I use to think GTA4 was a bit better, but I played the episodes from Liberty city and man, that game feels old! Graphically it's janky, control wise it is so sluggish, many people complain about the cars (I think the driving feels great) but man the shooting and running around on foot feels slow, it's also weird with the auto aim because it makes it harder to turn the camera. Also the map tells seems to tell me nothing about nearby restaurants unless I've been to them before making it such a hassle to regain health.

By now I like SR3 more. since playing GTA4 I realized Vanquish taught me I liked good control. It would be nice if Saints Row could pull off more convincing worlds, and still be fun.

I'm starting to wonder why Jeff Loved GTA 4 but hated Red Dead, All of Red Dead's issues are multiplied by 3 in GTA 4.

I liked Sleeping Dogs better than either of them.

GTA 4 made everyone else step their game up. Considering GTA 4 was 2008?

And it took 3-4 years to get open world crime games kinda pefected, and games STILL get compared to it, yeah some people hate it, but you can't ignore what it did for the genre this generation.

Thought I put Red Dead over all those games.

After getting the DLC, I was playing around with one of my four or five characters, when I suddenly realized that I was playing as a Russian vampire mafia boss, riding a hover-bike, and strafing a gang of luchadors and a 9-foot, muscle-bound clone.

I think that was the exact moment that love blossomed.

Vice City, San Andreas, Saints Row: The Third, and Sleeping Dogs are all better than GTAIV.

Nico is a horrible character lacking any consistency in what he says and what he does, and the driving/shooting/melee/movement are all fucking terrible even compared to earlier GTAs. I found it baffling when GTAIV came out that so many people seemed to like it when it was such a huge step backwards from San Andreas, and it's even more mind boggling to me now that other, much better, games have come out since.

Wauw we really need this thread again?

I couldn't get through GTA4. I've tried three times now, and it just couldn't hook me like the old ones did. Saints Row 3 didn't let me go for a moment though.

It's probably worth noting that I don't give 2 shits about Saints Row 1 or 2.

@dcgc: they took out a million features and cool things, the driveing is awful, the charaters are the worst characters in any game ever, the missions were not fun at all. if gta4 is realisic I gotta ask what planet your from?

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

No, just no. I see Saints row as such a low quality product, cheesy, bordering on bad voice acting, a stupid, and not 'fun stupid' story, and the movements/mechanics feel so paper thin. GTA4 had an interesting, although pretty predictable story, and the shooting/movements felt normal to good.

I know it's all opinions, and everyone has their own reasons to like one over the other, but I am seriously confused how people get enjoyment out of Saints row. Is the kick person in the nuts button actually funny to you?

@wumbo3000 said:

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.

At the time it made a pretty great first impression. Graphically it was outstanding. The cars were very real. The technology of sending a player through a windshield or having an explosion impact on a car enough to fuck up it's steering made it feel real. There are things early on that make it feel dynamic, like when you go to pick up your first date and Roman calls asking for help because loan sharks are beating him. Which ever one you go to will result in something different but the next mission is just going to be the other event. The more you play it the more it's problems become apparent. The back half of the game feels like filler. The missions get long and don't have checkpoints. he mission design is very much the same as it was in GTA3. The shooting isn't fluid, the cover system is clunky, the movement feels stiff. Most people I know were pretty high on the game when it came out, they blasted through the story and then dug into the multiplayer. The multiplayer is terrible. Auto aim and radar make it easy mode. It was pretty laggy and the problems with moving and shooting became more obvious. Most of the people I knew who were hype for it on launch day were down on it within two weeks. Personally I have looped around and am back up on it but I know it's a flawed game.

GTA IV was good, it was trying for a more heavy story.

SR3 was just off the wall crazy.

GTA wins story, SR3 wins for fun.

Although SR3 has the Mayor going for it :P

@bestusernameever: actually play sr3 and get back to me.

Probably. I know I really enjoyed GTA IV back when it was released, but yeah, SR3 is on a whole other level of fun.

SR3 is a better toy. You play with it and the lights are bright, the explosions big, it's a fun sandbox because it lets you be as crazy as can be.

GT4 goes serious. Serious tone, serious story, and for the most part serious characters. It still has that RockStar charm and crass humor.

They're two different experiences. A younger me would have enjoyed SR3 more because it has boobs and guns. But GT4 speaks to me as a better story with great story telling that proves that games can be more than play things.

Can't really stand Saints Row 3. Driving is fucking AWFUL.

I played 30 mins of SR3 and have not touched it since. I hated the driving mechanics. Though from what I have read and played, the story seems fun and crazy.

@JZ:

LOL

Just LOL

Saints Row jives so much better with being an open world game. Because it's basically a crazy cartoon, all the weird shit that happens can stay setting appropriate -- and even rampaging around town isn't out-of-character for the no-fucks-given Protagonist.

Meanwhile in GTAIV, I'm not even sure why the open world is there (aside from the obvious legacy). There's a massive disconnect when Niko talks about wanting to make an honest living, and the game follows it up by telling me how to jack a car. Ultimately I ignored a lot of the 'open world' in GTAIV, because "If I'm Niko, why do I want to menace the city?"

Still hard to say which is the greater game, because it's practically apples and oranges. But Saints does the open world thing way better for sure.

@mosespippy: You know what, I actually agree with you on the movement/controls feeling clunky. But for me personally, the story and the characters of GTA IV are what made the lasting impression on me. It was really the tale of Niko that made GTA IV a great game for me.

And it's funny to juxtapose these two games. Saints Row went balls out with the insanity to create these hilarious, yet totally unrealistic characters. But in GTA IV, the crazy characters are just realistic enough that you can imagine them being a person you would know in real life. Take Brucie for example. Yeah, he keeps it totally alpha and is ready to shove bull shark testosterone up his ass at any minute, but Rockstar keeps a sense of realism that makes him seem like a person that would really exist in the world. I think that's what GTA IV nails so perfectly.

I'm all for running around naked and blasting people away with my level 4 pistols, but when it comes to great story telling and an emotional plot, GTA IV is where it's at.

Although these are two "open world games," they offer such different things to the players. Kinda crazy how two games of the same genre can appeal to wildly different audiences. Both are great games are in the own right...I just enjoyed GTA IV and its great story telling a helluva lot more than I did Saints Row's absurdity.

I enjoyed Roller Coaster Tycoon more then Ecco the Dolphin. I know I know everyone was just expecting another roller coaster building sim but its so much more. Totally blows Ecco the Dolphin out of the water, ha ha ha see what I did there, when it comes to real time theme park building sims. Totally go play it.

Also Saints Row was pretty good. So was GTA 4. They're different games trying to accomplish different things. And thats totally ok. Go play both.

Yeah that game goes over-the-top in a very crazy satisfying way. Deckers.Die is one of the most creative missions I've played ever.

Personally I think SR3 was a much more enjoyable game.

@Hosstile17: Hell to the yes sir

SR3 is more fun, GTA IV is more good. The moment to moment gameplay in GTA isn't nearly as fun as SR3's, but the atmosphere, story, world, and that awesome DLC is what makes GTA IV great.

I'm a BADASS!

Actually, Sleeping Dogs is the first city-based sandbox game I've enjoyed since the first Mafia. It actually had genuinely good combat. And the driving was nice and arcadey.

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

Nope, GTA IV is great. just can't get into the Saints Row games, the humour is just stupid and tries to hard compared to GTA IV. The shooting is too easy in SR, the driving feels like a kart racer, the city is too clean and doesn't feel lived in. GTA IV had great characters, story and the world was and still is breathtaking. The physics engine made for some great comedy, the multiplayer is still fun too this day with the free roam and people just doing whatever. Really enjoyed Sleeping Dogs, it did the over the top gameplay was better than Saints Row 3 in my opinion.

WELL

I played GTA IV for the first time this summer and played through the two DLCS over the last few days. Really, really enjoyed GTA IV and loved the dlc. Story is strong in all of them (especially the Lost and Damned) and for me the gameplay hold up. The missions can get kind of samey, whole lot of 'Run to A, shoot everyone, drive to B, shoot everyone' but everything around them is great. I still think the graphics and city (maybe not the character models) look incredible.

I also started playing Saints Row the Third yesterday. I think I'm about an hour and a half in and enjoying it so far. I can already tell it is a different game, it doesn't feel as weighty as GTA IV but can do different things because of it. It is pretty fun so far.

So... without knowing which one to rate as 'better' yet, I will say that everyone should give GTA IV a go. And I mean give it a decent attempt, get past the 'realistic' driving (which I ended up enjoying a whole lot) and get into the story. I'll keep playing Saints Row and see how it pans out. Seems like it's shaping up to be good too.

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else

Everyone who isn't a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian did, at least.

Have my doubts that even GTA V will be better than SR3.

@Mesoian said:

Me too.

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

This.

I enjoyed Saints Row TWO more than GTAIV, that game is a bloated mess. SR2 is a streamlined masterpiece of mayhem that I could play all day still.

@Nightriff said:

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

The better overall ride if you hate fun

@Sooty said:

@Nightriff said:

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

The better overall ride if you hate fun

I don't hate fun, I just hate myself...

I am going to rate them in the order I played them.

SR3 - 5 Stars

SR2 - 2 Stars

GTA IV - 3 Stars

GTA just wasn't fun, everything felt like a chore to me.

I'll resort to pugilism if GTA4 is disparaged in my immediate area. Saint's Row is pretty great, too, but not fist fighting great.

I enjoyed nearly every single other open world action game this generation more than Saint's Row 3. I can't understand why people claim to like it so much when it plays to poorly. Sleeping Dogs, on the other hand, is excellent.
 
Actually SR3 was the only one I actively hated and felt ripped off and lied to about. Still do. It's the lowest common denominator of its genre. When these threads of praise pop up my first instinct is always that this is some kind of troll attempt. Turns out everybody is fucking crazy.

Yeah so did everyone else

I like both games but I feel GTA4 is a better game. SR3 feels too arcadey to me while GTA4 just feels right.

I liked them indifferent ways. Ones a comedy and ones a crime movie.

I have never enjoyed the Saints Row games.

To be fair, I didn't like any of the PS2-era GTA games either.

GTA IV is a really boring game with some very interesting elements and a decent storyline (of course Red Dead is a lot of fun + has those same elements and a generally superior storyline; and San Andreas is incredible; just a misstep with GTA IV on the gameplay front); Saint's Row 3 is a really fun and funny game though it is just 25 hours or so and then you're more or less done; personally that's fine as I still think the first 12 hours I spent playing Uncharted 2 were easily the best experience I had this generation; 200 hours of Dark Souls notwithstanding.

Overall I enjoyed my time with GTA IV more but Saints Row 3 is still a great game that people should play. Now if I was to compare Saints Row 3 to Saints Row 2 that would be a tougher choice as I really enjoyed the second game.

Same here, GTA IV as a game, felt more bland for me...the characters were interesting enough. But, unfortunately that wasn't enough for me. So I tried SR3 and loved it...something about it just had a sense of charm I liked about it.

I definitely enjoyed GTA 4 a hell of a lot more. SR3 had it's moments and I had a lot more fun than I thought I would with it.

Having said that I found the majority of the missions pretty boring, there were some gems in there but plenty of boring stuff as well. The gun play was uninteresting and the vehicle handling was flat out horrible and the perpetually accelerating engine noises really bothered me. Much like Sleeping Dogs I just didn't enjoy getting around due to the vehicles feeling horrible to drive.

I know many didn't like the handling in GTA4 but I found it to be nicely weighted and a hell of a lot more satisfying than in pretty much any other open world game.

@ajamafalous said:

@JZ said:

Yeah so did everyone else