This is what killed it for me. In these types of games, the city feeling alive and having somewhat meaningful activities to engage in is essential.
I
have to have that or it gets boring really fast. SR3 went backwards in this aspect so much that they had to have made a concentrated effort to botch it the way they did.
SR2 felt semi alive. The peds would interact with you. They had their own little personality.
You had a shopping mall. Ect.
SR3 on the other hand was one of the most sterile city created in recent memory.
There was zero life. The peds were souless.
GTA for the most part got better at this with each iteration.
4 is my least favorite GTA title but it was the little things that made the city feel alive to me.
The incorporation of the series' own version of Internet and goofy side activities like online dating went a long way.
I didn't care for playing pool, but hanging out with the characters Niko befriended made Liberty City feel somewhat like a breathing metropolis.
5 took it further and added outlets to purchase vehicles, pick up side missions, interact with strangers, ect.
I wouldn't have put SR3 down as quick as I did if the city had a semblance of a pulse.
As it stands, it was one of the most robotic and uninteresting settings I'd ever seen and still is.