Grand Theft Auto 5 does not call back to GTA: San Andreas often, but one connection between the two games is a heartbreaking failure for San Andreas‘ CJ. It’s a detail that can be easily missed, especially for newcomers to the series. Veterans of San Andreas will catch it somewhat easily, though, and they will likely be shocked by what they find.
“Hood Safari” is a mission in Grand Theft Auto 5 that stands out for its quality. It features some good interactions between Franklin, Lamar, and Trevor, as well as one of Trevor’s most legitimately helpful moments outside the game’s heists. It has plenty of action and humor, and can easily be considered one of Grand Theft Auto 5‘s more satisfying missions. This mission reveals a hidden sadness, though, and not one that some players may notice the first time they play unless they played San Andreas first. Those that do realize this may end up wondering if their efforts in the previous title actually amounted to anything.
In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one of protagonist CJ’s main missions is to protect his neighborhood, Grove Street. The main forces that he is trying to ward off are a rival gang, the Ballas, and drugs. Unlike CJ and the Grove Street Families, the Ballas were heavily involved in San Andreas’ drug trade, and their feud with the Families combined with San Andreas‘ shocking Grove Street betrayal was a constant danger. By the end of the game, CJ will have gotten most of San Andreas under the control of the Grove Street Families while also outliving his archenemy, the crooked Officer Tenpenny.
GTA 5 Proved That CJ Couldn’t Save Grove Street
Come GTA 5, it turns out that CJ’s story didn’t end as well as one might have hoped. In Hood Safari, Lamar directs the crew to Grove Street in order to buy drugs, the same Grove Street that CJ fought so hard to protect. Now the street is overrun by Ballas, whose members patrol the street while houses are tagged with their graffiti, ironic considering that CJ likely tagged over all of their gang tags in San Andreas. If the violent reaction to the dealer’s scam is any indication, the street has become quite a stronghold for the Ballas as well. There isn’t a hint of Grove Street’s former residents to be found, either. Unless CJ and Sweet skipped town years beforehand, it’s likely that they were either driven out or killed when the Ballas took over.
The worst part of seeing Grove Street controlled by Ballas is that it essentially renders CJ’s attempts to keep drugs out of Grove Street pointless. Whether it happened shortly after the conclusion of San Andreas or years later, Grove Street would fall into exactly the kind of place that CJ and Sweet wanted to keep it from becoming, with dealers slinging drugs out of the same houses they once lived in. Even though CJ triumphed over San Andreas‘ hated C.R.A.S.H. unit, it feels like a hollow victory knowing what would happen to Grove Street.
For newer GTA fans, “Hood Safari” was probably just another fun mission with plenty to keep them entertained. In actuality, it showed that what success CJ experienced at the end of San Andreas was fleeting, as the Ballas eventually took control. Grand Theft Auto 5 isn’t a particularly sentimental game, but “Hood Safari” was an unpleasant shock to those who knew Grove Street’s history.
