Despite its many flaws, i absolutely love this game. Instead of actually talking about this game, i need to discuss how amazing progression feels in this game. The game starts out with you joining the gang doing basic gang things until you are introduced to 3 missions types. Story Missions which progress the story, Strongholds that are basically just smaller scale missions without any story, and then there are the side missions. Side missions are interesting because while you don’t have to do all of them to progress, you need to do some of them to progress. These charming little missions even come with little cutscenes that introduce characters that will even show up in the sequel. Doing these side quest will raise your respect, but respect can be boosted depending on what clothing you wear and this is where i love the progression system. When you first start the game, you’ll be wearing just a shirt and pants; your only gun will be a handgun and your car will be a 4 door sedan that you stole off the street. For quite a bit of the game this will be your set up. You can’t afford anything nice, but around halfway through the game, you’ll get yourself some nice jewelry, some high end clothes, and maybe even a shotgun. towards the end of the game you’ll have an expensive sports car, an rpg, a big house, and platinum jewelry. it’s just so nice playing a game where i actually feel like i’m making meaningful purchases. buying my first piece of platinum jewelry felt so rewarding in this game when in most other games i would never care about jewelry. in other games where i can get a loaded gun anytime for cheap, it’s nice to just barely have enough money to afford ammo in this game. With so many games so focused on making you feel like the strongest person in the world as soon as possible, it’s nice to play a game where you actually feel like you’re progressing.