See also: Free Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for pre-purchasing the new POP on steam.

I thought San Andreas was better, even if it did have that "gangsta" theme.

"It's also the only GTA, to me at least, where it doesn't feel like a chore getting through the story."

I've got to agree with you on that, Hamza. GTAIV was a fantastic game by all means but I felt, more than ever, like I was being pushed all over the place by other characters. I played the game quite extensively with my girlfriend back when it came out and neither of us could pretend to care about the plot all that much as the cycle of errands simply wasn't compelling. As such, the experience dissolved into the thrills of fast driving and punching bystanders in the face all too quickly, and we put it on the back burner without ever finishing the story.

Tommy Vercetti had great ambition and this made him more interesting to me than tag-a-long Nico. He was the kind of character that made you want to play to the end.

My favorite is the easily to hate, GTA IV.

:)

I'm sorry, but no other GTA characters were as interesting as Niko.

How about GTA 1? Didn't it have Liberty City, San Andreas, AND Vice City? Wow! Also, anyone remember what happens when you run over all of the Hare Krishna's in a line? I can't remember.

Tronjoy: That's also another of my favorite to this day! I think you just got a money bonus running those guys over in a line. I used to just drive next to them to hear there catchy chant :D

I thought San Andreas was the best out of all of them. I kinda enjoyed the whole gang element haha. Hopefully they do another west coast GTA.

san andreas baby

GTA3 was one of the main reasons I sold my Gamecube and bought a PS2 (and I never once regretted the decision), but Vice City was what made me true GTA believer. The story was perfect, the characters were interesting, the music was astounding (albeit I'm a giant 80s pop fan), the gameplay never got boring or repetitive, and the vibe just... felt... right.

San Andreas was a bit too much for me. Trying to cram three cities into a single game never allowed me to feel connected to any of them. While it tried admirable new things, like car customization, gang territory, and character personalization, too many glitches made it through (custom cars disappearing in garages, for example) that frustrated me and the story was so long and convoluted that I didn't even know what was happening by the end.

GTAIV had so much promise with a new engine and hardware, but the story just fell flat for me. People argue Niko was "the most engaging" character, but I highly disagree. He mopes around a bland city (where the fuck are all the gangs everyone is talking about?) doing fetch quests for characters that have less development than an eleven year old girl all the while pissing and moaning about a dark past he's trying to escape from while continuing on the same path by KILLING EVERYONE IN HIS WAY.

Plus, instead of adding to and refining all of the bold and creative side quests and gameplay elements of San Andreas, they neutered all of the fun aspects of the game and focused on dating simulations that never made a true impact on anything in the game (I never once felt the need to call a friend or girlfriend for help). No stores were purchasable, Niko was no where as personal as CJ (in terms of customization), gangs disappeared, car customizing vanished, side quests got cut, the cell phone was annoying as fuck... but wait, there was lackluster multiplayer, so no one seemed to care. This is all on top of the fact that Saint's Row 2 released a few months later and is echelons above IV in terms of raw fun and actually expanded on concepts from the prior title instead of destroying them.

Vice City is the best game in the series for me. If they took San Andreas' amount of customization and general "stuff" to do, completely lifted Vice City's story and setting, and made it with IV's engine (minus the horrible physics system that made Niko turn like a tank and cars indestructible) I would buy ten copies and give them away on the street.

As it stands now, IV made me never want to play another title in the series.

GTA is not my thing. Saints Row 2 FTW <3