SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - GTA: SA to GTA: IV

Posted: Apr 03 2010 07:31 pm

So unless I'm grossly mistaken, I think we can all pretty much agree that GTA: San Andreas is a pretty awesome game. I think we can also pretty much agree that GTA IV, while cool, lacked a large part of the "fun" factor that SA had. My question is: why?

Seriously, I've been trying to articulate it to myself all day, and I just can't figure it out. Granted there are BIG factors, like the cell phone calls in the middle of missions/exploring, but those can be turned off easily enough. The world itself just doesn't feel nearly as fun or dynamic as SA's, which is weird because its bigger, there's more environmental variety, no lack of minigames and other things to keep yourself occupied...and yet it just feels dead. Traveling between points feels like a chore to me, rather than the fun it was in SA.

So those of you who agree and who can articulate it: why is that? What is the GTA IV world lacking that I can't seem to put my finger on?

Posted: Apr 03 2010 07:41 pm

San Andreas had Axl Rose. GTA IV doesn't. That's the problem right there.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 07:45 pm

jet pack. or lack thereof for GTA IV.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 07:51 pm

GTA: IV seemed to be going for a more "realistic", gritty kind of gameplay. It's just not as wild and crazy from what I've played of the two games.

I also think the characters may have been a bit more interesting in SA.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 08:19 pm

I didn't like the more realistic approach used in GTA IV. I liked how it would take the police a little while to start going after you and how you could easily get your wanted level back up because the police used a radius system. The older GTA games were also just a lot more fun in my opinion.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 08:39 pm

The announcer in GTA3 was the best.

KILL FRENZY!!!!

Joined: Mar 13 2009 Location: Arlington Posts: 467

GTA 3 is still my favorite in terms of mood and feel of the game. SA had everything and made for a fun game and maybe it's nostalgia that make #3 best in my mind.

I played 4 and it looked nice and had a nice flowing story. I'm not sure I had any actual fun playing that game though.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 09:44 pm

Hawk, I take it that you had this revelation while playing Just Cause 2. I had the exact same one the other day...

Posted: Apr 03 2010 10:47 pm

Vice City is my favorite out of the PS2 GTA games because of the 80's setting.

Joined: Jun 20 2008 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 408

IceWarm wrote:

Vice City is my favorite out of the PS2 GTA games because of the 80's setting.

Couldn't agree more!

Posted: Apr 03 2010 11:12 pm

PJX wrote:

IceWarm wrote:

Vice City is my favorite out of the PS2 GTA games because of the 80's setting.

Couldn't agree more!

Vice City had the best soundtrack too.

Posted: Apr 03 2010 11:24 pm

Well, for one thing, GTA IV has WAAAAY less customization. The wardrobe options have been vastly diminished, you can't have different body types or haircuts or tattoos.

The world is much smaller in GTA IV, and one of the things that made San Andreas so much fun was the exploration aspect; there were deserts, forests, mountains, huge cities, small towns, and even lakes, rivers, and oceans to explore. In GTA IV, on the other hand, the terrain of pretty much the entire world is city.

I think GTA IV also has simply less interesting characters; don't get me wrong, I find both CJ and Niko to be equally endearing protagonists. While San Andreas has memorable characters like Woozie, Cesar, Zero, the Truth, Tenpenny, Sweet, and others, I really can't remember any characters from GTA IV other than Brucie, Jacob, the dude who looks like Common (I think his name is Dwayne), and Niko's mildly annoying cousin.

Mind you, this is coming from someone who was turned off by the modern atmosphere of GTA III and IV; Vice City's 80s appeal and San Andreas's early 90s vibes are what made them all the more appealing, but the idea of a sandbox game in a modern world just kind of bores me.

Joined: Jun 20 2008 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 408

IceWarm wrote:

PJX wrote:

IceWarm wrote:

Vice City is my favorite out of the PS2 GTA games because of the 80's setting.

Couldn't agree more!

Vice City had the best soundtrack too.

It also has a much better lead character than the other two ps2 games, especially CJ from San Andreas. I also think Niko is much more lovable than CJ, I'm probably the only one here who doesn't agree with hawk, i think GTA IV is hella fun.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

I like GTA IV better than SA. I feel that SA had too many thigns that I really didn't want to bother with, like keeping up with my character's appearance and skydiving and whatnot. I felt GTA IV did a good job of seperating the chaff from the wheat.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

anorexorcist wrote:

GTA: IV seemed to be going for a more "realistic", gritty kind of gameplay. It's just not as wild and crazy from what I've played of the two games.

I also think the characters may have been a bit more interesting in SA.

Pretty much this.

However, I've made it quite clear before I don't even think San Andreas was that good. I mean it had some upgrades, like more cars, customizing the cars and such. But Vice City was still probably the last really good GTA game. I mean there were just times playing San Andreas that I was utterly bored and really had no idea how I got to this point from where I was. I mean CJ's interests were all over the place as was the story, and while you've always been given the option to do side quests and such in every GTA game, Vice City seems linear there as well. San Andreas just seemed like it had too much, and that's saying something.

But I agree, GTA 4 sucked. Every mission played about the same, they seem to want to make the character compelling to play as. But let's be honest, Claude was fucking awesome to play as because he didn't give a shit about anyone. Tommy was fucking awesome to play as for the same reason. CJ was alright, but that's where they started tweeking the formula, same goes for Niko.

When I'm playing a game about going around the free world doing crimes and having the ability to kill innocent people, the LAST thing I was to worry about is how deep my character is. Claude never said a fucking word or questioned anything, which is why Claude is awesome and Niko sucks.

Posted: Apr 04 2010 01:25 am

While I loved GTA4 what it needed was a little more sand in the sandbox. The thing that I liked the most about SA was the perception of openness and going out into the country, GTA4 was alot more locked down and polished. Also......TANKS

Posted: Apr 04 2010 01:40 am

samuel l jackson. that is all

Joined: Mar 18 2010 Location: Tuonela Posts: 299

My favorite GTA's would be San Andreas, Chinatown Wars and GTA4, in that order. I too prefer the fun-factor above chrome, but also story and overal feel above gameplay (if I have to pick among games, which all have very good gameplay, anyway). San Andreas's story and gansta rap -themes clicked for me, and I grew up listening to stuff it has on its soundtrack. Chinatown Wars is in the second place, because the story isn't as good - despite the fact that it's fucking fun to play. GTA4 has a huge world, that just doesn't "invite" you to explore it... it serves more as a backdrop, even if you could go about turning the nooks & grannies.

Nevermind.. the whole series is classic.

Posted: Apr 04 2010 02:54 am

I think Yahtzee does a decent job pointing out the pros and cons to GTA4
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/48-Grand-Theft-Auto-IV
*sorry their embed code doesn't seem to work here*

I liked #4 when it was still new and fresh out the box, but after a while it got stale, I much prefer Vice City and San Andreas for their greater replayability. GTAIII, while awesome when it came out, doesn't really do it for me anymore, the controls feel off somehow.

Posted: Apr 04 2010 04:31 am

I really enjoyed San Andreas but I still prefer Vice City over it. I just love the 80's setting and the soundtrack. Sure Vice City is basically a ripoff of Scarface, but even then you're ripping off some really good shit. One real joy I have from Vice City is just cruising around listening to the radio. Sure GTA 3 and San Andreas have this also but the music is so much better in Vice City.

Posted: Apr 04 2010 04:45 am

The only gripe I had with Vice City was how on foot police could arm bar you off a motorcycle when you were tearing ass down the middle of the road full throttle, and you'd just poof, be on the ground. They seemed to fix it in San Andreas though.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

My only gripe was the ambulance missions, which were amazingly fixed in San Andreas. Of course, they ruined Taxi cabs in SA, since while I could very easily do 100 consecutive fares in III or Vice City, I could barely do 10 in San Andreas. And since I fucking hate how they count mission attempts for EVERYTHING in that game, it just further fueled my rejection of the franchise soon after that.

Also while Vice City Stories was a decent game, Liberty City Stories was a major piece of shit, much worse than GTA IV or SA.

Posted: Apr 04 2010 11:42 am

Aside from CJ being "you" in a sense, they changed the narative from a game of revenge and protecting your family, GTA IV became a story of revenge and the failure of the American dream. I think the developers had a sense of "SA, well this game was fun, nothing too serious, we're just playing around and decided it was fun let the character be you and not have a super serious story line." GTAIV was like "we need a gritty realism, with a story that is serious and have the mood and setting fit it."

Posted: Apr 04 2010 01:15 pm

Did anyone try picking up rocks or coffee cups and throwing them at civilians? I swear the physics got swapped, a coffee cup will lay a motherfucker out most times, and a rock will bounce off them and piss them off. Confused

The most fun I had in GTA4 was running down the sidewalks with a knife and slashing at people or punching at them without locking on to them, eventually I'd have a giant ass mob of people chasing me down and usually no wanted starts if I stretched the attacks out. Razz

Spawning cars on top of skyscrapers and driving them off full tilt into the park trying to land on pedestrians was pretty cool too, trying to flip motorcycles off of the skyscrapers never seemed to work very well though.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Maybe the cups still had coffee in them??