Re: Your favorite Grand Theft Auto?
I wish they made flying a difficult pain again like in GTA III. I realize that plane was clip-winged, but it felt like such an achievement for me to be able to fly that. Considering I kind of "taught myself" how to do it, it seemed like such an awesome skill to possess.
(it's at this point when I was typing that I realized I was going to start talking about the next game, and the game after that, etc. lol)
I admittedly don't like Vice City that much (EDIT: I mean when ranking GTA games... otherwise it's a top 20 game of all time), but maybe it's because it was set a bit too early for my liking or the map just wasn't that grand. It was also seemingly overcast as often as it was sunny, which very much may be how it is/was in the day. But it did more revolutionary things for the franchise, including having motorcycles, helicopters (though I was just pining for more difficult flying vehicles), popping tires (and police spike strips, which they probably removed because people complained), a speaking main character, interiors, an in-game map system, weapon arsenal, properties to own, changing clothes, incredible radio stations, etc. Somehow this game didn't give you an opportunity to swim yet, which is a bit unnerving.
San Andreas was the clear upgrade though in every sense of the word. From the gargantuan diverse map to the lack of loading times between areas, to the extracurricular activities and the RPG elements, gangs and turf wars, cover system, swimming of course and the famous jetpack, stealth missions, popular landmarks galore, so many Easter eggs (I remember a thread on another forum that was hundreds of pages long looking for Bigfoot), a 3D map layout for and hell it had SLJ as well. This was the pinnacle of the series when it comes to jampacking as much in the game as possible and feeling like you were upgrading more as time went on. This game just really felt like one massive playground, and in the PS2 era this was exactly what was needed.
GTA IV of course was revolutionary coming on PS3/360 and including online play, which was some of my most fun gaming with you guys online when it first came out. Though for SP, I honestly never felt Niko out as a character, though now I just find him hilarious with his screaming and Roman always calling him asking him to go bowling. What I didn't like is that he never once did become impressed by the glamour of the American Dream (I mean can you blame him given what he experienced?). Liberty City lacked the countryside but still had an impressive high-rise map with Liberty Island. On the plus side this game came to the modern era with its shooting/targeting system, it introduced the mobile phone and websites, and the Euphoria rag doll physics engine was a welcomed addition, though was hilariously unrefined at the same time. Vehicles didn't spontaneously combust every time they became unusable, and this was also the last game to feature vigilante and taxi side quests (I forget if you could do paramedic stuff here). This was also the first series installment where some interiors were enterable without any loading in between, and this game easily had the best, most realistic driving physics. Now, what really made this game cool was the two story DLC's with The Lost & Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which also improved the graphics at the same time.
GTA V is honestly a combination of the most impressive with the most disappointing. I could go on and on about what depressed me about the map, but it's basically involved with the city feeling so small, the countryside feeling so barren, the north end of the map feeling so useless, and the potential feeling so wasted (especially as the expand GTA:O but don't allow any of it to appear in SP, including whatever is coming next year). But the enhanced visuals, switching of characters, heists, soundtrack in missions, expansive map spread (even though I just poo-pooed on it), no loading between interiors/exteriors, a stock market and banking system, and brought back some RPG elements with extracurriculars (I dug golf and tennis, rough as they were). What these games really lack now is there doesn't seem to be a greater incentive to beating the game anymore, like it's not a "rags to riches" storyline. This game did really frustrating things with police though that have made things easier (but not for the better), including the wanted system where you can see where all police are for no apparent reason, and that cop cars don't appear in normal traffic ever. The driving of course has gone back to arcade form, especially when it comes to aerial flipping. The biggest disappointment though is how SP has been abandoned and all of Rockstar's efforts goes to GTA:O. We'll see how they address some of my V concerns when VI comes around and what they decide to do map-wise.
I think the best game absolutely has to be GTA V if you're doing a strict side-by-side comparison, which can be unfair to any game that is generations older but still. However, outside of GTA III's leap from the top-down games, San Andreas is far and away the most impressive when it comes to how it evolved from the game before it and what you had the freedom of doing.
I wish they made flying a difficult pain again like in GTA III. I realize that plane was clip-winged, but it felt like such an achievement for me to be able to fly that. Considering I kind of "taught myself" how to do it, it seemed like such an awesome skill to possess.
(it's at this point when I was typing that I realized I was going to start talking about the next game, and the game after that, etc. lol)
I admittedly don't like Vice City that much (EDIT: I mean when ranking GTA games... otherwise it's a top 20 game of all time), but maybe it's because it was set a bit too early for my liking or the map just wasn't that grand. It was also seemingly overcast as often as it was sunny, which very much may be how it is/was in the day. But it did more revolutionary things for the franchise, including having motorcycles, helicopters (though I was just pining for more difficult flying vehicles), popping tires (and police spike strips, which they probably removed because people complained), a speaking main character, interiors, an in-game map system, weapon arsenal, properties to own, changing clothes, incredible radio stations, etc. Somehow this game didn't give you an opportunity to swim yet, which is a bit unnerving.
San Andreas was the clear upgrade though in every sense of the word. From the gargantuan diverse map to the lack of loading times between areas, to the extracurricular activities and the RPG elements, gangs and turf wars, cover system, swimming of course and the famous jetpack, stealth missions, popular landmarks galore, so many Easter eggs (I remember a thread on another forum that was hundreds of pages long looking for Bigfoot), a 3D map layout for and hell it had SLJ as well. This was the pinnacle of the series when it comes to jampacking as much in the game as possible and feeling like you were upgrading more as time went on. This game just really felt like one massive playground, and in the PS2 era this was exactly what was needed.
GTA IV of course was revolutionary coming on PS3/360 and including online play, which was some of my most fun gaming with you guys online when it first came out. Though for SP, I honestly never felt Niko out as a character, though now I just find him hilarious with his screaming and Roman always calling him asking him to go bowling. What I didn't like is that he never once did become impressed by the glamour of the American Dream (I mean can you blame him given what he experienced?). Liberty City lacked the countryside but still had an impressive high-rise map with Liberty Island. On the plus side this game came to the modern era with its shooting/targeting system, it introduced the mobile phone and websites, and the Euphoria rag doll physics engine was a welcomed addition, though was hilariously unrefined at the same time. Vehicles didn't spontaneously combust every time they became unusable, and this was also the last game to feature vigilante and taxi side quests (I forget if you could do paramedic stuff here). This was also the first series installment where some interiors were enterable without any loading in between, and this game easily had the best, most realistic driving physics. Now, what really made this game cool was the two story DLC's with The Lost & Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, which also improved the graphics at the same time.
GTA V is honestly a combination of the most impressive with the most disappointing. I could go on and on about what depressed me about the map, but it's basically involved with the city feeling so small, the countryside feeling so barren, the north end of the map feeling so useless, and the potential feeling so wasted (especially as the expand GTA:O but don't allow any of it to appear in SP, including whatever is coming next year). But the enhanced visuals, switching of characters, heists, soundtrack in missions, expansive map spread (even though I just poo-pooed on it), no loading between interiors/exteriors, a stock market and banking system, and brought back some RPG elements with extracurriculars (I dug golf and tennis, rough as they were). What these games really lack now is there doesn't seem to be a greater incentive to beating the game anymore, like it's not a "rags to riches" storyline. This game did really frustrating things with police though that have made things easier (but not for the better), including the wanted system where you can see where all police are for no apparent reason, and that cop cars don't appear in normal traffic ever. The driving of course has gone back to arcade form, especially when it comes to aerial flipping. The biggest disappointment though is how SP has been abandoned and all of Rockstar's efforts goes to GTA:O. We'll see how they address some of my V concerns when VI comes around and what they decide to do map-wise.
I think the best game absolutely has to be GTA V if you're doing a strict side-by-side comparison, which can be unfair to any game that is generations older but still. However, outside of GTA III's leap from the top-down games, San Andreas is far and away the most impressive when it comes to how it evolved from the game before it and what you had the freedom of doing.
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