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It’s a little known game from a small publisher originally located in Scotland.
The main premise is that you drive around a city as quickly as possible and go bowling with your cousin. Think Big Lebowski meets Driver. You can also play Pool and Darts in various locations around the town, and earn money doing small side jobs such as being a taxi driver or a paramedic.
The controls in GTA IV were realistic! Your car tyre would blip the curb and it would affect the stability of the car. Denting the car from every angle resulted in a uniquely deformed mesh that my god would still drive. Pedestrians would bounce off your bumper in unique and interesting ways. It was a simulation paradise.
In GTA V they changed all that, made it more midnight club and arcade-y as you said. You could literally decimate a crowd of people and they’d all die with the same canned animation. Cars would at most lose a door before considering deforming the whole mesh. It just felt dumbed down.
Saints Row is fun, but you play it once and then forget about it because there’s nothing to do once you reach godhood. Mercenaries was great fun, and Just Cause was a physics funbox, I’ll give you that