It's always been the consensus that Grand Theft Auto is a pretty great game. Sure, the shooting mechanics have been busted for a decade and we're still waiting for indoor locations, but each iteration of the series has been a step up. San Andreas is, for me, one of the great works of gaming. The wide open spaces, the mixture of the wacky (Jet pack! F16! Parachutes!) with the serious (Thug life, yo. Race riots.) just seemed to push the primal urge of gaming: Do whatever you want, no consequences. I can't even begin to imagine how many zen-hours I've logged in the Pac-Man cops 'n robbers pursuits.
For all of it's flaws, it always managed to come out on top. But lately you guys just seem so. Down on it. We're all entitled to our own opinons, but the game scratches my itch in such a perverse and exact way that I have trouble really disliking it. I'm psyched out fo my mind for GTA4, a game that could just be a rebuild of SA and I'd still pony up full price. But it sounds like a title that's adressed a lot of the franchise's lingering concerns and yet, instead of being psyched, folks just seem more droll than ever. What gives?
