Thanks to the Humble Bundle/THQ offer I decided to try Saints Row: The Third. I've looked at screenshots of this before but it never grabbed me in any way. Now that I've logged hours and hours into this through Steam I can easily conclude that I've had a really fun time with this game which is more than I did GTA IV. I like that I can create my own character here, build and upgrade the gang, customize vehicles and the melee moves of the main character. The humor is stupid but it is kind of refreshing in a way to see how this game doesn't take itself seriously at all, to me it actually makes the style of game more enjoyable. The short cut-scenes and the characters starring in them are rewarding to watch as well. I enjoy the really crazy stuff that happen during missions and completely at random in traffic, something I had previously reserved as a GTA thing. Odd things happen in Open World games almost as a rule when the AI interacts with itself, but in games like GTA and Saints Row these 'incidents' can be hilarious to watch as they unfold.

It won't be long before GTA V comes out and my experience with Saints Row sets me up just right. If anyone wants a fun game to sink some hours into you should check this out through the THQ humble bundle.

Yeah so did everyone else

GTA4 was the better overall ride, Saint's Row The Third has the memorable moments.

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

Nope !

Saints Row 3 was my favorite game of last year. But, GTA IV is probably still my favorite game of this generation.

Considering that I've only played maybe three or four hours of Grand Theft Auto IV and I've actually beaten SR3, I can't really say much about GTA4. However, I can say that I was pretty disappointed by the end of SR3. Yeah, it's great at first, but it goes on a steady ramp downhill for the whole game.

Me too.

SR3 is the only open world game that, upon reaching the end, I actively wanted more.

Same here.

Yeah that seems to be the general consensus. GTAIV was by no means a bad game but in terms of fun, more people prefer Saints Row The Third. 
  
I sure did. The sheer insanity with customization was my favourite part. My dude ran around with a pink bath robe, bunny slippers, one of the Cat-In-The-Hat raver hats and no underwear for the extreme majority of the game.

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

Nope !

Hell yeah.

I had a lot more fun in GTA. My favorite thing about those kinds of games is finding ways to do super dumb stuff that just looks really funny. Saints Row is so utterly removed from reality in every possible way that anything crazy you think up to do just seems to fit naturally, which means it's not really that crazy anymore.

GTA's more realistic stylings made dicking around in the open world so much more entertaining, because there was more of a suspension of disbelief. My favorite thing to do to this day in that game is still spawn a super fast car, jack up the police rating, and then set the camera permanently to the dynamic/dramatic angle and see how long you can survive. The entire thing makes you feel like you're driving your car through the lens of a "High Speed Chase Breaking Newscast", but since you can't really see where you are going because of the shifting camera angles, everyone involved in the chase just looks like they are hammered. My and my friends would do pass-and-play with that for hours.

I loved it so much I made an attempt to get all achievements on it and got them. I also have never beaten a Grand Theft Auto game. I love the GTA series but this one made me want to see it all the way through. I also bought all the DLC for it. I can't wait for the next installment. I think I saw a youtube video where someone played the game as Bruce Willis. Pretty nifty.

I've always felt that the Saints Row games have had way better driving and shooting than GTA. That's a pretty big deal when your primary activities in these types of games are driving and shooting.

Other way around for me. Trainers in GTA IV has always been my favorite pass time. At least I don't have to pay DLC to get them.

Never heard of it

You know what, I'm just gonna um okay this one and call it a day.

Um, okay.

I thought this topic was dead and buried.

@Wikitoups said:

@SlashDance

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

Nope !

you should really play some saints row the third!

I did !

well the game is from 2007 while saints row is relatively new

bring this topic up again later comparing saints row with gta V

I enjoyed Red Faction: Guerilla more than both of these.

@csl316 said:

I enjoyed Red Faction: Guerilla more than both of these.

Guerrilla was a pretty good game. I feel like both SR#3 and GTAIV both had better driving, though.

I really can't compare the two. I may have had more "fun" with SR3 at the time but I can remember being really impressed with GTA4 at the time.

SR3 is fun, GTA4 not so much, unlike all the other 3d GTA games in 4 i just played straight, didn't do any of the sidestuff/minigames, finished it twice and didn't once messed around the city.

Sleepy Dawgs is better than them both.

The level of customization is what really sets this game apart and brings out the vanity in me.

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

Not true.

I did too but I didn't enjoy SR3 THAT much. To me the game was "okay" with some good missions and some bad and the humor was a hit-and-miss thing. I don't know, some people seem to adore that game, I think it was good but nothing more. Had more fun with Sleeping Dogs.

Yeah so did everyone else

What is up with this hating on GTA IV years after its release? I remember people loving it when it first came out but now it seems as though it's the "cool thing" to hate GTA IV.

@wumbo3000: Where did I say that I hate GTA IV?

And I like Just Cause 2 more than both of them!

I like them both so deal with that, internet.

@adam1808 said:

I really can't compare the two. I may have had more "fun" with SR3 at the time but I can remember being really impressed with GTA4 at the time.

This. Though I had a lot of genuine fun playing the GTAIV DLC stories, more so than SRTT. Then again I'm also one of the few who prefers SR2 over SRTT at that, so while I think it's a great game, I don't hold it nearly as highly as the majority appear to.

@Milkman: Great, so do I. I found SR3 more fun to play. I don't base that on the age difference, just the choice of approach between the two. :)

What's with the hostility around here today.

Considering SR3 is good, and GTA4 is not. Totally!

What a coincidence. I was thinking about making a thread about GTA IV. I played through the first few missions on that game, and didn't really like it. I got bored before I could hold a weapon. Granted, the game probably gets more fun once weapons are available, but seriously, the combat, the animations, the driving are all so, so bad.

I can see why this game would have been considered great in 2008. The way the game tells its story and presents its world is ahead of its time, but by today's standards, it's not all that good.

Hell, SR2 was better than GTA IV.

I like how it's the cool thing to say that GTAIV sucks now.

So cool.

I did too. I based my character off Balalaika, the Russian female mafia boss from Black Lagoon. You couldn't have that level of personal creativity in GTAIV.

@Funkydupe said:

@wumbo3000: Where did I say that I hate GTA IV?

I didn't say you were. But look at this comment here:

@TobbRobb said:

Considering SR3 is good, and GTA4 is not. Totally!

So yeah, I was simply talking about the public opinion in general. It seems as though there's a huge backlash against GTA IV for some odd reason. I see the opinion that GTA IV isn't good popping up WAY more now than I ever did back during its release.

@wumbo3000: Well, for me personally, I've been bitching about GTA4 since release. But I know what you mean, seems there are way more people turning on it now. I guess it couldn't stand the test of time? Or everyone who actually likes it just moved on and stopped posting about it. POSSIBILITIES!

The main problem I had with GTA IV was the massive disconnect between what Nicco said and what Nicco did. Saints Row 3 bypassed all of that with over the top absurdity.

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

Hell no, SR3's a fun game but I thought IV was leagues better.

Huh, you must've played SR3 without driving.

@BaneFireLord said:

And I like Just Cause 2 more than both of them!

This is the correct answer. Both are boring compared to JC 2, well any game for that matter!

Wow a lot of people seem to like gta4 even tho it's a really shitty game. I'd go as far as to say every open world game ever is 100 times better than gta4.

I'm going to take it a step farther and say I enjoyed Saints Row 2 and 3 more than I enjoyed GTA 4. Turns out I like games with actual gameplay.

GTA4 is still the best game of the generation.