Paltheos
Member
Count me in the 'Don't like' camp. San Andreas was a step in the wrong direction (that Rockstar only continued plowing down in GTA 4). There were so many more systems added to the game, i.e. dieting, visiting a barber, visiting a bar, riding bicycles, &c that felt superfluous to me. None of them were bad and I could (and often did) ignore them but the bigger problem imo was the the design philosophy. It seemed Rockstar were more concerned with offering new experiences to the player and making things bigger - I particularly draw attention to the huge, empty farm land you're dropped in the midgame that's just a tedious bore to trek through - than with making that shit fun.
Building a drug empire and buying up properties in the coke filled '80s of Vice City is fun. The minute gameplay differences/additions between GTA3 and Vice City were fun (although I couldn't tell you the specifics off the top of my head). I don't know where Rockstar should have gone after Vice City, but I can tell you what worked. Yakuza games work, because they go all-in on the core elements of their games - Serious stories, flashy and spectacular combat, and often over-the-top and/or uncynical sidequests. Crackdown (1) works because it leans in on camp and adds fun side objectives (i.e. collecting jumping orbs in jumping challenges so you can jump higher, etc.). San Andreas is boring: More of the same plus extra content that doesn't build on or add to what made the older games fun.
Building a drug empire and buying up properties in the coke filled '80s of Vice City is fun. The minute gameplay differences/additions between GTA3 and Vice City were fun (although I couldn't tell you the specifics off the top of my head). I don't know where Rockstar should have gone after Vice City, but I can tell you what worked. Yakuza games work, because they go all-in on the core elements of their games - Serious stories, flashy and spectacular combat, and often over-the-top and/or uncynical sidequests. Crackdown (1) works because it leans in on camp and adds fun side objectives (i.e. collecting jumping orbs in jumping challenges so you can jump higher, etc.). San Andreas is boring: More of the same plus extra content that doesn't build on or add to what made the older games fun.