Driving a speedboat into the sunset just doesn't have the same charm.

Especially when there's Brucie in the back chatting it up.

Actually one of the main things I miss from San Andreas is the Gym and just riding a bicycle, it was cool as to just bike from one city to the country side then to another city.. OH and turf wars was great fun!

Man this is what I have been saying all along. For all the steps forward it's taken, GTA4 has taken even more back. Yeah it's great and it's fun, but I think people have just FORGOTTEN how huge and great SA was. The whole fucking GANGSTA LIFE NIGZ pissed me off to no end, but there was so much to do in that game, and the scale felt so much bigger and real than in GTA4. Understandably, given that SA takes place on a COUNTRY SCALE and not a CITY SCALE but like... it just felt so much more complete.

I dunno what I'm trying to get at here.

weren't you the guy who said GTA SA was too black.

think that's what you're getting at...

weren't you the guy who said GTA SA was too black.

think that's what you're getting at...

That is still in Sredni's sig after like a year. Jesus.

Plus yeah, GTA4 does the cities well, but it's not just that that's missing. It's the SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF and the NEED TO BE REAL. GTA4's great with its realism (well... not great, but you know), and certainly more realistic than any other GTA to date, but there's a definite trade-off in fun. I remember a mission in SA where you had to ride a motorbike up a fucking plane's landing ramp while it was dropping shit out the back, fight your way through the cargo bay to the cockpit, beat up the pilot, and take control of it. Then also where you went and burnt some dude's weed field with a flamethrower, oh AND AND AND when you stole a combine harvester. And swimming through to some ARMY SHIP and fighting your way through and stealing a STEALTH JET HARRIER VEHICLE, THEN BLOWING UP SOME THAT TRY TO CHASE YOU.

What does GTA4 have? GO <KILL, DESTROY> SOME <DUDE, VEHICLE, BUILDING>, THEN GET AWAY FROM THE SCENE. Admittedly some of the missions were really cool (the hospital one, ROBBING THE BANK and the last one on the REVENGE storyline spring to mind), but there's just not as much variety, you know? There's no doubt that what it does, it does damn well (some of the set pieces are great, like the warehouses you occasionally go kill dudes in), but GTA4 doesn't stray from familiarity too much. One thing it definitely has over any of the others is the characters, though. I love Roman, Jacob, Packie and Brucie (not Kate so much). I can't remember many of the characters from SA apart from SHIT RYDER NIGGER SHIT SWEET FUCK SMOKE SHIT CJ MOTHERFUCKER because that is basically what happened in 90% of the conversations.

Like yeah, like Lars said there was a little too much going on (eating and shit; haircuts was okay, but most of them looked ridiculous), but there was a lot in it that was also fun. Motorbiking through the vast countryside, FLAME THROWERS (where the fuck are these in GTA4), katanas, chainsaws, COP BIKES (I really really really want more bikes in the DLC, I love bikes), gang territories/wars, jetpacks (ok actually, the jetpack was really gay), planes (not that these were really all THAT good), parachutes (these were fucking handy), bicycles... I loved the bicycles, man. There was so much variety in colour too. Los Santos was pretty bland, but then you had the Badlands (was that the name of the COUNTRY-LIKE AREA?), and San Fierro which were bursting with colour, then the desert which was pretty... orange. Then Las Venturas was fuckin' BRIGHT VEGAS COLOURS EVERYWHERE. GTA4's kinda like "OK, here's Bohan/Broker... brown", "Here's Algonquin... bit of blue, occasional green", and "Alderney... hmm... back to brown/shit green", all mixed in with a little grey.

I kept playing San Andreas for, like, a good 9-12 months after I finished it, just going through the desert or San Fierro (favourite city) or forests on a motorbike, or playing with the CARS CAN FLY cheat (so much fun). I'll probably play GTA4 for the next 3 months to 100% it, and that will do me just fine. With GTA:SA there was always a new place to explore in the countryside or cities because it was just so huge and different and every place felt, yeah, DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE. With GTA4 it's like "oh... another city", "oh... another back alley", "oh... a new hill, cool". There's very little diversity in GTA4 and the city isn't really that interesting to me after having spent ~40 hours with it.

I mean I'm glad it's realistic, and I love the physics and character interaction and pedestrians and town construction and shit like that, but it seems that in becoming so realistic, it has lost a lot of fun that was present in SA. Not that GTA4 is BAD, it was a very fulfilling and wholesome GAMING EXPERIENCE, but IN MY OPINION it just lost a lot from previous games.

Whoo boy that post took a while to write. Dissect it, please!

man you seriously hating on SA huh.

because I find this group of characters pretty entertaining but maybe that's because I'm WBB (wanna be black)...

I'm trying to decide whether I like SA more or not, because looking through that post I keep finding bits that go YAY SAN ANDREAS then SHIT SAN ANDREAS as well

must be coz i'm racist... damn blax

EDIT: Y'know, I think I'm just looking for reasons to fault GTA4 now, just to be a dick and whine about it.

HERE'S A LIST FROM GAMEFAQS THOUGH.

How could you forget Officer Tenpenny! Samuel L Jackson was the shit in San Andreas haha. The replay value of this game isn't nearly as good as previous versions, although I think the DLC will help out a lot with that but the version that's released now just doesn't give you much to do after the story mode finishes.

Anyone know of the rumor or something about one of the DLC being a fucken ZOMBIE OUTBREAK!! with the city in ruins and you being one of the survivors?

the amount of options you have in the city are really limited, and while that may have been true of the previous games, it was something this game was supposed to do differently. and i don't think it was so true of san andreas and maybe not even vice city. you just can't interact with this city, not even on a superficial OKAY YOU BUY THIS HOUSE level. you can bump into people and they will drop their drinks, okay, you can punch a car and they will get out and either a) fight ya or b) run. the buildings are all dead and usually empty. there is very little optional content - which wouldn't be a problem if the main thrust of the game wasn't the same exact shit over and over and over again all the way through. drive to mission, shoot up, drive away.

this game is too similar to the getaway.

this game is too similar to the getaway.

Isn't The Getaway just a rip off from GTA anyway? One thing I though this game would have was an improved version of the talking to the citizens from San Andreas. Y'know the push left or right for a good or bad answer. Also their STILL isn't any pedestrians or anything getting into much trouble with the cops or anything. Although you can go looking for that serial killer mentioned on that news website in the game.

I can't wait for Saint's Row 2 now, you should see the new trailer or it.. 

I see cops arresting people all the time especially in the ghetto areas like south bohan (STREETS).

And The Getaway was an action game with driving segments.  Pretty much had nothing to do with GTA play style.

I did something terrible today... I let my feelings get in the way of my better judgement.

I needed some weapons, fast. I called Jacob but he told me he didn't have anything (bull, I've seen the trunk of his car). This forced me to take a cab to the nearest gunshop instead, which I hate. Yeah, Jacob had to pay for his lazy ways.

I decided to call Packie and ask him to give me a bomb. After picking up the bomb in the nearest park I phoned Jacob again. This time he claimed to have weapons, maybe he felt bad for last time, I dunno. He asked me to come and see him in some alley. I drove over there and checked his stash. I didn't buy anything because the lazy bastard already forced me to buy weapons at the gunshop. When I was done Jacob said good bye and started walking to his car. It was in this moment that I quickly attached the bomb underneath his car. I waved him good bye and got back into my car. Then I followed him for a while... and then I phoned Packie. One ring later and Jacob, his phony accent and his weapons went up into flames along with a giant "boom!".

Ah yes, I felt satisfied killing a NPC that had ignored my request. That'll teach 'em!

Oh yeah... it didn't take me long until I realized that the reason I called him in the first place was because I needed a rocket launcher... something he doesn't sell. Oops!

---

I killed a "Rockstar" last night too and got the achievement. That made me happy.

And The Getaway was an action game with driving segments.  Pretty much had nothing to do with GTA play style.

Isn't The Getaway just a rip off from GTA anyway?

these quotes are kind of what i meant. the game is really insular and the sandbox aspect - while there - is totally unsatisfying because there is just no incentive to go out, explore or try to interact. now i loved driving around the city looking at all the sights at first, i do like that part of sandbox games, but there has to be more to it or it gets old fast. but there isn't, because 90% of the game is just an action shooter with driving segments. it started off really well but the game doesn't evolve beyond the first dozen missions i'd say and when there is little else to occupy you with the focus being so solely on the repetitive and cumbersome core game, then i guess i am just not satisfied with what this game turned out to be.

i mean, if the story stayed interesting like it seemed it would at the start but hilariously it loses it's drive and focus entirely and starts to branch out to all these boring, ugly and undeveloped stock characters who i feel absolutely no impulse to do missions for and kind of feel bad doing some of them. it's like a conflict of intentions. this one is a lot more serious than the previous games in plot and atmosphere, but the things they make you do are still the same old horrible criminal shit. when it was all over the top and your character was less sad, relatable and likeable, then that was okay - it was even a lot of fun to go on shooting rampages on people who didn't deserve it for people you didn't like. but when niko is so lifelike it's just kind of depressing.

that stuff is just the plot, though, and i would be all right with a shitty plot cos it's a video game, if the gameplay made up for it. but really the plot makes the problems with the missions worse.

Awesome story!

Haha that was great man. Right now I'm doing those Assassination missions, these are pretty cool. Just off like 6 guys with a Rocket Launcher since they all had bikes and I really could be bothered chasing them all down

I can understand what your saying RJ, because the missions really don't reflect back on how Nikos character acts before hand.

Can you play GTA4 online with other people? I don't know since I don't have the game but I have played it. I'm pretty certain the online mode offers some really cool shootouts, like they do in the action movies.