The All About Grand Theft Auto Games Thread

[Gothamite]

I was in Tom's house the other night and his older brother (who returned from a three-year round the world trip, recently) was playing San Andreas and it hit me just how epic and brilliant and ultimately superior that game is to just about everything else I have ever played. People have spoken this way about other games (Planet-Man has spoken of Mass Effect in this regard) but I really haven't ever enjoyed a game where it truly feels like I'm totally creating someone from nothing, making friends and enemies and just generally, living a life far more exciting than my real-life one.

GTA IV just doesn't have as much of this, because there isn't as much customability. You're stuck as an unattractive, bristly-faced thug for the whole game, compared to SA, where you could be as flowery, flamboyant and skinny or as gritty and corpulent and grease-stained as you wanted to be.

Also, it occurs to me that there is not enough discussion about the classic top-down GTA games. A 3-D version of GTA 2 would be the most awesome thing ever.

Isn't there some sort of new, downloadable add-on type situation out now, where the player finds themselves lost and/or damned?

I'm not going to bother posting a poll, because of the amount of add-ons, expansions and differences in versions, etc. If an enthusiastic mod wishes to do so, I wish them godspeed. In the meantime, just specify your favourite. Mine's San Andreas for the PS2 although I'll certainly be downloading it in its entirety for Xbox 360 (so awesome that you can do that) because you can use the music on your hard drive for the radio station.

Discuss.

 

[SSJmole]

My favorite GTA game is Vice City. San Andreas was a bit of a miss with me, Still good but the fact there was too much large parts of the map with nothing really there.

As for GTA type of games then Saints Row 2 is better than any GTA game IMO. I had more fun.

GTA IV was way too disappointing. The graphics were cool but it basically felt like shiny GTA III. There was no real improvements. The phone got annoying fast. The controls were not as fluid as ps2 games. I got bored with it fast.

There is the Lost and damned expansion pack coming out. However I'm not interested in it.

 

[Langsta]

Hmm....Well, San Andreas has better music ("Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains, "Plush" by Stone Temple Pilots). And yeah, it's got the fitness thing where you can get fat or skinny or buff and train in martial arts and stuff....And IV has the Internet and better cell phone capabilities....I'd say my favorite is....damn, I guess San Andreas. IV seemed a lot shorter in terms of the main storyline.

EDIT: Whoops, it was "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains, not "Man in the Box"

 

[SSJmole]

Hmm....Well, San Andreas has better music ("Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains, "Plush" by Stone Temple Pilots).

I preferred Vice city's 80's Music. E.g "Bark At The Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne , "Japanese Boy" by Aneka , "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister and so much more great songs.

I loved Vice city's soundtrack so much I bought I bought the cds.

 

[Gothamite]

I preferred Vice city's 80's Music. E.g "Bark At The Moon" by Ozzy Osbourne , "Japanese Boy" by Aneka , "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister and so much more great songs.

I loved Vice city's soundtrack so much I bought I bought the cds.

Oh yeah, Vice City certainly has the best music and visually, it's such a magnificently colourful and vibrant game.

But San Andreas made me like hip-hop and gangsta rap. Even if it was only for several nanoseconds, that is a massive achievement.

GTA IV was way too disappointing. The graphics were cool but it basically felt like shiny GTA III. There was no real improvements. The phone got annoying fast. The controls were not as fluid as ps2 games. I got bored with it fast.

I thought GTA IV just spoiled the player from the start as well. Why would you walk or drive anywhere when you could just get a taxi and skip the whole journey for $50 (peanuts in the game's world)? It took the whole fun out of the game being a sandbox game.

The large pieces of sparseness in San Andreas just made it feel real, I think.

 

[ProjectX2]

I used to be a massive GTA fan. I used to post my own game ideas on a forum and plan massive stories set in various cities/locations. I loved the games but I haven't really played them for a long time.

I've enjoyed all of the games I've played (GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas, Liberty City Stories, Vice City Stories... even the old top down ones which I think you can download from their website). Vice City is my favourite. It just seems like a perfect game.

I want to play GTAIV and this new Chinatown Wars one though.

 

[SSJmole]

The large pieces of sparseness in San Andreas just made it feel real, I think.

They did but from a game point it was a waste. They could have added bonus missions or something to those areas and made them useful.

 

[Gothamite]

On another note, my friend just gave me a lend of Vice City for PC and I've downloaded a ton of mods, including the DeLorean, the 1989 Batmobile and KITT. Unfortunately, the DeLorean and the Batmobile are both mods for the Deluxo which is a fairly rare car, so I haven't been able to see them, yet. KITT looks pretty good, though.

I might get San Andreas for PC instead, purely for all of the great mods you can get.

 

[SSJmole]

On another note, my friend just gave me a lend of Vice City for PC and I've downloaded a ton of mods, including the DeLorean, the 1989 Batmobile and KITT. Unfortunately, the DeLorean and the Batmobile are both mods for the Deluxo which is a fairly rare car, so I haven't been able to see them, yet. KITT looks pretty good, though.

I might get San Andreas for PC instead, purely for all of the great mods you can get.

Isn't there codes to spawn one or have one in your garage?

 

[thee great one]

I still think that there should be an extra star and if you get that than Batman comes after you.

 

[Gothamite]

Isn't there codes to spawn one or have one in your garage?

No, apparently not.

I still think that there should be an extra star and if you get that than Batman comes after you.

Is there a rule against re-posting classic POTD winners?

 

[Gothamite]

Does anyone know a cheat to make your car invincible and if not, a mod that can do just that? For Vice City on PC, of course.

 

[SSJmole]

Not invincible but use the health cheat to heal them ASPIRIN = Full Health

 

[ourchair]

Meh. Most of them play the same to me.

By that, I mean, GREAT, but the differences are mostly aesthetic decisions, different story and some minor changes to gameplay mechanics.

 

[Langsta]

I was browsing Wikipedia and heard of the second GTA IV expansion pack, "The Ballad of Gay Tony." What the--?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_The_Ballad_of_Gay_Tony

 

[DIrishB]

Yeah, I read about that the other day as well. Also, both The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony will both be released onto a disc release available in stores later this year, which I find very cool since I still haven't gotten Xbox Live and am thus unable to DL them. The disc containing the two DL episodes is called GTA - Episodes From Liberty City and won't require you to own or have played GTA IV (meaning while they're still expansions, in this sense they're both their own game).

 

[Zombipanda]

Yeah, I read about that the other day as well. Also, both The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony will both be released onto a disc release available in stores later this year, which I find very cool since I still haven't gotten Xbox Live and am thus unable to DL them. The disc containing the two DL episodes is called GTA - Episodes From Liberty City and won't require you to own or have played GTA IV (meaning while they're still expansions, in this sense they're both their own game).

That's great. I know Rockstar's been saying that they're questionable about the financial feasibility of DLC on this sort of scale, but releasing them as stand-alones should dramatically increase their sales potential.

And that's great, because L&D was wicked cool. Hell, I'm tempted to go play that right now.

 

[DIrishB]

That's great. I know Rockstar's been saying that they're questionable about the financial feasibility of DLC on this sort of scale, but releasing them as stand-alones should dramatically increase their sales potential.

And that's great, because L&D was wicked cool. Hell, I'm tempted to go play that right now.

Its also great because it'll retail at $39.99, a $20 difference than normal Xbox games, which in itself should help it fly off shelves--besides having the GTA moniker attached helping ensure sales.

I'm still convinced the only reason Chinatown Wars hasn't done well in sales is due to it being a DS exclusive and GTA games being aimed more at the male teens and twenty-somethings, very few of which probably actually own and play their DS .I got one for Metroid Prime - Hunters, and can honestly say I haven't touched the thing since I beat that game. The DS game library (and through association the DS itself) long ago went the route of being considered too kiddy or cute for a DS exclusive GTA release to really do well. Its the last console (home or handheld) they should've released a GTA game for, period.

Still, its a cool game and a neat way of incorporating the DS controls into the GTA gameplay.

 

[E]

Chinatown Wars was released for iPod Touch/iPhone today!

 

[Victor Von Doom]

Vice City is the only GTA game that is really worth a damn. Oh Vice City...sweet, sweet Vice City.

San Andreas was pretty great but I think they made the game too in-depth when they added crap like fitness and diet points. Along with driving, shooting skills. It felt too RPG for a GTA game.