GTA: San Andreas iOS rocks, especially with a controller

It’s basically instant 1:1 controller mapping

GTA: San Andreas is out on iOS this week (with Android and Windows Phones coming soon), following up the previous mobile versions of GTA III and Vice City. Like those ports, San Andreas is basically picture perfect, all the way from the visuals on a high-end device, to the content.

This is a fully featured GTA game with all the bells and whistles, which is a testament to how far the platform has come over the years.

San Andreas on iOS has newly mastered visuals that are slightly impressive than the original, and cloud save support, so you can transfer your data to another device. The best part though? This is the first mobile GTA game to feature full iOS controller support — and Rockstar really went all the way on this one. I popped my iPhone 5 into the MOGA controller unit (which has two analog sticks, and all four triggers, just like a console controller), and it instantly mapped everything.

The tutorials were color coded to the face buttons, the triggers worked like a charm, and everything was exactly the same — like I was playing it on a Vita or a PlayStation 2 controller (even going as far as allowing you to change the radio with the MOGA’s d-pad — nice!). I was pretty surprised at how well it worked, actually, with the caveat of having to buy a $99 controller attachment for your device.

Although it was the “breaking point” for many people I knew growing up, where they finally got “sick” of Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas made a lot of advancements for the series. It’s a great entry in my opinion, and worth checking out — especially for under $10 on the go.