I don't HATE them, but after all these years, they still haven't topped GTA SA imo. Those first three games on PS2 felt fresh, fun and revolutionary. GTA5, while impressive as hell technically, didn't enthrall me like GTA SA did over a decade ago.
Imo, they need to ditch the engine (the original was arcade-like and goofy which made it more fun) and hire a better story writer. Above everything else, the story writing isn't up to par with the original trilogy.







