Do any of the later GTAs match up to SAs greatness?

[replicashooter]

Man CJ and his adventures were just so darn great. The music, the settings, the banter. All of it together made one perfect game.

So perfect that I never wanted it to end as there was just so much going on and each character was so fleshed out. The fourth offering only got around a couple of hours play before I realised it was as meh as it seemed with the dull looking graphics, boring characters and thin plot not to mention the crappy physics and general "been there done that" vibe it had it spades. 5, never even tried mainly due to the experiences with 4 and actually took the time to replay vice city instead along with the psp offferings and even the surpsringly dope DS version so am thinking of checking one out now.

Four or five? Which one is the best and why? 🤔

[nonny]

Well I disliked San Andreas for it's black gang storyline and general need to work up your character stats. The scale was impressive but after coming from the wonderful Vice City it lacked any kind of style for me.

GTAIV I think the DLC additions saved it but the main campaign bored me to tears and I never finished it. Which leaves 5, and it's brilliant. With its three main central characters it's weaves enough of its predecessors into the mix without losing anything in the mix. If you've never played it then definitely stop putting it off.

[EvilBoris]

I never really liked the GTA games for their story/gameplay, but I really loved 5, which felt like a much more designed game compared to the sandbox fetch quest tedium of the previous ones

[Atticus]

I still think San Andreas is the king. It has a coherence and a focus that make it stand out (and it nails that early 90s hip hop vibe perfectly, along with the hazy California skies). The overnight drive from LA to San Francisco with (Peter Fonda's) The Truth while Freebird blasted out of the radio was one of my favourite moments in any game. It just had a real cinematic feel to it, arriving just as the sun was coming up. Brilliant.

I also found IV dull, though not without its moments, but V is much better. Still no SA for me though.

[Neon Ignition]

GTAV is... well, it's astoundingly superior to GTAIV. In many ways GTAV is like San Andreas 2 so it should be quite an easy one to settle into after a few hours once it opens up.

[speedlolita]

I never really liked the GTA games for their story/gameplay, but I really loved 5, which felt like a much more designed game compared to the sandbox fetch quest tedium of the previous ones

GTAV is the only GTA game I've played the completion, I agree with this opinion.

Didn't like the characters in IV at all, the world feels naff too.

[wakka]

IV is definitely the weakest entry, although it was technically impressive at the time. The Ballad of Gay Tony DLC was much, much better than any other part of IV, and is really what the whole game should've been like.

V is excellent though, and probably the strongest entry in terms of story, quest design and sandbox.

Like many im very affectionate for Vice City, it very effectively nailed the 80s Scarface aesthetic. Very evocative and distinctive. The sequel it got on PSP (later ported to PS2) is pretty good too, and has an addictive business management side story.

I have to be honest, I've never played San Andreas properly for whatever reason. I must go back and do that.

[JazzFunk]

Franklin and Lamar end up being really likeable after an opening that drops the Arthur Negus bomb quite heavily and seems to do so for shock value, the characters flesh out more as the game goes on and if you like San Andreas, you'll love Franklin and maybe even like Lamar, even if he's a twunt at the start.

[Neon Ignition]

San Andrea's main issue for me was that Rockstar has built this hugely impressive and fun county to explore... and it was... until you hit one of the three cities. All three are the worst in the series, GTAV is much more balanced.

[BigDeadFreak]

San Andreas is by far my favourite. I loved the soundtrack; driving through the desert to Horse With No Name or being chased by the police on a Harley whilst listening to Free Bird was so evocative. It had a real sense of place and everyone who played it seemed to have a slightly different adventure.

I was at university when it came out and bought a PS2 just to play it. My housemates and I were all obsessed with it and sunk countless hundreds of hours into it. It was the first 3D GTA I'd properly played but all of the other seemed a poor second after that. The character interactions and stunning vistas of V were amazing but once I'd completed it I had no desire to carry on playing. With San Andreas I didn't want to stop.

I think I played San Andreas so much I just got bored of the whole GTA concept. I does become repetitive after a while (steal a car, get chased, rinse and repeat) and I find it a bit tedious now. Maybe I just loved San Andreas so much because it was my first but I do think there was something special about it.

[EvilBoris]

GTAV is also one of the technically most impressive games that has ever existed. The fact that it is made by such a big company is irrelevant , it’s an absolutely marvel

[stevie vip 99]

I've been thinking of buying this myself lately, interesting to read people's thoughts

[replicashooter]

GTAV seems to have its fans, will have to check it out now. Here's hoping its as fun.

[importaku]

GTAV was impressive enough that it got me of all people to buy it, even now my mind is still blown at the size of the city you are allowed to play in. I have spent many an hour just driving and exploring the enviroment, i remember wanting to see what was over the mountains so i took the helicopter over to find a little rural mountain town.

Playng 5 star survival is fun, got the tank and decided to see how long i could last out. Took it to the pier where the funfair is as there's only one way in for the police to come and started firing, man they get militant as the stars increase. By the end they had the copters out and everything.

[Digfox]

I with some of the others here, in that I personally adored GTAV. Although I was impressed by GTAIV, it's storyline and some of the mechanics were not that well implemented in my view. I think it's a little bit overrated if you judge it by the reviews and places like metacritic where it's rated as one of the greatest games of all time.

So GTAV and Vice City are my faves of the franchise. I assume GTA3 would be a on that list too, had I played it at the time of its release.