Beginnings: A Game That Felt Too Big San Andreas exploded expectations. Its three-city sweep — Los Santos’ palm-lined corruption, San Fierro’s fogged repetition of Bay Area motifs, Las Venturas’ neon gambling fever — felt less like levels and more like regions of a lived country. The protagonist, Carl "CJ" Johnson, returned from exile to bury his mother and inherited a world fraying at the seams: gang turf wars, corrupt cops, family betrayals, and the seductive safety of organized crime. For players, the game’s scope was dizzying: driving massive distances, customizing CJ’s look and skills, building a gang again from the pavement up. The PS2’s limited hardware somehow softened rather than diminished the ambition; the grain and pop of 480i became part of the aesthetic, like watching a favorite movie on an old TV.