Poll: San Andreas is superior to GTA4

[ShotgunSmoke]

The game world

Without doubt, GTA SA has a bigger variety of environments but everything feels dead. San Andreas is like your personal playground. Liberty city is like a living, breathing monster. I feel sucked into it. The immersion is amazing, sometimes I just walk down Star Junction and really feel like I'm in it. I love driving around the city, I like the feel of it. I prefer quality over quantity. Also, six-star chases are supposed to be difficult. People asked for smarter cops, they got smarter cops.

Survivability.

GTA IV tends towards realism. San Andreas is an arcade, CJ is like a god. In IV you actually have to worry about surviving a gunfight and use cover. For me, gunfights in IV were far more exciting than gunfights in SA. In the latter, you can easily run n'gun.

Wasted/Busted

C'mon, the slow-mo is sweet. Around the middle of the game you should have enough of money to not worry about hospital bills. Getting busted sucks though. The game is obviously encouraging you to fight out of a situation and get wasted, rather than surrender to the cops and lose all your weapons.

Weapons

Agree, there should have been at least 4 weapons for each category. C'mon, two pistols and one of them is unlocked near the end of the game? For 3/4 of the game you're stuck with that shitty Glock. Same as with the hospital bills, around the middle of the game you have so much money that you can buy everything that you want.

MONEY and income

Disagree. I have no idea where to spend money in IV. It's a big flaw, you can only spend money on guns and clothes. Why can't Niko buy estate? SA definitely wins here.

Customization

A giant flaw of GTA IV. The Russian store sucks, Modo sucks (except the jeans), Perseus is good but that's not nearly enough. I have no idea why they didn't include an option to customize cars. At least let us pick a color of our choice! I'm tired of using Pay n'Spray 7 times in a row because they keep giving me shitty colors.
The pink afros and ridiculous clothes obviously wouldn't fit in this game. San Andreas was pretty wacky with a ridiculous story. GTA IV is a goddamn drama. How would Niko look with cornrows and red jeans?

Character

CJ was horrible. He took shit from everybody. From Sweet, from Ryder, even from Catalina (I mean, she even raped him!). Niko would have broken Ryder's nose.
Bellic was an amazing and extremely likable character. He had a brilliant backstory. I felt sorry for him at some points of the game. I couldn't identify with CJ at all, I couldn't take him seriously.
However, I agree about him being too angsty at times. "I'm tired of killing, being rich and owning 10 sports cars is so difficult." You're a killer, that's what you do, get over it. I hope the next GTA protagonist is semi-psyhotic, someone like Tommy Vercetti.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is better than them both, BTW.

Eh, I wish this was my 1000th post.

 

[Kevin7557]

Finally someone makes sense instead of blind kiss arsery. GTA 4 sucked. (Gay Tony expansion aside). I would actually think to myself how stupid people were for saying how Saints Row 2 is going to be better than GTA4. Why did I think that, simple because San Andreas was awesome and Frankly if San Andreas had HD graphics no one would say GTA 4 is better.

No instead I get my copy of GTA4 and slowing play through the opening because we know the opening takes time to get the game going but once a GTA game gets going there is no stopping it and boom it never takes off. I am stuck listening to a whining loser of a character.

Instead in Saints Row 2 I get a bad arsed, doesn't give a sh!t, phychotic maniac fresh from a comma and irate as hell at who ever put him there. The difference in quality of gameplay is made clear in the first level of Saints Row 2. Wake up, kill doctor, meet fellow gang member, kill everyone inbetween me and a boat (even if I don't have to), take boat, kill police dumb enough to try and stop my excape from the island, reach main land or rather city Island as the mainland is visable in the background.

That is just the first level. The tutorial levels are equally awesome. From there Reestablish gang, kick aholes out of new hangout, bust Gat out of court for over 200 first degree murder charges (listening to him threaten the judge was priceless) finally it is time to make my pressence known to the possers dumb enough to occupy my city and your character makes that perfectly clear. It is the SAINTS city.

THe difference was made clear. One game I get and it sucks out loud with the exception of graphics but hell I have digital art online thankyou and then you have Saints Row 2 which converted me to Saintism, no longer shall i listen to whining little b@#$%es unless they are under my feet or gargling out some insult before dying of course. No longer shall I not fly a plane because the developers robbed me of that freedom for a retarded reason. No longer will I have to play a game that cators to people (the lawyers and advocates) who will NEVER EVER EVER FREAKING EVER IN A MILLION YEARS buy the game. Instead I will play a game of pure kick arsery that makes no appologies for you being a phychotic homacidal maniac with a love for customization.

 

[Soren91]

If you want the true spiritual successor to SA, then get Saints Row 2. That game is immense fun, features all the awesome things that made SA great, AND you can do it ALL in co-op.

My thoughts exactly. I'd take Saints Row 2 over GTA IV any day of the week.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

When Niko is hit by a car at the same speed, he takes a massive chunk of health off, which is a pain in the ass when you have shit to do.

That made me laugh! Yeah everytime I'm hit by a car in the street it really does put a crimp in my day!

I was always under the impression that the GTA 3 series was meant to be tongue in cheek stupid fun, which they all were. GTA4 is a much more realistic game so you can't really compare the two. I actually prefer GTA3 out of VC and SA because I prefer the city, yeah there's bugger all to do and the controls are awful, especially combat, but I enjoy just being there in Liberty City, something I still enjoy in GTA4.

SA just intimidated me with all the space and the travelling was just too much at times. Yeah it felt vast and there was tonnes to do, but there was TOO much. Less is more. I prefer a smaller world with more detail. Besides, I never really cared that much for changing CJ's personal appearance or pimping up his car... ok ok so yeah I did actually, but I don't miss it... oh alright yeah I'm sad it's not in 4

 

[Zani]

Nit-picking and I completely disagree.

Play Saints Row if you want something over the top instead.

 

[rockingnic]

Vice City was the best imo. GTA4 was the most annoying game I have ever played and SA had good concepts but it could have been the best but, for me, lacked the atmosphere and characters VC had.

 

[silasbufu]

San Andreas was alot more fun for me . If you compare the magnitude of the game itself at the time it came out , San Andreas had a bigger bang and made me personally remember it and wanting to replay it even today. I don't get that with GTA 4 . Finished it once , don't want to touch it again.

 

[Vampire cat]

I HATE the car physics in GTA4. Even semi-realistic handling does NOT belong in a sandbox game. If I wanted to have to brake into corners, I'd play forza.

Well, thats you. Personally, I love doing hand-break turns, and actually GTA4 is the most fun I have had driving cars in games for as long as I can remember. Opinions vary tho =3

 

[Blimey]

Yay. Nerd fights. These are the best kinds to watch *cracks open a bag of popcorn*

Personally though, I liked the Ballad of Gay Tony and Lost and the Damned better then GTA4.

 

[Lemon Of Life]

I like the GTA IV's immersion and story, though I only played through half way, and have never played SA, so my opinion doesn't mean much.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I don't hate GTAIV, it's a good game. It just isn't the GTA I knew and loved. Much the same as the FF fans are complaining about XIII, many long-time GTA fans feel cheated by GTAIV.

To me, the GTA series was freedom to go about causing chaos and just act like a madman with a gun. You could steal a jet, do bombing runs though major cities and have hour-long cop chases filled with moments of pure awesome. By contrast, if you fire a gun in GTAIV, not even necessarily at anyone in particular, there's a good chance the cops come running, which can be quite infuriating, as even stealing a car to get away can get you killed because Niko is a bit fragile.

The car handling is more realistic in IV, but that doesn't make it more fun (as in, GTA mayhem fun). Same goes for weapons and shopping. Also, GTAIV introduces many new aspects (watching TV, picking up objects, hailing cabs, internet, cars getting dirty) that I really don't need in a GTA game. All distractions.

I'll say it again. GTAIV is a decent game (the only thing I really hated about it was your 'friends' calling you up all the time because they can't keep themselves occupied), but not GTA as I want it.

Oh, and I thought Niko was a better (more human) character than most other GTA main characters (CJ was such a hypocrite), but again, that's not what I'm looking for when I play GTA.

 

[Therumancer]

I personally think "Saint's Row 2" is the ultimate game of the type at the moment.

I also preferred "San Andreas" to "Grand Theft Auto 4" and it's been a raging debate fromt he very beginning as to which was better.... honestly while GTA 4 had some awesome ideas, I think it was lacking in variety, and for all of the raving about the storyline and how great a character Niko was, I just couldn't get into him. Strangely I found the radio chatter and the various TV programs more entertaining than the game itself.

The abillity to do stuff with friends was a cool idea, but poorly implemented. I felt more like it was harassment than anything.

The benefits were nice in some cases, but honestly rolling my fat cousin out to get a burger when I'm trying to explore the city is just annoying.

 

[Jesus Phish]

If you want the true spiritual successor to SA, then get Saints Row 2. That game is immense fun, features all the awesome things that made SA great, AND you can do it ALL in co-op.

This.

SA was much better than GTA4. Both SA and SR2 are much more fun because they allow you to relax. They're also alot more fun to mess about in, trying to get insane stunts and the various side missions. GTA4 was just too serious in parts such as

Spoiler

The ending where someone has to die

And ofc having your cousin call you ever five minutes.

 

[mambodog]

Vice City is clearly the best

 

[AlphaOmega]

Stylewise its Apples vs Oranges.

I love both.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

You're absolutely nitpicking,
From my point of view, San Andreas wasn't really that good. A gigantic world is great but it wasn't interesting after the first town, at least for me. GTA IV was written better and the missions were more fun to complete.
Although I still prefer Vice City to everything.

 

[gorfias]

San Andreas has always been my favorite. Personally I hated GTA 4.

This. Maybe I just need to give it another try. Typically, when someone says they like something from one gen more than a sequel in a newer gen, I chalk it up to nostalgia. This one is different.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

This all comes down to your opinion. I like the gritty realism of GTAIV, which makes it hell of a lot better than San Andreas in my book. So I disagree heavily with you.
And your poll is useless. Fix it.

Same here. The story of IV is better to me. Less movie based than SA(Boyz n tha Hood, etc) and draws on more original inspiration.

 

[Kasawd]

GTA4 is actually my preferred game of the series. Whereas I enjoyed carting around Tommy Vercetti(Killing everything in the process) and stealing jets for Mike Toreno, Niko feels like an actual person instead of some whacked out charicature. He has his problems, yes but that makes him relatable.

A lot of folk seem to attack the game for it's "Lack of humour". It doesn't lack humour, it's become a subtler kind of humour that explores concepts of Black comedy instead of staying in the roots of Blue comedy. The mockery is no longer found on the sprunk billboards or the clerk at cluckin' bell that I'm pretty sure just told me to fuck off. It finds a facet in Little Jacob and Packie, characters who represent a stereotype of their respective culture.

A slant on the culturaly diverse reality of New Yorks melting pot.

Though man-dates with Roman were only nice every once-in-a-while.