I prefer VC's Walking over any new GTA Game. It's snappy and reactive instead of "realistic".

Yeah from the playability side saints row (volition) was always far more intuitive.

I tried playing it on my PS2 the other day, my Dualshock 2 is very beaten down so maybe that's why, but I do remember the controls being kinda shit across the whole Renderware era for GTA.

Call Cinco Cinco Cinco, nueve dos, nueve dos. I'll always remember that number from San andreas. Cruising around just listening to the radio really put you in the game.

That's why red dead 2 was such a shock to me, having some of if not the best writing in games

I always thought gta series as a extreme parody on real life groups portraited by media.

Like, Vice City was a parody of those gangster and the media at the time, like Scarface or any of those 80s generic b movies.

San Andreas, was the rap and gangs , and those movies with drive-bys, ice cold executions and those shit (like "Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice on the hood").

Those don't supposed to have Shakespearean writing, but weird little pastiches from real life with good, and sometimes, amazing character writing

That's a Lance Vance chance!

No it was great when it came out.

Vice City was fantastic when it was released. It was one of the biggest open worlds of it's day.

Eh, it mostly just riffed on popular crime movies and TV, especially Scarface. San Andreas was funny, but it wasn't until GTA4 that I'd say the writing was actually good.

Even if avoid discussion about subjective versus objective, there is also context.

Ray Liotta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino did a great job.

The soundtrack/score (remember the intro scene) was also very good and has only gotten better with age.

The film is also very stylish.

That covered for the writing, which is its own thing.