(Nintendo Switch code provided by Rockstar Games)
By Sam Coles:
Grand Theft Auto, a title that doesn’t really need any introduction! Often marred in controversary since its inception all the way back in 1997, it is a series that has pushed the boundaries not only with adult content in games but the open world genre as we know it today. The PS2 era of games is where the series go a lot of attention, from critical acclaim to concerned parents due to them buying it for their under-age child.
Anyway, in 2021 they released a remastered trilogy for the PS4/5 Xbox One/Series S|X and Nintendo Switch, and to say they were messy is being generous. They introduced bugs that were not in the original, as they used Unreal Engine 4 for the remaster as well as A.I. Machine learning to clean up textures, and it wasn’t great. Fast forward 3 years, and they are in a much better state, but they still have niggling issues.
Each game takes place in a different city, you have Liberty City which is a fictional version of New York, Vice City in 1980s Florida and finally the state of San Andreas based on California mostly with a little sprinkle of Nevada. Great places to explore, as they all feel unique not only for their different geographical locations but the fact they are set in different time periods such as the 1980s, early 90s and what was current day when GTA III came out.
Each game sees you take control of a criminal rising through from rags to riches, from the silent protagonist of GTA III, the blood thirsty tones of Tommy from Vice City to CJ who is a bit more reasonable with his approach in the gang life in San Andreas. Minus GTA III, the protagonists are unique and different with excellent voice acting from an all-star cast throughout. From Burt Reynolds, Samuel. L Jackson, James Woods to at the time relevant adult film star Jenna Jameson (I was a teenager once) playing a similar role in Vice City. All the characters are fun and over the top, where they fit perfectly within each time period.
Now the gameplay is something that most are drawn to, as these games are sandboxes for you to do anything you want with some restrictions. Let’s start with the controls, now I have seen a lot of people online say the shooting is not great in these versions, however the shooting was never that good in GTA until GTA IV they were always clunky I think a lot were blinded by nostalgia in this regard. However, I will agree they have completely botched the auto targeting while shooting, in the old games on PS2 you used to be able to snap to targets quickly. Not the case anymore, you slowly switch targets, or in most cases for me it would target a pedestrian half way down the street. The lock on system is a pain compared to the originals, but to reiterate the shooting was never that good in the original versions.
The driving mechanics haven’t really changed that much either, in GTA III and Vice City they are very floaty where in San Andreas the driving is the best as the cars have an added weight to them. Again, another complaint I see with this collection is that cars blow up too quickly, and once again that was a problem in the originals. Reviewers with the original releases sight this issue, specifically in GTA III this is not a new issue with the definitive edition. Should it been fixed in the remasters, yes but it is not a new issue like some would have you believe.
Onto the more contentious part of these remasters, the visuals. The games have been given a bump in Unreal Engine 4 and the character models have stirred things up online. I think what people don’t realise with this trilogy is that it is a remaster and not a remake, PS2 character models for the most part do not look great no matter how much you polish them. This is coming from a person who has a massive PS2 collection and has a deep love for the system, but I would be lying if I said character models look great from that era. Plus, Grand Theft Auto during that era were never really on the bleeding edge in terms of graphics, they were popular because of their non-restrictive gameplay elements.
Another element that has met criticism is that the character models look cartoonish and they were never meant to be like that, when that was the point of the originals the character models were meant to be exaggerated why do you think the front covers are comic book panels, they are exaggerated and over the top characters which are reflected within the character models. They didn’t shoot for realistic graphics until GTA IV in terms of character models, they were always cartoony and over the top.
After all the fixes, I think the games look really nice with the new graphical engine, Vice City looks especially good during the night time segments with the neon lights lighting the rain-soaked streets. San Andreas looks a lot better too after the patches, they added fog back in the game so you can no longer see Mount Chiliad all the way from Grove Street which tickled me a bit when I played it at release.
Now I know this post sounds negative, but to let you know I enjoyed playing through these games especially on my Nintendo Switch. Yes, these games have issues, but a lot of them stem from their original releases and haven’t stood the test of time. I can enjoy them, but I know them like the back of my hand, however for new comers it might turn them off the older games. But I think that is it, it was aimed at us who have already played them with our rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia back when we didn’t have to worry about much except homework that was due the next day. These games are still good, but they haven’t aged as well as some think and this is coming from a die-hard fan of the series. Give them a go by all means, but see if you can get the trilogy cheap or play them on original hardware.
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