GTA: The Mainframe

[DesertFly]

I played the crap out of Vice City in the months leading up to San Andreas' release, and grew to love it; then, SA came out, and I really wanted to like it. I wanted to. But I couldn't. Sure, it was much larger in scope, the amount of things you could do and places you could visit was immense, but it just didn't do it for me. And it wasn't even the being a pussy and not killing two more cops, even though you've probably killed many more yourself. (And I did, too, maxing out my pistol skillz in a police station.) No, the biggest problem I had with SA was its setting. I absolutely loath the "gangsta" lifestyle, and this game just rolled in it. Sure, your character is trying to get out of the old life, and he doesn't want to get pulled back into it by his gang, but that still doesn't make up for the fact that I had to spend a bunch of time with wannabe gangstas and thugs, and do all their petty errands. The music selection also didn't help. In VC there were plenty of awesome 80s tracks to listen to; in SA it was a large part rap.

[Zero]

I liked CJ and the San Andreas story. It was just so much bigger than the other games, and I enjoyed maxing out all of my weapon capabilities, being able to customize almost everything about the main character, and even enjoyed CJ's character. I can understand most people's objection to it, but I know that I personally am not a sociopathic nutjob who just wants to get his pay, so why would I want to play someone who is? I'm not a bloody 'gangsta' either, but CJ's ideas about protecting your home, family, and friends come much closer to my own ideas about life than any other GTA character.

I mainly like CJ because he mostly just fell into the position he fell into. He wasn't planning on starting a criminal empire or becoming a gangbanger or anything, shit just kind of happened.

[Pablo Sanchez]

If Claude had any initial motivation regarding Catalina, I'd say it would be to kill her. Though whether it was out of a sense of revenge or simply necessity given the conditions she set in The Exchange is up to you, I guess.

As for killing Maria, while it does add quite a bit to his bad assitude and all, I would wonder why he went to all the trouble to try and rescue her (such as ponying up 500 grand in ransom) and then fighting his way through the Dam with the purpose of keeping her alive (or else you fail the mission) if he would later kill her just for being annoying.

I think it all comes down to Catalina's last words to him during the opening cutscene, "You're just small time."

From what we learned in San Andreas, she and Claude drove across the country (considering her behavior in SA, probably committing minor crimes the whole way) culminating in a huge bank robbery. Claude comes to find out that all the money they made, which he probably thought was for the both of them, was just Catalina's buy-in money for the Cartel leadership in Liberty City. She used him and left him for dead.

Maybe Claude isn't exactly trying to get her back, but at the least he's trying to prove to her that she was wrong about him being small-time. He establishes himself as the most badass killer in Liberty City and raises half a million dollars in a matter of weeks. It's interesting to think that if she hadn't been a bitch and had took him along when she got into the cartel, she'd probably be the biggest crime lord (lady?) in the world inside of a couple months

Again, I guess it's a matter of interpretation and I doubt Rockstar is going to make some canon statement of it in a future game, but one theory I read is that he fired that gunshot just to get her to shut up. Which, given all the trouble he went through to get her out alive makes more sense to me personally.

That sounds plausible and I actually like it a little better than the idea that he really shot her.

[Lone_Prodigy]

IMHO, GTA3 takes the cake. It has much less advanced graphics, physics, gameplay, and capabilities, but the general atmosphere of it is what makes it a much more fun game than VC or SA. SA goes right out the door in my opinion just because of the cognitive dissonance between torching entire military bases then not killing a couple of cops (and therefore saving an assload of time), but VC is a much closer match.

In VC, you have a set mission. Initially it is to recover the coke and money, but later on it becomes setting up a criminal empire. Once you've done that, you've won. You rule the city, and that's it. In GTA3, you are the fringes of society. You don't own a mansion or film studio, you live in alleyways and warehouses, abandoned garages and isolated safe houses.

Another big factor was presence. In GTA3, gangs owned their territory. The Yardies, Cartel, Yakuza, Triads, and Mafia each had their own chunk of the city, and they ruled it with an iron fist. In Mafia territory, killing Mafia was a death sentence up until the later stages in the game– within seconds you would be swarmed by Mafia cars and men. They protect their own with vicious efficiency.

In VC, there were only the Haitians, Cubans, Diaz's Drug Cartel, Tommy's Gang, and The Unnamed Gang on That Little Island. Diaz's gang has no involvement with you up until you kill a handful of them and then Diaz himself, the Unnamed Gang lasts for about one mission and has a handful of cars, Tommy's Gang usually just stands in huddles, and the other two gangs just sort of wander. With any of these gangs, killing even an entire group of them only results in a half-hearted charge by any nearby group where you may get shot a couple of times. They lack the power of GTA3's gangs.

The gangs were one of those awesome things about GTA3. Even late in the game you could get gunned down while picking a fight with some of those badasses. There was a real sense of danger while playing GTA3. In VC nothing is a threat to you later on except for getting busted or having a tank smash into you. By the end of it, it just got stale.

SA had much more of these characteristics than SA, but again, the main character just didn't seem to... fit.

[Alyeska]

GTA:SA had the best game play by far. The level designs were also very well done. Real freeways, interstates, massive loop exists and entrances. Multiple cities, airports, towns in the middle of nowhere. Secrets galore. The gameplay was very well done. Learned skills, the ability to fly and swim. Varried missions. Breaking it up into 3 seperate areas of good size worked very well. I have heard some say that GTA:SA was too big. I disagree. I think it was just about the right size.

The missions were also very well done for the most part.

Where GTA:SA faltered was its story. Even then, the first 2/3s was excelent. The problem is that last 1/3 had CJ taking it up the ass from everyone and being a spineless bastard. CJ should have ignored his brother and took part in his new life. Kendel obvisouly agreed with the new life.

[Utsanomiko]

As mentioned by many, San Andreas had the best gameplay and overall abilities and options. The expansiveness of the map is also refreshing; it becomes a whole set of environments.

Vice City had a more appealing feel and style to me, being a fan of the 1980s. Vercetti and supporting cast were also great, although I've liked a lot of SA's characters as well. There's a couple minor gameplay elements I prefer from here, namely how windshields seem to properly shatter and pop out rather than simply crack in SA.

GTA III has what I feel is the best map layout. It wasn't at all realistic, with all the overlapping ramps, odd bridges, shortcuts, and hills, but it was fun. Vice City was a major leap in gameplay yet the flat terrain, neatly-planned roads, and no transit systems were rather dull. Even San Andreas doesn't quite capture the 'road park' aspect of Liberty City, though it's got an expansive variety. Also, GTA III was chaming in the simplicity of its style, allowing for more of a free-form roleplay world rather than pulling you into a cinematic story.

[RogueIce]

Another big factor was presence. In GTA3, gangs owned their territory. The Yardies, Cartel, Yakuza, Triads, and Mafia each had their own chunk of the city, and they ruled it with an iron fist. In Mafia territory, killing Mafia was a death sentence up until the later stages in the game– within seconds you would be swarmed by Mafia cars and men. They protect their own with vicious efficiency.

In VC, there were only the Haitians, Cubans, Diaz's Drug Cartel, Tommy's Gang, and The Unnamed Gang on That Little Island. Diaz's gang has no involvement with you up until you kill a handful of them and then Diaz himself, the Unnamed Gang lasts for about one mission and has a handful of cars, Tommy's Gang usually just stands in huddles, and the other two gangs just sort of wander. With any of these gangs, killing even an entire group of them only results in a half-hearted charge by any nearby group where you may get shot a couple of times. They lack the power of GTA3's gangs.

The gangs were one of those awesome things about GTA3. Even late in the game you could get gunned down while picking a fight with some of those badasses. There was a real sense of danger while playing GTA3. In VC nothing is a threat to you later on except for getting busted or having a tank smash into you. By the end of it, it just got stale.

Unfortunately, I believe that is also a part of their downfall. I remember reading somewhere that they nerfed the gangs in Vice City and made them more tolerable in SA because the gangs were just a little too effecient in GTA3.

Let's face it: after you kill Salvatore in 3, going through Saint Mark's is pretty much taking your life in your own hands and hoping you get lucky. One blast from a Mafia shotgun and you were almost invariably done. And if you were ever too slow going through enemy gang territory elsewhere you were gonna get mobbed and fucked up the ass. Without lube.

However, I think LCS has so far one of the coolest things ever: hitmen. I know San Andreas supposedly has them too, but it's a real PITA to ever get to them when you've get over 18 million in funds to blow away first. The LCS hitmen are pretty freakin' cool and I have a savegame made just for the express purpose of driving around being ambushed (and fighting my way out of it).