Wow! Very dissapointed with GTA: San Andreas

Mr Durand Pierre

Mr Durand Pierre

CAGiversary!
Feedback
21 (100%)
I'd heard nothing but great things about this game, and while I didn't think the GTA series looked that fun, I'd really only watched friends play it and thus had no motivation to really get involved in what was going on. But San Andreas was on sale for $10 the other week at CC, so I figured that if I were to give the game a fair shot, I'd have to buy it myself so I could see what all the hype was about.

But man, after playing it for about 80 minutes I had about 5 minutes worth of fun. This was due mostly to 2 things:

1.) The map is incomprehensible. The first mission has you following your buddies on bikes, but I'd always lose track of them and the map didn't help at all. Even zooming in at full capacity, sitting close to the TV, and squinting, I for the life of me could very rarely find that miniscule blue dot amidst the mesh of thick black lines that is the San Andreas map. Often the only thing I could do was commit suicide and try again. Which brings me to the second crucial flaw of San Andreas:

2.) The save/checkpoint system is ridiculously awful. When you fail a mission, rather than ask you if you'd like to try the mission again or give up and try something else (ala Sly Cooper) the game respawns you at some random point and you'll have to spend like 5 minutes just getting to the mission start point again. This was seriously the worst save system I've seen since Alundra (a game that looked pretty great, but virtually ruined by the frustrating save system). Probably even worse actually since at least Alundra is like 7 years old. I can't fathom why the game designers opted for this.

The controls and load times seemed a little off too, but I'm willing to give those a chance. But I can't imagine how this game could be any good with such a horrible map and save system. About the only thing that impressed me about the game was the radio stations. That was a very cool touch with a lot of good songs. I'm sure I'll try the game again as I'm sure it must get at least it a little better. At least I can't imagine how it could get any worse.
 
that's why ur supposed to play it on pc. it makes aiming w/the mouse much easier. i thought gta sa was the best in the series simply cuz it was so HUGE
 
i didnt totally read your post, but I'll say something along the lines of what I hope you said:

GTA SA was a good game, but really didn't excel from the point of vice city. It was good and great, but nothing new or really fixed too much. Plus, the story was probably not as good as most other GTAs (LCS being the best IMHO).
 
Welcome to GTA - I've always wondered how certain games, like the GTA series, get great reviews despite being mediocre games... *cough* Advertising dollars *cough*
 
[quote name='peteloaf']Welcome to GTA - I've always wondered how certain games, like the GTA series, get great reviews despite being mediocre games... *cough* Advertising dollars *cough*[/QUOTE]

I can understand about GTAIII since it brought so much new stuff to the gaming scene, but the sequals don't deserve their scores.
 
[quote name='peteloaf']Welcome to GTA - I've always wondered how certain games, like the GTA series, get great reviews despite being mediocre games... *cough* Advertising dollars *cough*[/QUOTE]


Kind of like Halo?
 
[quote name='Mr Durand Pierre']2.) The save/checkpoint system is ridiculously awful. When you fail a mission, rather than ask you if you'd like to try the mission again or give up and try something else (ala Sly Cooper) the game respawns you at some random point and you'll have to spend like 5 minutes just getting to the mission start point again. This was seriously the worst save system I've seen since Alundra (a game that looked pretty great, but virtually ruined by the frustrating save system). Probably even worse actually since at least Alundra is like 7 years old. I can't fathom why the game designers opted for this.[/quote]


There is a taxi outside when you either die or get arrested that takes you to the place of the mission you died/got arrested on.
 
When you fail a mission, rather than ask you if you'd like to try the mission again or give up and try something else (ala Sly Cooper) the game respawns you at some random point and you'll have to spend like 5 minutes just getting to the mission start point again.
Click to expand...

It starts you out at a hospital.

There's a taxi that will take you back to the mission.
 
i had a blast driving around and causing trouble to the tune of Welcome to the Jungle and the rap they had on it...but the game didn't really hold my attention for more than a couple hours. Something about the game engine and the missions just didn't make it very addicting for me.
 
[quote name='Scorch']It starts you out at a hospital.

There's a taxi that will take you back to the mission.[/QUOTE]

Yep... gonna disregard this entire complaint thread, since you obviously didn't put enough time in the game to notice that. No offense, or anything.

I never really had a problem with the map, either.
 
Say what you want about GTA (I loved it, by the way), but how dare you insult Alundra. It's one of the PSOne's finest titles, and probably the best "Zelda clone" I've ever played.
 
[quote name='defiance_17']Say what you want about GTA (I loved it, by the way), but how dare you insult Alundra. It's one of the PSOne's finest titles, and probably the best "Zelda clone" I've ever played.[/QUOTE]
I only insulted Alundra's save system. I played it for maybe 3 hours and I liked everything else I saw, but the sadistic lack of checkpoints and spacious save points discouraged me from continuing. Someday I'll give it another go though... someday
 
[quote name='RelentlessRolento']I can understand about GTAIII since it brought so much new stuff to the gaming scene, but the sequals don't deserve their scores.[/quote] This actually brings up a bigger point - (hold on while I get on my soap box) about how PC gaming is mostly overlooked when it comes to giving credit for innovation. The free reaming style of GTA III had been around for YEARS in the PC world - check just about any PC rpg from the later days of DOS. A gaint open city sandbox? It was called Quarantine, and it came out in '94 (it probably wasn't the first time either) Now lots of great stuff has come from console games, but GTAIII not really
 
[quote name='peteloaf']This actually brings up a bigger point - (hold on while I get on my soap box) about how PC gaming is mostly overlooked when it comes to giving credit for innovation. The free reaming style of GTA III had been around for YEARS in the PC world - check just about any PC rpg from the later days of DOS. A gaint open city sandbox? It was called Quarantine, and it came out in '94 (it probably wasn't the first time either) Now lots of great stuff has come from console games, but GTAIII not really[/QUOTE]

What about the original GTA, GTA:London, and GTAII? It's the same damn game, just from an overhead perspective with now-primitive sprite graphics.
 
[quote name='WildWop']What about the original GTA, GTA:London, and GTAII? It's the same damn game, just from an overhead perspective with now-primitive sprite graphics.[/quote] Even then it wasn't anything new, it was FUN, sure - and a welcome step towards simple gaming, but nothing new.
 
[quote name='Fire']QFT[/QUOTE]
x100


On topic though...I would really like to say something about your dissapointment...but I realized GTA wasnt all it was cracked up to be when I played it for 10 minutes...
 
[quote name='Mr Durand Pierre']1.) The map is incomprehensible. The first mission has you following your buddies on bikes, but I'd always lose track of them and the map didn't help at all. Even zooming in at full capacity, sitting close to the TV, and squinting, I for the life of me could very rarely find that miniscule blue dot amidst the mesh of thick black lines that is the San Andreas map. Often the only thing I could do was commit suicide and try again. Which brings me to the second crucial flaw of San Andreas:

2.) The save/checkpoint system is ridiculously awful. When you fail a mission, rather than ask you if you'd like to try the mission again or give up and try something else (ala Sly Cooper) the game respawns you at some random point and you'll have to spend like 5 minutes just getting to the mission start point again. This was seriously the worst save system I've seen since Alundra (a game that looked pretty great, but virtually ruined by the frustrating save system). Probably even worse actually since at least Alundra is like 7 years old. I can't fathom why the game designers opted for this.

The controls and load times seemed a little off too, but I'm willing to give those a chance. But I can't imagine how this game could be any good with such a horrible map and save system. About the only thing that impressed me about the game was the radio stations. That was a very cool touch with a lot of good songs. I'm sure I'll try the game again as I'm sure it must get at least it a little better. At least I can't imagine how it could get any worse.[/QUOTE]
It just seems like you have a problem with paying attention, since you seem to not be able to follow your friends on bikes (don't they have yellow triangles above their heads?) nor notice the taxi in front of the hospital when you die during a mission. You're only spawned at the police station and hospital, and depending on your area, you'll go to the nearest one, just like in the previous games. The only places you'll spawn at are your houses, but that's not random either. I don't see any actual problems with the game in your rant.
 
[quote name='peteloaf']This actually brings up a bigger point - (hold on while I get on my soap box) about how PC gaming is mostly overlooked when it comes to giving credit for innovation. The free reaming style of GTA III had been around for YEARS in the PC world - check just about any PC rpg from the later days of DOS. A gaint open city sandbox? It was called Quarantine, and it came out in '94 (it probably wasn't the first time either) Now lots of great stuff has come from console games, but GTAIII not really[/QUOTE]

Well it was the same deal with games like Goldeneye or Halo... people were like "OMFG TEH REVOLUTIONZ!!!!!!111one" when PC games had done single and multi player better for years.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']It just seems like you have a problem with paying attention, since you seem to not be able to follow your friends on bikes (don't they have yellow triangles above their heads?) nor notice the taxi in front of the hospital when you die during a mission. You're only spawned at the police station and hospital, and depending on your area, you'll go to the nearest one, just like in the previous games. The only places you'll spawn at are your houses, but that's not random either. I don't see any actual problems with the game in your rant.[/QUOTE]

I tried playing the game some more and I based on the 2 times I failed my mission I still couldn't find this taxi everyone keeps talking about. all the taxis I've entered just end with me throwing out the driver (even if I enter the passenger side). There was no mention of this taxi in the manual, so I'm not sure what I'm missing.

And the mission I'm on now involves tagging over rival gang's graffiti, but I can't seem to make out the icons on the map for where I'm supposed to go. Granted I'm a little near-sighted, but I moved up real close to the TV and still couldn't find that green dot or arrow or whatever that vague icon is. The Jak games used much bigger icons which made the game much easier to follow.

Oh, and the guys on bikes have hard to see blue arrows above their heads, but if you crash or get shot it's real easy to lose track of them.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Yep... gonna disregard this entire complaint thread, since you obviously didn't put enough time in the game to notice that. No offense, or anything.

I never really had a problem with the map, either.[/QUOTE]


indeed
 
I have only played the Xbox version but it suffers from the same map issue. I enjoy the game but the map is nearly useless. Why I can't have a full screen map is beyond me.
 
I liked the game a lot. It held my attention for damn near 100 hours. Due to the size of the towns the map can be very daunting at first. Stick with it long enough and you'll learn it eventually.

I had no problem with the game starting me a little ways away from where I failed a mission. There has to be some consequences to failing a mission. Starting you at a hospital (or a police station if you get busted) and taking away some cash makes sense. If the game allowed you to save anywhere, or restart a mission multiple times with no consequence it would have taken away a lot of the challenge, and I doubt I would have been as captivated by it.

Some of the most fun I had in SA was getting a big wanted level, and speeding for my life on a motorcycle trying to get back to a safehouse (which end up being plentiful once you get the cash to buy them).
 
I thought the same thing when I first played it. For the first 3 or so hours I had to force myself to play. After you start going on better missions (that grafitti tag mission is horrible BTW, started playing this game a second time ans STILL had to look for that last tag for about 15 minutes) the game picks up quite a bit. Try sticking with it until you meet with G-Lok, if after that you still don't like it then I would say you should turn it off.

Then again, you'll miss that sweet spot on top of the mountain where you can jump off with the bike and parachute. MAN they need to make a SA game for the PSP.
 
[quote name='CrimsonPaw']I thought the same thing when I first played it. For the first 3 or so hours I had to force myself to play. After you start going on better missions (that grafitti tag mission is horrible BTW, started playing this game a second time ans STILL had to look for that last tag for about 15 minutes) the game picks up quite a bit. Try sticking with it until you meet with G-Lok, if after that you still don't like it then I would say you should turn it off.
[/QUOTE]

Agreed. The game gets much better IMO after the first 10 hours or so. That's kind of a shame.

I was already used to the map system and the driving controls from GTA3 and VC, so it didn't bother me.
 
What's wrong with the map? I found it easy to put the homing becon where I wanted to go and then just follow in the right direction on the HUD map. Until you know the town fairly well you may be running into walls that you have to go around, but that just encourages exploration.
 
[quote name='Indiana']I have only played the Xbox version but it suffers from the same map issue. I enjoy the game but the map is nearly useless. Why I can't have a full screen map is beyond me.[/QUOTE]


?? like when you hit the start button?

What's the deal with the map complaints? I never had a problem
 
Man I can't believe how much better Halo is then any other game in the world it's crazy. Good thing we bring it up in every topic. Dickriders.
 
[quote name='peteloaf']This actually brings up a bigger point - (hold on while I get on my soap box) about how PC gaming is mostly overlooked when it comes to giving credit for innovation. The free reaming style of GTA III had been around for YEARS in the PC world - check just about any PC rpg from the later days of DOS. A gaint open city sandbox? It was called Quarantine, and it came out in '94 (it probably wasn't the first time either) Now lots of great stuff has come from console games, but GTAIII not really[/QUOTE]


I can see your point, but it's really the platform that it broke. PC, yes it has been around for a long ass time, but for console it pretty much never existed due to msot devs not thinking it possible. Here comes GTAIII to prove that free roaming is really a new thing for console gaming. The PC and Console gaming market are so different from each other that it's scary in a sad way. So yes, you are right in terms of the PC market, but partially no in the Console market.
 
[quote name='peteloaf']This actually brings up a bigger point - (hold on while I get on my soap box) about how PC gaming is mostly overlooked when it comes to giving credit for innovation. The free reaming style of GTA III had been around for YEARS in the PC world - check just about any PC rpg from the later days of DOS. A gaint open city sandbox? It was called Quarantine, and it came out in '94 (it probably wasn't the first time either) Now lots of great stuff has come from console games, but GTAIII not really[/quote]

I kept telling my friends about Quarantine when GTAIII came out. I've had that game for 3DO for frickin' forever.
 
[quote name='arthurRWD']I kept telling my friends about Quarantine when GTAIII came out. I've had that game for 3DO for frickin' forever.[/quote] I really wish that game would run under XP - I miss ejecting people from the cab and then running over them.
 
[quote name='Mr Durand Pierre']I tried playing the game some more and I based on the 2 times I failed my mission I still couldn't find this taxi everyone keeps talking about. all the taxis I've entered just end with me throwing out the driver (even if I enter the passenger side). There was no mention of this taxi in the manual, so I'm not sure what I'm missing.

And the mission I'm on now involves tagging over rival gang's graffiti, but I can't seem to make out the icons on the map for where I'm supposed to go. Granted I'm a little near-sighted, but I moved up real close to the TV and still couldn't find that green dot or arrow or whatever that vague icon is. The Jak games used much bigger icons which made the game much easier to follow.

Oh, and the guys on bikes have hard to see blue arrows above their heads, but if you crash or get shot it's real easy to lose track of them.[/QUOTE]
I'm not seeing taxis now either after dieing during a mission, though I could've sworn they were there before. I'm not sure what to say about that.

As for the map, I've never had a problem with it. It's detailed enough to manuever aroun the streets while paying attention to the road and the icons are easy enough for me to see. It seems like the trouble's with your eyes, obviously as you've mentioned, as the maps have been the same since III and most people have not had much of any problem with it. If you don't already have glasses, that would probably help.
 
IM NOT ALONE! i actually didnt care much for SA, either. make a gta: fruit f**ker game, then we'll see
 
I'm waiting for my 360 to be repaired so I jumped back into the game yesterday. Now I remember why I stopped playing. Horrid controls.

I only have two missions open to me. One is the R/C Zero mission where I have to take out the couriers. Next to the finicky control stick, I also have to use the white and black buttons to to make rudder changes all while controlling the camera with the right stick. How the hell am I supposed to do that while shooting with the B button and keeping the throttle up?

Same thing with the other mission which involves the pimp mobile and taking out the limo and its protection. If I want to take out the cars with my guns while driving, I gotta both go the same speed as the cars while holding the R-Trigger and at the same time, hold the W/Bl Buttons to face the car (so I can't even see where I'm going), all while also hitting the B button.

I just hope they make the controls more intuitive. I know these were originally designed for the DS2 controller, but the controls in general aren't very precise.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']I'm waiting for my 360 to be repaired so I jumped back into the game yesterday. Now I remember why I stopped playing. Horrid controls.

I only have two missions open to me. One is the R/C Zero mission where I have to take out the couriers. Next to the finicky control stick, I also have to use the white and black buttons to to make rudder changes all while controlling the camera with the right stick. How the hell am I supposed to do that while shooting with the B button and keeping the throttle up?

Same thing with the other mission which involves the pimp mobile and taking out the limo and its protection. If I want to take out the cars with my guns while driving, I gotta both go the same speed as the cars while holding the R-Trigger and at the same time, hold the W/Bl Buttons to face the car (so I can't even see where I'm going), all while also hitting the B button.

I just hope they make the controls more intuitive. I know these were originally designed for the DS2 controller, but the controls in general aren't very precise.[/quote]

Rookie.;) Seriously, though, that Zero courier mission took me about 30 attempts before I finally got it. The most difficult mission, IMO.

I think the GTA library is one of the most inventive ideas yet for PS2. Each game keeps getting better: bigger maps, more vehicles, better missions. I will keep playing these games as long as Rock Star keeps putting them out.
 
After playing Oblivion, I kept thinking how nice it would be if GTA was as finely polished as that game. There's just so much to do and there's not too many lull spots in the world. Instead of making the worlds larger and larger, I wouldn't mind them fixing the scale to what it is now, or even scaling it down and making the game worlds a lot more interactive, interesting, and better-looking. It just feels a lot more limited outside of the few side games and the main game storyline. I love how you can play most of Oblivion outside of the main quest itself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top