GTA San Andreas Delayed!!

It may sound a little strange, but in the seasons prior to this year's upcoming Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, legions of our readers continued to ask us one specific question more than any other: Why can't Fido or Tommy ever swim?" Luckily, that burning question finally came to an end earlier this year when Rockstar confirmed that San Andreas' main character Carl Johnson would indeed hop into the water when he arrives this October. Longtime GTA fans definitely seemed relieved.

But just because that gameplay feature was confirmed and we know that CJ can finally take a step off the pier, the boat, or whatever else may separate him from a body of water, nobody knew quite yet just how this option would work. Was it just an afterthought thrown in to keep you from taking cheap kills? Would it introduce some all-new gameplay mechanics that actually turned out to be important? Or would the ability to dive in the water simply be a little something on the aesthetic side? Luckily, we have the answer.

As you might expect, CJ has a number of swimming techniques that can be accessed with the simple manipulation of the movement stick and the X button. Keep in mind, though, that by default CJ will automatically tread water -- regardless of how rough or choppy the seas may be. To do that, no button presses are necessary; but should you want to move and get out of whatever body of water you're in, you'll need to use one of the many types of strokes to do so.

The first and most traditional swimming technique is the classical breaststroke. Simply pressing forward on the left analog stick initiates this movement and you'll be able to push your way through the waters at a slow and steady pace (with no effect on CJ's stamina). Should you hold down X while performing the breaststroke, however, you'll move into CJ's Freestyle mode. While using this method, Carl will be able to swim a whole lot faster, which is ideal when you're in a rush. But as you might have figured, you can only perform the Freestyle swimming action for so long before your stamina runs out; much like how the running ability works when you're on land.

Should players decide that they want to take their swimming techniques underwater, they can do that too. As a quick press of the circle button allows CJ to dive underneath the surface and into the sea's icy depths. But while this may just seem like an extra bonus method to move through the water, it's a little bit more complicated than that. Diving down into a river's depths when someone is chasing you, for instance, is a great way to get that pursuer to lose your trail. Plus, once you're underwater, you can continue to press X to swim around and view the local marine life, before popping back up at a farther location.

In trying to keep San Andreas as realistic as possible, CJ will have to be mindful of his lung capacity when underwater. Being the human being that he is, after all, his lungs can't hold oxygen indefinitely. So once players have submerged themselves below the surface of the water, they'll need to keep an eye on Carl's "Breath-O-Meter" to know when he's about to run out. Should the meter fall to zero while CJ is still underwater, you'll be dead. Or as Rockstar put it to us when telling us about it "you'll be swimming in a different way; you'll be swimming with the fishes." In a move that may surprise you, Rockstar North has spent a significant amount of time ensuring that the underwater world of San Andreas is just as realistic and detailed as the surface world. If one of your cars falls into the water, for example, their appearance will slightly warp just as they would in real life. Additionally, the lighting effects will change in rivers, lakes, and other such areas, and also depending on how deep underwater CJ is swimming. As an added bonus, the surface and shallow segments of water change once more based on what time of day it is, and have further unique reactions based on the weather patterns.

One specific focus on underwater player perception that really intrigues us, is the fact that looking at land objects from below appear differently as well. And though this may just sound like a move that would make sense when trying to make the visuals as realistic as possible, we've been informed that it may also be a means to discover cool hidden bonuses. Whether or not these bonuses will be limited to being strictly underwater or underneath land objects that are partially submerged as yet to be revealed.

Now some of you may be wondering what happens if you drive your car off a pier. In a nutshell, if CJ moves fast enough once he's in the water he can escape from the car and swim to shore. Unfortunately, his time to escape is pretty limited and he'll quickly begin to run out of air as the car sinks; just as he would had he dove underwater more traditionally. Luckily, CJ doesn't need any special access points to get out of the water once he escapes his car -- he can walk to land from any beach or grab onto any ledge as long as it's low enough for him to reach it.

Of course, you may not want CJ to get out of the water just yet. As Carl can also jack boats while he's still within the water. Performing this move on parked watercraft is pretty easy, but if you're going after a moving boat it's a different proposition entirely. To do that, you'll need some razor sharp timing to hop up onto the boat and intimidate the pilot. Should all go according to plan, he'll get terrified and run off the edge of the craft in fear.

There are other cool new additions to the water-based aspects of San Andreas than what we've mentioned above as well. The wave physics, for example, have been completely re-worked so that the open water reacts more realistically to different weather types. Should the San Francisco-inspired San Fierro be hit with a storm, for instance, the water will get extremely rough and choppy. Each boat will react to the wave conditions as well, with swells slowly pushing the boats towards the shore complete with realistic wake effects.

One last thing that prospective players should never forget is that CJ isn't the only character in San Andreas that can swim. Several of the other NPCs can also enjoy the waters of their home state but what kind of an impact this will have on CJ's own time in the water has yet to be seen.