The aircraft are a shade fiddly, slowing the game down slightly at a key juncture (about, er, 30 hours in). Problems? The draw distance occasionally pops objects into view but only when you're airborne or atop the highest peaks. You rarely get bored and - thanks to the great design, not gaming voodoo - you always seem to pass the harder missions just before bemusement morphs into rage. It's relentless, consistently balanced and invariably brilliant. to steering articulated lorries in Tanker Commander, to burning 'special' crops in Are You Going to San Fierro, to driving Go Karts and in Beat Down on B Dup, to dodging barrels and skydiving from 30,000ft in Stowaway, or visiting in, the pace rarely drops.

Missions? From spray painting rival hoods in Tagging Up Turf, to tossing boxes off a speeding train in Catalyst, to an amazing on-rails shooting section culminating in a Terminator 2-style tanker crashing onto a dam in slo-mo in Just Business, to infiltrating a hilltop mansion Manhunt-style in Madd Dogg's rhymes.

Gta sa b dup