Take me away to San Andreas!
San Andreas' missions are much the same yet the game has many added features that help shed new light on old missions and add excitement to new missions! You can now fly many different Airplanes and helicopters, drive many different boats, motorcycles and tons of vehicles not to mention the other misc items you can drive around in or on. In San Andreas you can swim which is a huge plus from the previous two games. Cars can be modded to a small degree but that still gives you plenty of fun gameplay hours "Pimping" your rides.
You collect properties, some as much needed save points and others to product much needed revenue! You can save cars you've customized in your many different garages though they sometimes get "jacked" (or disappear without warning from your garage, glitch?). Aside from the many missions you have spread out through the massive 3 cities there are also tons of side missions and again hidden items but this time there are 2 kinds, 50 each, plus gang tags to cover up as you also have to take back territory for your family gang.
This game has so much to offer I can't possibly write it all down but until GTA 4 this game has given me and will continue to give me years of fun! The graphics on this have taken away from the previous 2 making them less fun to play but I can't stay away permanently from any of them.