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[NeoGeoOwner]

After playing GTAV I decided to put out my PS2 again and play some San Andreas. Seriously, how good is this game?

And look at this fucking trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHzG0bKTa1g

 

[Bishop89]

trailer was fantastic.

Overall though I prefered VC & 3 to SA. Still a great game.
Those god damn RC missions though.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

I'm not really sure why, but it's my least favorite of the 3 ps2 games.

 

[JDSN]

It was the high point of the series for me, and the direction the series is taking tells me there is no going back to that.

 

[strafer]

I don't know why but out of all the GTAs I still prefer GTA3. I was so amazed back then, played it non stop.

 

[abadguy]

Best of GTA game of that gen, easily.

 

[CharminUltra]

My favorite PS2 GTA.

 

[GeoramA]

The last GTA I truly loved.

 

[Matty77]

It's great but I think somewhat overhyped, a lot of people call it the best GTA but I disagree.

 

[jWILL253]

I'm not really sure why, but it's my least favorite of the 3 ps2 games.

I don't know why but out of all the GTAs I still prefer GTA3. I was so amazed back then, played it non stop.

 

[E92 M3]

I still thought Vice City was much better. The atmosphere was fantastic, radio stations incredible, well-wriiten characters, and the whole package was just cohesive.

I adore Vice City.

 

[Itchy//Tasty]

This game was bigger than life. Two years almost daily I played this, and still hadn't completely had my fill then. You literally just never got tired of the world. Three enormous cities, the countryside, the smaller towns, the mountain, underwater, the desert. Christ it was huge. Some of my favourite things about it:

- Turf war trick. Fly a plane off the edge of the map for a certain amount of time, and all the gang turf areas become highlighted in colour, making turf wars easier to keep a track of as you try to make the whole of LS into a beautiful Grove Street Green.

- Best side-missions in the series. Home invasions, trucking, valet, pimp, the quarry, the courier. None in GTAV, which also has nothing quite as good.

- The (false) Bigfoot rumour. I searched, in the dead of night in the Back o' Beyond for hours with redneck garb and a rifle, hoping, wishing that I could be the one to see him.

- Dogfighting in the Hydra jet with other military planes at the highest wanted level. GTA becomes Ace Combat.

- I called it Super Vigilante mode. Go to Grove Street, recruit a homie with a submachine gun on him, get you and him on a police bike, activate Vigilante mode and get your wanted level up. You're shooting crims in front of the bike whilst your homie is shooting cops behind you. Play it long enough and you'll gravitate all around the map, making a ton of money and having a blast.

 

[BeforeU]

Amazing game. Did 100% on PC.

 

[double jump]

cant believe how bad the graphics have aged.
still the best gta though.

This thread made me want a complete remake of this game.

 

[Moon_frogger]

Still the pinnacle of the series. I get it, the Miami vice vibe and 80s soundtrack of vc makes it a favorite. San Andreas is what modern gta always wanted to be. The games since have not improved upon its scope in any meaningful way.

 

[djjinx2]

God damn spray tags, only needed one but couldn't find it even with a map! Sure it was bugged

 

[Moon_frogger]

cant believe how bad the graphics have aged.
still the best gta though.

This thread made me want a complete remake of this game.

strangely enough the mobile version has redone everything and it looks absolutely amazing. I played it with my dual shock 4 and it definitely was the definitive version of the game, more so than the pc version.

 

[Hero Prinny]

cant believe how bad the graphics have aged.
still the best gta though.

This thread made me want a complete remake of this game.

Yea the graphics didnt age well but besides that the game is still great imo

 

[Kezen]

I've reinstalled it a few weeks ago. Runs perfectly fine (no bugs, visuals anomalies or crashes) on Windows 8.1 but graphics have not aged well.

Loved the game though.

 

[Miguel81]

I've only played through it recently and what a ride it was. It really nailed that late 80s/early 90s LA feel and made me miss the more comical PS2 GTA games. Vice City has my favorite setting and overall soundtrack, but this one is more fun to play.

 

[Broseph Stylinz]

Probably my favourite of that generation, maybe a slight bias as it was the first GTA game I played.

 

[Dilly]

The graphics didn't age well in 2004.

 

[Hans Holo]

Best GTA by a mile. Completed 100% some years ago, it was damn hard.

The (false) Bigfoot rumour. I searched, in the dead of night in the Back o' Beyond for hours with redneck garb and a rifle, hoping, wishing that I could be the one to see him.

I have seen that mofo but nobody believes me. It was somewhere in back'o'beyond. As i went nearer towards him he jut disappeared. I even had my camera to shoot some nice bigfoot fotos but my dreams have been crushed as he suddenly became air in a second.

 

[aGuyInaBearSuit]

Pretty great back in the day but this is a case of not being able to go home again, at least for me. After playing V, I just found playing SA to be excruciating. Everything is so clunky and awkward, from the on-foot movement to the driving to the combat. And it can't really use the "it was a different time" excuse, because plenty of other games from 2004 still look and feel great.

 

[Glendemonium]

Pretty fantastic leap for open world games, unfortunately I never did beat the game. This was at a time long games didn't hold my attention unlike today.

The jetpack made exploring much more enjoyable.

 

[Spacejaws]

Out of the three of them it is the one I played the least. As a kid I was enjoying it until the RPG elements like having to work out and having to increase skills I just didn't like the implementation and the idea that some missions required underwater breathing to be at a certain level meaning you had to grind put me off.

Now I realise that it doesn't hold you back as much as I originally thought I've plaayed though the first 15 hours twice before losing my game saves twice

 

[LCGeek]

This GTA was like the donkey kong 64 of it's time. So overhyped and underdelivered. Outside of the size of the map and the gang elements there wasn't much good to me. A lot of mini missions were useless gestures and that rpg element stunk as leveling your guy up for certain tasks was annoying and a little forced. Also after 2 other gta games with a similar themes the whole storyline took on a trite edge considering that all 3 PS2 games have the story of b and c rate mafia/gang films.

 

[TheYanger]

SA is too much. I liked it a lot, but I felt the large stretches of nothing and bazillions of pointless side activities detracted rather than added. Vice City beats it, sorry. So focused and flawless.

 

[KaoteK]

Easily my favourite GTA, and one of my favourite games of all time, loved everything about it (apart from that fucking remote plane optional mission)

 

[Alavard]

First thing that comes to mind:

 

[Mors_Verigo]

I'm not really sure why, but it's my least favorite of the 3 ps2 games.

Same here. Just couldn't click with the whole thug life theme. Vice City though...

 

[Ainsz]

III is the definitive GTA and also the most finely tuned and neatly crafted of the PS2 bunch and still stands as my favourite. But gotta love Rockstar for taking that platform and taking it as far as they could with it. It really was the ultimate package.

Just the fact that just about everything they added to III's basis wasn't just a loosely tacked on distraction like so many open world games do today is amazing, even more so for its time. Just about everything felt integrated with the world and had a good amount of depth and value that it felt like it wouldn't make sense if it wasn't there.

Where as; who would actually notice if the AC towers were removed from Far Cry or Tennis was removed from GTA V? But something as simple as spray tags being removed from SA would make it feel slightly off.

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

I'm not really sure why, but it's my least favorite of the 3 ps2 games.

It's mine too, but it's still a classic. VC is my favorite because the setting and music just are just amazing and the best in any game ever for me. 3 tops SA a bit for me mainly because of how amazing it was to me when it first released. SA is still an amazing game though. Great setting, great characters, and great music, especially the country station. I loved the hell out of K Rose, and I don't even like country music. Shame that GTA5s country station kind of sucked.

 

[jWILL253]

Same here. Just couldn't click with the whole thug life theme. Vice City though...

Posts like these were funny back around the time when SA was first announced. In fact, I think that thread is in the archives somewhere.

Anyways... San Andreas is one of the best selling console games of all-time. Millions upon millions can get down with the thug life, apparently. Funny that.

 

[choco-fish]

That last story mission in SA was a real pig, no check-points in those days I found it very frustrating but loved the amount of stuff you could do in the world. VC is still my fav though.

 

[Grief.exe]

I played through San Andreas, and Max Payne 2, at 4K this year, now I'm playing GTAV.

The jump in design and visuals is really mind blowing. The last mission really hurt my enjoyment of the game.

 

[Ranger X]

San Andreas is right there after GTA5 as my favorite GTA.

In the PS2 series it was the game with the most gameplay and extra stuff to do, best graphics, amazing soundtrack and the pool mini-game is like my most played mini-game ever. Even the story was actually something and better than GTA3 and ViceCity to me. Tenpenny and CJ were actually really cool characters.

 

[ItsTheNew]

Easily the best in the series, as it's the only one with a jetpack.

 

[Mors_Verigo]

Posts like these were funny back around the time when SA was first announced. In fact, I think that thread is in the archives somewhere.

Anyways... San Andreas is one of the best selling console games of all-time. Millions upon millions can get down with the thug life, apparently. Funny that.

So you're saying that when the game was first announced, people like me had already bought it and played it and formed their opinion on it after actually playing it? After it was first announced? I'm confused.

Anyways...for me, maybe not you, how well a game sold literally has zero impact on my enjoyment of it, or lack thereof.

 

[CryptiK]

Ah back before the terrible Character and Vehicle physics.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

I thought a lot about it playing GTA5. I also thought a lot about GTA4.



One thing is clear - There is no going back now. GTA5 has made so many leaps in combat/vehicle driving/mission design/traversing and feature set (first person mode, taxi and so on).
But San Andreas had the entire get fit/get fat feature set. It also had a better diversity of hairstyles than 5.



But the biggest advantage of VC and SA? That they where themed in a different time. Vice City being early 80s and SA early 90s, I feel that 4 and 5 are at an disadvantaged. As good as they are at current political commentating (5 was really funny sometimes. The whole Fame or Shame thing was too spot on. It actually hurt a bit) there is something less about it.

I think when you can reference a certain era you got even more to take in. 4 in particularly had some lacking identity issues. But I felt both Lost and the Damned and Ballad of Gay Tony where better themed than 4.



A part of me think it's a shame that the PS2 era GTAs characters don't fit into GTA4 and 5. And it's a shame how few GTA4 characters appear in GTA5.

Where is Gay Tony? Where is Brucie? Where is Yusef? I miss those guys!

 

[graffix13]

SA is too much. I liked it a lot, but I felt the large stretches of nothing and bazillions of pointless side activities detracted rather than added. Vice City beats it, sorry. So focused and flawless.

Yep I agree with all of this.

I remember trying to do story missions but every time I started one, my turf would be attacked so I had to drop everything and go defend it. Very annoying.

 

[DragonKnight]

Same here. Just couldn't click with the whole thug life theme. Vice City though...

But the mob mafia theme was so relatable, right?

 

[Gipsy Danger]

Is the PC version of this decent enough now? I recall they patched it recently which removed some songs and added support for Xinput? I might go back and play it after I finish GTAV.

 

[blackjaw]

I hated the turf warfare stuff....exploring and all the sudden I had to rush somewhere across the map to help my homies who apparently couldn't do shit without me.

Glad that is gone.

 

[King Gilga]

Still by far the best GTA game.

Spent hours in environmental studies class driving a bmx off of a mountain and trying to land it.

I really want to play the android port, after I buy a controller or one of those game clips (would rather get a portable wrap around controller thing cuz like fuck imma carry my DS4/3 around anywhere.

 

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

Worst in the series IMO. VC was a better looking game, had a more fun story, wasn't obsessed with impertinent side quests/stats...

 

[choco-fish]

But the mob mafia theme was so relatable, right?

I think in terms of popular culture, yes it is, or at least to me... I grew up watching Miami Vice and films like Scarface, the pastels and neon soaked night-scapes...Crockett's theme, all that 80's excess just oozes from VC. The whole LA gangland culture seemed to pass me by.

 

[Travo]

trailer was fantastic.

Overall though I prefered VC & 3 to SA. Still a great game.
Those god damn RC missions though.

Oh God, I could never finish those.

 

[Paltheos]

This one didn't click with me so much. Vice City was much more stylish. San Andreas also had those huge tracts of nothing forest and wilderness. When I first reached those in the midgame they killed my interest to keep playing.