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

With a franchise as unshakeably popular as Grand Theft Auto, our journalistic instincts tell us to be as ferociously cynical as possible: hoping to part the sea of hype that San Andreas so effortlessly surfs upon to reveal a muddy bed of mediocrity. Indeed, it was with this is mind that we set about our mission to visit Rockstar's London offices, in the salubrious streets of Chelsea. Surpressing our urges to carjack one of the steady stream of Mercs and Beemers ("but officer, San Andreas made me do it...") we trekked on through the rain in search of San Andreas.

Within minutes of the demonstration commencing, however, any hope of finding something negative to say was immediately dispelled. SPOnG loved GTA III and Vice City, and this offers everything good about those plus some. Quite frankly, promoting this game must be the easiest job in the world. Rockstar's PR folk could have slapped us in the face with a kipper, kicked us in the nuts, stolen our dinner money, and cancelled all their advertising and a gushingly positive preview would still be the only one possible. But as it happens, the PR folk were really lovely - not least because it was their hands feeding SPOnG this delicious glimpse of what will surely become one of the biggest selling games of all time.