Of all the GTA games, I have to admit that SA is definitely my favourite. Im from the UK, and growing up I remember being a little obsessed by the 90's hip hop and rap culture, LA gangs and just that whole liestyle so when I first played GTA SA I instantly loved the whole back drop of the game. From the hip hop music, gang's defending their turf, gang colours...all of it for me summed up what the west coast and LA was all about back in them days...
I still do, in fact! This game was an awesome inovation for this time and even today it's a very good and enjoyable game. I play it from time to time when I'm bored and it always brings back memories.
I love playing SA. I genuinely enjoy it more than the other games in the franchise, but I'm not sure why. Like another poster said, I enjoy playing it when the internet is down. It's nice to have the game to fall back on. I like to create a new game, and just explore the city. I like how kind of open-ended it is, and the storyline is just more interesting. I think the only real thing I dislike about SA (and all GTA games) are the racing jobs.
I think the sign of a classic game is one that people keep going back to, even after they've completed it. If people are still playing now, years after it was first released. Comparing GTA SA to games released now, it looks blocky, not very smooth and there's a few glitches in there from time to time, but for me and most other people, that's not really an issue because the actual gameplay itself is what makes people keep playing it. While GTA VC was good, I think SA was a turning point for the GTA series.
Well, from time to time, I like to go back to the old GTA games that I once finished a long time ago. I usually tend to play newer games, which makes it somewhat hard to go back to the old games due to the major difference in the graphics.
GTA San Andreas was arguably one of the best GTA games I've played. I believe I started out with Vice City and GTA III, but playing GTA San Andreas felt entirely different and really refreshing. The world was huge compared to other GTA games, even GTA IV for instance. I thoroughly enjoyed it in my younger years, but today, the graphics definitely feel dated and I'm not sure I'd play it again as I've already finished the game once. It seems difficult to spend hours on hours in an old game with dated graphics and limited game options, despite the fun I've had playing it for the very first time.
I don't play this game to enjoy the graphics, I play it solely because its storyline is quite amazing... if only they had made a movie for this game, it would've been amazing. I must also say that my PC is quite slow, so... I don't really afford to play anything beside old games.
