It's a dilemma alright. Damn, what a nice dilemma to have! Personally I don't rate Saha as highly as the others, but that's only cos the other three are world class (well Smith has the potential to be). I would play all three and leave Saha warming the bench :D
Well, tell you what. Next time you're out and about in Manchester, ask around and see which club has more local support. I'm not kidding ya. Nearly everyone in your city supports city!
It's never appealed to me. I played the first one once cos my friend said it was amazing. But I got so bored after 10 mins that I drowned the whole family in the swimming pool. I've never played it again since. I'd rather have a dream house, dream car etc in really life, not some stupid video game.
The guys at Valve have been trying their hardest to push the min reqs as low as possible. I think the requirements are very reasonable, and IMHO very pleasing. If you think HL2 is a machine raper, try having a look at Doom3's min requirements!