Aside from doing your 'missions' to advance the storyline, you can just explore the city and fool around all day. And, for that matter, you don't actually have to do a mission if you don't want to. Instead, you can get up every day, go to the store, buy clothes, get a haircut, buy jewelry, lift weights, play pool, pick up girls, etc. And that's where the brilliance comes in; the game is EXACTLY like real life because, as in real life, it's easier just to sit around all day playing pool and stealing and crashing cars than it is to go out and get a job! For example, after completing about ten missions, I got tired of all the work; you would have to drive all the way across town, find some guys house, drive him somewhere, rob a bank, buy a suit, etc... It was too hard. Instead, all I would do in the game is find a knife somewhere, start randomly killing people to rob them, then, when I got enough money I would go to the store and buy ridiculous clothes and jewelry. When I got the game and my character 'just right,' I was wearing only a cowboy hat, a huge gold medallion necklace shaped like Africa, a bandana around my face, white underwear, cowboy boots, and nothing else. I would then do a cheat code to get an AK-47, then I would wander over to the rich part of town, steal a Ferrari, and just drive around aimlessly sort of running over people / looking for ramps to jump off of. I would do this for about a half hour until I died..... This is all I ever did in the game. I have no idea how the game or story developed because the missions were hard, required work, and it was easier just to do nothing instead. How could you ask for anything more?