Rockstar really dropped the ball with GTA: San Andreas

First of all, this isn't to profess any sort of anger about GTA San Andreas, something I hailed as being a possible GOTY last year. No. Also, this is most certainly not about the whole retarded as fuck "Hot Coffee" controversy. No. It's about they royally managed to screw the pooch with the Xbox port.

I've been playing it through again on the Xbox after purchasing it a couple of weeks ago. Pretty much the same game I remember. The controls are bit more iffy on the Xbox (mainly due to a lack of L2/R2 triggers making some things a might inconvenient). The graphics are a slight bit sharper. You get custom soundtracks.

Wait, did I just say the graphics are a slight bit sharper? Just on a whim, I popped in my GTA3 and GTA:VC ports for the Xbox. I damn near shit myself. Where did these amazing graphics come from? The GTA3 and GTA:VC ports on the Xbox look positively amazing. The graphics are incredibly sharp, the character models are just out of this world with detailed facial expressions and even individual fingers. The reflections off the cars is crazy. When you drive in the rain or hit a fire hydrant, water splashes all over the screen. The framerates are super smooth. Everything just looks fabulous, a true upgrade from the Playstation version. Then I put GTA:SA in the Xbox and I'm presented with pretty much the same grainy PS2 graphics, same blocky character models and boxing-glove fists, and chuggy framerates. I just have to say to myself, what the fuck happened?

Rockstar had 9 months to crank out an Xbox port. Did they just not care enough to really make it shine like the VC and GTA3 ports? Did they just get lazy? Why is the GTA:SA Xbox port so sub-par? I was really looking forward to the Xbox port as soon as I played through the PS2 version because of the amazing graphical makeover the previous two had, but time made me forget just how extreme the makeover was. Now comparing the two older ones to the new one, the difference is night and day.

Now, sure, graphics don't make a good game. But, GTA:SA was already a freakin' great game, and admittedly a much better game than GTA:VC or GTA3. I just feel kind of ripped off by Rockstar. I expected further perfection like with the VC and GTA3 ports, and just got a slight upgrade. Kind of like moving from a Kia to a Hyundai when I'm expecting a Mercedes.