Erkki

GTA IV vs. San Andreas

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Thought I'd make a new thread as it's perhaps a bit off topic...

Even though GTA IV game has been awesome so far, I think I actually prefer San Andreas. Nothing in IV is going to be like driving around and causing mischief in the countryside, while listening to the country music station. And not only the countryside, but the cities in San Andreas had a more interesting layout than Liberty City (I've yet to unlock the third area though), although the architecture wasn't as well realized.

And to be honest, I don't really see all the depth in Niko that people talk about. Some of it, sure, and he may be a little more memorable and in some way more likeable than CJ, but he accepts all kinds of immoral jobs quite coldly and even eagerly. He never tries to do anything to get out of it. It is possible that my memory of the San Andreas story is fading, but as I remember it, while Carl Johnson was a cold-blooded gangbanger, he was often pulled into deep shit by others and just couldn't see a way out. And he still had some moral integrity -- Niko hasn't really displayed any so far, even if he sometimes questions some of the people he works for. He sees himself as a killer and doesn't even think about trying another path, although he has arrived in the land of opportunity.

But perhaps I'm judging the story too early, so take that last paragraph with a grain of salt.

[update] yeah, i was judging it too early. Now having finished with the main story, I have changed my mind a little.

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I'll say this much, I really, really miss the open countryside of San Andreas. Wherever Rockstar takes the GTA series next, there'd better be some surrounding areas for me to explore. I like realistically modeled cities, sure, but I just think it's so much more fun to be having epic chases along country roads and through forests. Outside of the story mode, I spend almost no time in the cities of San Andreas, it was all about exploring for me. The cities were where I could pick up a good car to take out to the country. That was pretty much it. Also, bring back planes! I freaking loved those things...

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I remember some countryside missions in Mafia. They were brilliant after spending so much time in New York. [/OT]

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Meh San andreas was bloated and the content was too thinly spread out over that insanely huge space. Plus it was filled with annoying things like having to eat, not to get health back but to not die from starvation.

Also when you moved areas it kind of just.... dumped all the stuff you'd done previously like take over a ghetto with your gang - oh no that doesn't matter any more... now youre in san Francisco!

you could buff up and get a hockey mask and get pink hair and go about looking like a fucking mentalist though, so plus points there.

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You had to eat to stay alive? I don't even remember that. And I'm the reigning world champion of hating games that make you eat to stay alive.

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You could eat seldom enough that it didn't bother me much. Most of the game I didn't have to think about that at all.

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I think I ate a few times in Los Santos and didn't have to do so again until sometime late in Las Venturas. It takes so long to lose the body fat you get from eating that it really has no bearing on the game except for how big you want CJ to look.

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I lied, but I have played them all somewhat besides Vice City. I think maybe really my only gripe is that the games don't seem to have changed too much between all the GTA3 versions and GTA4, but then again if you have a cash cow....

Maybe I feel they suffer the way all the constant versions of Worms do, but I think Worms is the leader in releasing the same game with different tweaks over and over.

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Worms is a pretty awful series in that regard because somehow they manage to produce new versions that have less items and options in them. As far as I'm concerned, Worms Armageddon (that the third title ever) is still the best one among them. Though Worms Open Warfare 2 on the DS last year was surprisingly good!

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I can't really vouch for them because the last one I played was Worms World Party, although I did love the series up to Worms Armageddon.

I hear pretty bad things about the games after that, so what you are saying, Rodi, sounds pretty plausible.

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Yeah, Armageddon basically remains the pinnacle of the series so far in my book. World Party was obviously pretty much a clone, the 3D ones were TOSH, and the newer 2D ones are graphically amazing but quite bare gameplay-wise.

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The PSP version of Worms is the best iteration I've played since Worms 2 on PC. But the net code is atrociously slow and makes multiplayer excruciating at times. :tdown:

And the control system is SHIT! They've set cross as fire and square as jump, which is a total perversion of that arrangement on consoles. I got so utterly fucked off with blind firing into the object I was actually attempting the jump over. :frusty:

Naturally, the game lets you fart about with all sorts of insignificant, pointless settings, but doesn't let you redefine the controls. :(

All of which adds up to yet another ruined version of the game. But it's not like the hair-brained, cynical cock-ups of, say, forcing the game into 3D or 'tweaking' perfectly balanced weapons. So infuriating - why can Team 17 simply not get this right?!

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