i'm pretty far into this now. today i played vice city a little bit cos i wanted to see how much it had really improved and stuff, and actually the city is so much more lifelike so i take back what i said ealier. i don't know if i'd say i like it more than i liked vice city though, honestly, i mean yeah on pretty much every single level the gameplay is better but the whole game is so cold. like, i kind of feel bad all the time when i'm playing it cos every mission is go kill someone and i kind of like niko's character and i get depressed that we've got to go be murderers all the time. i'm not really into the story all that much, and since that's such a larger part of the game this time with less distractions, it makes me think worse of the game.
really though, the city is pretty amazing and what they've done to make it and the characters feel alive is pretty impressive. even going on the little dates with your buds and girlfriends feels alive (to an extent anyway, further than any game i've ever played has gone).
also, the missions are really samey. i think now that i'm in the second half of the game, they are putting in some more variety. i've got this mission to do where you and little jacob go in a helicopter and have to take down some other helicopter but there has been way too much go to this place, shoot nameless goon, drive back. i think the stripping down of extraneous nonsense has also revealed that the core of the game isn't that varied. it IS fun most of the time though, i'm not totally down on it. i think that, as polished as it is, it feels a little unfinished. i'm not saying put back in crap like stat building, but the purchasing of property and feeling of progression you got in the other games, because you were accumulating things other than emotional baggage and a worthless number in the top of the screen, is gone.
maybe that's kind of the point and i think i'm gonna end up appreciating what they tried to do with the immigrant getting disillusioned with the american dream and the kind of crime that happens today opposed to twenty years ago more. i don't feel like an idiot playing this game, at least, that's something. it just makes me feel a bit depressed. at least there is brucie and little jacob to lighten it up.