When a clone outshines the master

I was getting some milk in Sainsburies yesterday

Not the most exciting tale I grant you, but at the end of one of the tills they were selling Saints Row 2 for £5. Now I bought that on release and along with its older brother SR, I would class them as 2 of the 360s greatest games.

I recently bought the GTA4 episodes and last night started to play The Lost and the Damned and quite frankly I found it rubbish. GTA III in all its incarnations were some of video gamings best ever titles, but I struggled to enjoy GTA4. Yes the graphics, voices and stuff showed a level of programming skill not seen before, but the game itself was IMHO not a patch on the III series. Now playing the first DLC for it I find I like it even less.

I suppose technically as Saints Row came out first on the 360 its not the clone, but it was so much GTA that I would have to say it was the imitator, however it is such a superior game in terms of fun that I would choose it over the Rockstar one anyday of the week.

So for me here the clone really does outshine the original.

Anyone think of any other titles that beat their inspiration?


First time I ever experienced this was on my Amiga decades ago when Garrison wiped the floor with Guantlet. But there has got to be a stack of titles that stormed past their mentor

I own and like Saints row, but I bought it late and stopped playing it after realising I would never get all the multiplayer achieves.

We could always start a new gang!

I don't own 2 though.

aye SR2 kills GTA4 in every conceivable way.

I'll take Unreal Tournament over Quake as well. Sensible Soccer over Kick Off. Arkanoid over Breakout.

Splinter Cell > Metal Gear Solid

I loved the first Metal Gear, 2 and 3 were huge disappointments, fecking interactive movies with the odd 5 mins of gameplay thrown in. The Splinter Cell games however have got bigger and better, and Splinter Cell Conviction looks like being a must have game.

Totally agree on the Saintrow vs GTA thing. GTA was a good game but I played the entire thing wondering where the fun was. So often I would want to land on the tall building and base jump of. Alas I couldn't. Saints row on the other hand equalled fun plus kicking the crap out of someone as a woman with big breasts and long legs in high legs was hilarious.


Call of duty > Medal of honour.

How about Katakis > R-Type?

DoctorMambo wrote:How about Katakis > R-Type?

I prefer

Salamander > Katakis > R-Type


lol

Everton wrote:

DoctorMambo wrote:How about Katakis > R-Type?

I prefer

Salamander > Katakis > R-Type


lol

Is Salamander really a clone though? It's a sequel in the Gradius/Nemesis series.

what about wipeout/f-zero