Grand Theft Auto is one of the biggest video game series that set the standard for the industry. The series’ non-linear gameplay paved the way for today's open-world games that we love.
Thus the announcement of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy, was met with much anticipation from fans who relished the chance to play a remaster of these classics.
The Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy features three of the biggest games in the series, it is the first time any of the titles have been remastered.
GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas have been hailed as some of the best games ever made, each delivering an unforgettable experience, filled with great gameplay, intelligent satire and an amazing soundtrack.
With the next title in the series rumoured to be in the works, it is a great opportunity for Rockstar games to revisit these classics and finally bring them to the popular hybrid Nintendo console.
The games are much loved for their humorous scripts that weren’t just parodies of movies but could also be seen as a satirical take on American culture.
It's great to see that one of the highlights from the early games has remained untouched in these remasters.
Highly entertaining as they were, some of the jokes or targets of satire may come across as very dated for new audiences, but may still charm nostalgic players.
But saying that the trilogy still features so many memorable characters and missions that made us fall for the games in the first place.
GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas were released between 2001-2004 and as the first ‘open world’ games it was amazing how much visual detail the developers could cram into them with the Playstation 2’s performance power.
With it being almost eighteen years since San Andreas, things have really moved on a lot, and so one would’ve thought that these remasters would look simply breathtaking on the latest consoles.
Sadly the GTA trilogy is a tale of two halves. It’s clear to see the visual enhancements these three classics have received, from better lighting, sharper detail, longer draw distance and the removal of the famous fog.
It really is a sheer joy to finally see Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City in all their glory after all these years.
But this remaster is plagued with visual imperfections that really ruin the experience, no matter what console you are playing on.
Firstly character models have been given a massive redesign, but they come off looking plastic and shiny.
This new cartoonish aesthetic has really spoiled how some of the characters look and given birth to massive glitches you wouldn’t expect in a remaster.
Another big issue is the rain effect, which makes the entire map impossible to navigate and the game has suffered some glitches that allow rain to fall through bridges.
There's also the constant annoyance of assets such as cars or walls materialising out of thin air, making some missions unplayable.
The previous versions of these games weren’t without their glitches and bugs, but seeing as this is meant to be ‘The Definitive Edition’ of the games, these issues should have been ironed out by the developers.
Now your experience will differ depending on what console you play on, each platform looks like they have been poorly ported, but the Switch looks to be the worst out of them.
From poor load times to some of the worst frame drops I have seen in a while, it’s a shame that games are being released on a Nintendo console for the first time in this condition.
A massive feature of the formative GTA games was the soundtrack and radio station, which has returned but with a fair few tracks missing.
The tracklisting will match the most recent release of each game, so in terms of San Andreas, players will be getting the 2014 version.
But the tracks do sound much better than in the original games and players can listen to them in surround sound.
In an attempt to close the gap between movies and games, GTA featured a great list of actors to voice its characters, ranging from Ray Liotta to Samuel L. Jackson, who all still appear in this remaster.
The Trilogy has given the gameplay mechanics a massive overhaul, by adding the control scheme from GTA V.
The improvement in shooting and driving controls are fully welcome, with the developers also making the most of the special features on each console.
The Switch version features gyro and touchscreen controls that have been well implemented but can suffer from input lags due to the poor performance on the console.
It isn’t all negative though, the Trilogy does boast many decent quality of life features that really improve the experience.
However, due to the age of the original games, the remaster really needed more time and work to improve the game and ensure everything worked.
It’s the attention to the finer details that are impressive like having the ability to place markers on the map or taking out the hospital segment after failed missions, allowing players to jump back into a mission.
There still aren’t checkpoints within missions which is a letdown, as having to restart each mission from the beginning can be frustrating.
Verdict
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy isn’t the glorious revival we were hoping for. The developers have added a fair amount of enhancements that do generally improve the experience.
But this trilogy is just plagued with so many bugs, glitches and performance issues that really ruin this long-awaited comeback.
Fans will have to wait in hope that any patches that are being planned happen right away.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is out now for P layStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch and Windows
