Saints Row more fun than GTA? (gameplay and rewards)

Myself having grown up with the original classic, that holds a special place in my heart.

Multiplayer Spam City for hours. Multiplayer modem games were so much fun and made everybody angry in a fun way. The GTA games I thought were more intelligent and not as in-your-face as the Saints Row games but both humours differ greatly and I've come to appreciate both franchises (not equally mind you).

I somehow managed to miss the whole GTA craze from the mid 00's, back then the open world genre didn't seem all that interesting to me. The game that changed my mind was Just Cause 2 and it was mostly because really embraced the fun side of the genre, then I eventually played through SR3 and SR4, loved both but for different reasons. To this day I think that SR3 managed to achieve the perfect balance between random humour and vehicule based sand-box, I really wish they had gone with the "bad" ending and given us a fourth entry were Steelport is a self-proclaimed city state in war with the US, so much wasted plot potential.

Sleeping Dogs is kind of the opposite of Saint's Row. It's like a GTA that takes itself more seriously. Still, very it's good. Maybe my favourite in the genre.

I only played Saints Row: The Third and I have to say it was a lot more fun than GTA V

They're all fun in their own way. I played the first GTA, never finished it though. I didn't play GTA again until GTA: SA. I'm not a big fan of 3rd person games and passed on them. I picked up GTA: SA though after a seeing a friend playing it, and I still have my original, pre-hot coffee re-release copy. I played it to 100% completion twice. Only did a second 100% run because my save got corrupted. After finishing the game, I liked going in just to get into car chases, mow down people, just blow off steam you know. I bought the GTA Franchise pack on Steam that included all GTA games up to San Andreas on Steam. I tried GTA: III and Vice City, but I couldn't get into them. The driving was pretty much the same as SA, but the 3rd person controls were really bad and it wasn't fun. One thing that Vice City has that I don't understand why it was removed is the cops using spike strips on you. That made cop chases so much more fun.

I picked up GTA IV at release. Though I never played it to 100% completion, stats wise, but I played the story several times. I also got the stand-alone Episodes from Liberty City and played those several times as well. They too were fun to load up after completing the story to blow off steam in. I enjoyed the darker story and tone of GTA IV and EFLC.

I installed a mod that made the handling and vehicle damage more realistic and played it with that on. Not only did it make the game more challenging, it improved my driving x1000 knowing any crash at 30+MPH could disable your car and make you have to bail on foot.

I also bought GTA V at release, but I have only played the story once. It looks great, but I just didn't enjoy the story as much as I did IV and EFLC. I didn't like the character switching, and I didn't really like the characters as much. Something also felt off with the vehicle handling, but maybe that was because I was used to the realistic handling and damage mod from GTA IV. GTA V has a lot of improvements over GTA IV (more than graphics), but it's also missing some little touches that GTA IV had that I miss. I wasn't the only one to notice these either, the forums were full of people wondering why they were removed. The biggest one is being able to either exit the car in a hurry, leaving it running by quickly tapping the exit vehicle button, or turn it off and get out by holding it down. I do still occasionally fire it up when I need to blow off steam, run around beating up random peds, get into car chases and shoot outs with the cops.

I got Saints Row 3 from a Humble Bundle. I don't like the driving in Saint's Row, but the flying and everything else was fun. I liked that it was off the wall and not serious. I picked up SR4 and Gat out of Hell and I've played through SR4 but not GooH yet. I think I like SR4 a little better, mainly because since I don't like the driving in SR, and SR4's super powers let you get around faster than driving. Like GTA, after finishing them I would fire it up just to have fun, and some of the side activities in SR3/4 are fun to re-play, especially Professor Genki ones. I love running around drop kicking people, getting into huge fights with gangs and cops. You're so overpowered at the end game it's nearly impossible for the AI to kill you, so I'm running around in these fights drop kicking and dick punching cops and military while shrugging off tanks shooting at me.

I thoroughly enjoyed Saints row: the third and the GTA III Trilogy (my fav being Vice city) as well as GTA IV which had an amazing plot and morals. GTA V however is...I have no idea what it is, and I regret buying it sometimes. A lot of it feels forced IMHO.

saints row 2 and 3 are way better than anything gta has done if youre looking for over the top silly fun. even gta at its best (vice city) doesnt quite match up. Gta games definitely have more 'in them', but along the way the devs became too fixated on 'realism' they forgot the anarchic fun of the originals, something Saints Row revels in. If you want serious sandbox, GTA is your best bet. Want crazy insane loud rediculous fun in a game that knows not to take itself seriously? Saints row for sure.