Help me decide who gets money

[miffy495]

Well, who gets money sooner anyway. As some of you may recall, I lost my job about a month ago and what with the flood of schoolwork coming in the weeks after I haven't had time to start looking for a new one. My last exam is tomorrow morning, and I will go out and commence the job hunt right after it, but even if I'm hired on the spot I likely won't have a paycheque until at least 2 and a half weeks from now. I still have a couple hundred in the bank, but I'll be damned if I'm spending that on games without knowing it'll be replenished.

This leads me to this dilemma. I have $60 in Future Shop gift certificates left over from Christmas. This is enough for one game. Both GTAIV and Mario Kart Wii come out next week. I am a rabid fan of both series, and under any other circumstances would have already preordered both and be trying to contain my anticipatory drool. I can get one of these two, but have no idea which to pick. As Mario Kart has been out for a week-ish in Europe, I figured some of you may be able to chime in with advice. Or anyone who may want to give a recommendation and their reasons for it. I'm not particularly worried which one will give me more playtime (the obvious choice would be GTA if I were to go that route) or a more complete experience or any of that bollocks, I just want the one that will be more fun.

So how 'bout it, thumbs? If it were you and you had to choose, who would get your money next week?

[LOPcagney]

Based purely on random web buzz, I'd say that since GTAIV was supposed to be an improvement on the franchise and Mario Kart wasn't, get GTA and replay MarioKart64.

[elmuerte]

I'd go for GTA4. I think it'll offer a better single player experience than Mario Kart.

[Roderick]

Though Mario Kart has cool new motorbikes, it's basically the same thing you've seen in Double Dash!!. This is going to be the obvious thing: there is simply no game that will beat GTAIV when it comes to bang for your buck. I'm with Pachter on that one.

[Erkki]

I'd also recommend GTA, but I haven't played the previous Mario Kart and don't even know what Double Dash is.

I think I spent nearly 200 hours total on San Andreas (played it through twice), so I'm expecting lots of bang for buck from IV as well.

[miffy495]

One dilemma I'm having is that I'm also trying to take into consideration things that the girl will play with me, and Mario Kart is a front-runner here. Given that our most played game is the co-op on Streets of Rage 2 on VC though, I don't know if Mario Kart will even go over that well. I don't think she's played it since 64 (which yes, I have on VC as well). I am leaning towards GTAIV, honestly, but I love Mario Kart enough that I consider it more of a necessary purchase than Smash Bros.

So yeah, probably going to get GTAIV now, especially with the recommendation. Anyone who actually has Mario Kart want to chip in?

[Roderick]

(Hey I have Mario Kart Wii )

[toblix]

GTA 4. Thread closed.

[miffy495]

(Hey I have Mario Kart Wii )

Fair enough. I was unaware. Also, as Erkki's post went up while I was writing mine, I just saw it. I'll say that I've also beaten SA twice. And VC. And III. The PSP ones I've only beaten once each, but I think the fact that I bought a fucking PSP for them shows my dedication to the series.

[Nachimir]

Bit late, but I'd definitely go for GTA IV.

[miffy495]

Ok, it's now definitely GTA.

Not because IGN just reviewed it at 10/10 (I mean, c'mon. Does this surprise anyone? None of the major sites are really going to go against the grain on this) or the extensive previewing going on. The reason I'm going to pick up GTAIV is San Andreas.

After reading said IGN review (all 7 bloody pages. A bit much, boys?) I got in the mood for a little GTA myself, so I booted up Steam and went into playing SA. I loaded a save from the airstrip, grabbed a stunt plane, messed with the radio for a bit, and started flying around. Weather conditions were unfavorable. There was a big dust storm kicked up over Bone County and I couldn't see a damn thing so I headed out over the water to get clearer skies. Ended up catching the sunrise over San Fierro as I emerged from the dust storm into a beautiful morning.

Unfortunately, in the process I accidentally flew over the SF military airfield. This is restricted airspace and gave me a 5 star wanted level immediately. They launched fighter jets to bring my poor little unarmed prop plane to the ground in a flaming wreck, but I pulled enough loops and rolls to dodge their missiles until I was out over open water again, at which point I jumped out of the plane and parachuted (I always have CJ ready with a parachute, just in case) into the water as my plane became a massive fireball about 2 seconds after I bailed. I crashed in, and stayed under long enough to lower my level to 4 stars. At least there were no SWAT squads to deal with when I finally made it to land. While under, a dolphin brushed by me. A freaking dolphin. I'd never seen one of those in the game before. It was amazingly well detailed, far prettier than something from a 3 and a half year old game should look, at any rate. Despite a metric crap-ton of cops bearing down on me and the water around me being peppered with helicopter gunfire, I felt one of those perfect gaming moments. You know the ones. The world outside my computer monitor melted away and I was just underwater with a dolphin, feeling remarkably serene given the circumstances.

Long(er) story short, I eventually lost my remaining 4 stars in a chase across the entire map of San Andreas, getting into an idle coast guard boat and making tracks for the closest safe shore before getting into a police truck and finally a cruddy little pickup with which I ran through 2 bribes and a pay and spray to escape with a quarter of my health bar remaining. The fact that I escaped didn't matter. Years after picking up my preorder of San Andreas, I was still experiencing brand new things in the game and having moments that no other game could deliver. The second I saw that dolphin I realized that there was really no contest. If IV can give me anything near that level of immersion (and from the sounds of things, it will), then I'm picking it up day one. I went back to my airstrip and took off one more time, just to circle around Mount Chiliad on the Southwest corner of the map. It had been drizzling during my chase, I wanted to see the rainbow from the top of a mountain.

Man, after previewing that post so I could have a look at it, I really want to go back and have another go. Maybe Vice City this time. I haven't had a good helicopter tour in a while.

[Erkki]

Yeah, it's moments like these that make the series extra special. Vice City and San Andreas had the most potential for those. I think GTA IV is probably going to have less variety that way (with the area reduced from a state to a single city), but the added detail will more than make up to it, I hope.

Too bad the Steam version of the games could not longer load my old save games, now I'll probably have to complete Vice City and San Andreas again if I feel like doing things like you described in them.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I only played GTAIII (and got pretty bored with it), sounds like SA is something else!

[DanJW]

I only played GTAIII briefly, but yes it is very plain compared to Vice City and San Andreas. I was quite tempted to buy Vice City Stories the other day.

[Spaff]

Good call

mario kart was utterly terrible, i took it back for a refund, GTA will probably amuse you more, unless you are handicapped or a very young child.

Or a noob

[miffy495]

I was quite tempted to buy Vice City Stories the other day.

It's good, and certainly the best experience of the type you'll find on a handheld, but a bit hit and miss on the missions side of things. There were a few times when I just hit a wall and had to spend upwards of a week just trying to pass one damn mission. Aside from those occasional frustrations, an awesome little game. If it's been dropped in price, I wouldn't hesitate to give it a go.

[LOPcagney]

Good call

mario kart was utterly terrible, i took it back for a refund, GTA will probably amuse you more, unless you are handicapped or a very young child.

Or a noob

What was wrong with it? I haven't played it yet so I really have no clue what to expect, but I think I just assumed I would pick it up eventually. Not worth it?

[Roderick]

Opinion is pretty divided on Mario Kart Wii. There are some who hate it for its lack of true innovation (it's basically a clone of Double Dash with motors thrown in and tricks). Others (like myself) like it because it's just another great fun Mario Kart. If you can look past the dated graphics and the lack of options and -dare I say- polish (at least, in contrast to Smash Bros Brawl which has so much options and care poured into it it's ridiculous), you'll like it. Just don't expect something revolutionary, or even evolutionary. It's just Mario Kart.

[Spaff]

It's like double dash with all the good stuff removed, and a control system based on the wii mote means that things are hugely dumbed down - power sliding is now automatic for instance.

Using the wiimote to steer actually isnt enjoyable, it's clumsy and yeah it makes your arms tired very quickly, plus we've all already played games using a steering wheel before... and plugging in the gamecube controller instantly makes you cry.

oh and you need to unlock everything in single player, youcan't even play it through as a team to unlock things

Considering it isnt a graphical leap up from double dash, plus it seems to have features removed, i'm just gonna keep DD on hand for those mario kart urge party times.

I'm down on it far more than it deserves probably errr, yeah. ¬¬

[Thrik]

You're not the only one who doesn't like it.