GTA Trilogy The Definitive Edition At Launch vs Today

GTA Trilogy: The Definitive Edition at Launch vs. Today

Despite their seemingly pristine reputation among hardcore fans, Rockstar Games is not immune to the occasional screw-up, and in 2021, they screwed up badly. “Grand Theft Auto - The Trilogy: Definitive Edition” was supposed to be the ultimate tribute to three of the greatest games we had seen during the sixth console generation: “Grand Theft Auto III”, “Vice City”, and “San Andreas”, all under one roof, upscaled, refined, and forever preserved on modern hardware. With the prestige these three games carry, one would hope Rockstar would make sure these versions were immaculate to a T. Alas, that was not the case as these iterations would become the most embarrassing outing for the publisher. Horrid PC launchers seemed like a thing of the past now. So, what went wrong? And have these games been fixed since launch?

Welcome to MojoPlays! My name is Ty, and today, we’re taking a look at the state of the GTA Trilogy remasters at launch and how they are today! Before we begin, we publish new videos all week long. So be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays, and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos! Before we even knew of the remasters existing, Rockstar Games had hired longtime external partner Grove Street Games to spend two whole years getting the trilogy looking spiffy on PlayStation 4 and the soon-to-be-released PlayStation 5. Prior to the project, Grove Street Games had been responsible for the Xbox 360 ports of “GTA: San Andreas” in 2014, which received scrutiny from fans for glitchy cutscenes, inconsistent technical performance, and a severely leaner soundtrack. It didn’t help that the whole port was basically just the mobile version running on a console.

Call it a lazy cash-grab for easy money. Call it money-saving on the company’s part. Either way, Grove Street Games already had a notorious reputation back then when they were known as War Drum Studios, and it would carry with them even after their rebrand in 2020. Perhaps this rebrand along with the impending remasters would mark a new era for the developer? And with the implementation of AI to help cut down on development costs and speed up development, maybe this could become a true innovation in the industry. “Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition” was already being set up for mass scrutiny by its own publisher. Before its launch, Rockstar Games had begun delisting all pre-existing versions across all storefronts, these versions being straight ports of their PlayStation 2 original iterations. Even with the public outcry from various corners of the internet, Rockstar Games proceeded with the delistings in October 2021.

With a big move like this, one would understandably expect the new versions to be clean as a whistle upon release. Launch for “GTA Trilogy” finally hit on November 11, 2021, and what do you suppose players were given in exchange for their hard-earned sixty dollars? A trio of the most botched remasters in video game history. Just how bad was it? Well, we decided to revisit this for ourselves. Thanks to owning a physical copy of the game, all I had to do was disconnect my PS5 from my internet, insert the disc, and let the install process do its thing. Once all was said and done, I began my descent into the madness with the on-disc Version 1.02. Sounds exaggerated, but trust me - “madness” perfectly describes the original state of all three games.

To start off, I booted up “Grand Theft Auto III”, which probably had the most prolific problems of the trilogy. At launch, many players reported just how bad the rain effects were, making it nearly impossible to drive during the opening section of the game. Another prolific glitch was how swerving back and forth in a car would cause it to slowly enlarge horizontally. Oddly enough, my experience did not contain either glitch. That isn’t to say these glitches were made up or wrong. I could simply have been one of the few to get a copy that wasn’t completely botched. Emphasis on “completely” because I still faced some problems of my own. During my time with this “definitive” version of GTA III, I did not encounter any heavy rain nor did I manage to replicate the vehicle glitch. Instead, I got some of the strangest traffic I had experienced, stranger than the litany of traffic and driving violations I see in my own home state of Florida. NPCs seemed to have a habit of just walking wherever they wanted to regardless of crosswalks and traffic intersections. Like, I spotted a few running in the middle of the road alongside vehicles or deliberately running straight into oncoming traffic. I even had a weird instance where a crowd was trying to follow me into Ammo Nation and wound up blocking the doorway for me. Other times, I’d see cars merging onto oncoming traffic to pass other vehicles even on two-lane roads.

Driving around Liberty City was super frustrating in general as the smallest bumps could severely compromise my vehicle. Personally, I don’t remember vehicles being this fragile in the original game, and they certainly weren’t this fragile when I finally went back online and updated to the latest version. Admittedly, the patch that was put out in late 2024 didn’t seem to change my experience all that much. Traffic and NPC pathing was noticeably improved with less road rage and traffic jams. However, this improvement came at a cost with cops being way more aggressive than they were at launch. To give you an example, let’s look at the mission “Van Heist”. This mission requires you to ram into an armored van enough times to scare the driver away and hijack it before driving it into a garage in Portland Harbor. No matter what you do, this mission will net you two stars on the Wanted system. In Version 1.02 - the botched version, I managed to do this job with very little trouble. I even earned myself a third star after running over pedestrians! I still managed to make it to the garage. In Version 1.007 - the supposed “fixed” version, cops were able to pull me out of cars even if I was already stepping on the gas, and I was getting chased by way more cops than I did in the botched version. And this aggression would sometimes skyrocket at just one star!

Sure, the game looks significantly better, but damn, do I really need to resort to cheats if the AI is going to be this oppressive on just one star? Eventually, I called it quits on GTA III and was ready to move on to “Vice City”. This is the GTA game I had more interest in personally on account of its star-studded cast and how Vice City is heavily inspired by Miami in the 80’s. In other words, I just like the vibe and have an interest in mafia movies. Unfortunately, playing between Version 1.02 and Version 1.007 didn’t feel all that different from each other. In both versions, driving still felt awful with some vehicles feeling like ice boxes on wheels and others being stingy on their handling. Visually, Version 1.007 looks like it was more in-line with GTA’s artstyle at the time thanks to the addition of details like facial wrinkles, five o’clock shadows, and better lighting overall. So, if you thought Tommy and Ken looked hideous in the 2021 launch version, they look more “definitive” in the latest version.

Early on, my time with “Vice City” was relatively normal between both versions until I got past the scene where Tommy is introduced to some of the other crime bosses and celebrities on the yacht. After that, I had an experience similar to my time with GTA III, but in a much worse state. In both versions, I witnessed hit & runs constantly being committed even by the cops! Traffic lights and lamp posts were being run over at almost every turn. Crowds would run into each other and eventually try to kill one another. I didn’t even turn on the Riot Mode cheat! So, how or why this maddening behavior occurred within the NPCs is beyond me. As far as missions went, I didn’t face anything as grueling as GTA III when I hit the “Van Heist” mission. I can conform, though, that I did not notice any disappearing cars, no glitched textures, and no frame drops. NPC behavior…yeah, that was the only glaring issue I came across. That alone made Vice City feel like I was living out some weird episode of “The Twilight Zone”. And now, we’ve come to the younger, more accomplished brother of the trilogy: “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”, arguably the best entry in the entire GTA franchise with its story, characters, and world design.

Of the remastered trilogy, it was arguably the worst in the trio with disfigured character models, bugged animations, glitched textures, bizarre NPCs, and missing assets. Come on, when Ryder is saying he’s embarrassed to be seen with us while he’s looking like a gangsta Gumby, how can you ignore all of the other problems “San Andreas” had in this form? Indeed, the visuals alone were the worst part about “San Andreas” in the botched 1.02 version. From the lighting to the character models to the texture work, just about everything in “San Andreas” looked off. It was on par with early 90s CGI animation, but that’s not exactly a look you want in a 2021 remaster of a 2004 game. But what about the supposed “fixed” 1.007 version of the game? Well, in my time with all three versions in their fixed forms, not only does “San Andreas” look the best, it has also been remedied of almost all of its problems. Almost. While the character models still look a little weird, this is a PlayStation 2 game – a remaster can only fix so much. But Ryder no longer looks like Stretch Armstrong, and Big Smoke’s hand doesn’t go through the barrel of his uzi anymore. Graphically speaking, “San Andreas” looks the most stunning it has ever been with its detailed textures and enhanced resolution. The only oddity I came across was a car wedged in between a house and one of the bridges outside of Grove Street. Other than that, the game seemed to be functioning as it intended, which I feel more confident to say here than I do with the other two games.

Honestly, I almost forgot I was recording footage for this video and was about to try to blast through the first third of the game. Overall, all three games look way better than they did at launch. So, whatever Rockstar did in the three years between launch and the 2024 patch seemed to do the trick. Unfortunately, I don’t know if nailing one out of three games is enough to deem the trilogy as “fixed”, not when I’m seeing strange NPC behavior in two separate games with unnatural fluctuations in aggression and random decimation of traffic intersections and pedestrians. That said, I’d only buy this trilogy now if it were on sale or if I was really itching to play “San Andreas”. Honestly, though, this whole situation kind of paints a concerning picture for Rockstar Games and Grove Street Games in terms of their relationship. The two companies have worked together for well over twenty years, primarily in developing mobile ports for some of Rockstar’s most notable games. However, the rushed development, use of AI to cut corners in properly updating visuals, and questionable pathfinding made a major stain on not just GSG’s reputation, but Rockstar’s as well. Rockstar will, of course, and has survived this blot, and folks will buy GTA VI regardless of how they perceived the trilogy here.

As for GSG, there has clearly been some hurt feelings from one party judging from the CEO’s statements made after GSG was removed from the opening splash screens of each game. From where this writer stands, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this trilogy is the last time GSG and Rockstar work together or if GSG is hired again in the future with a big asterisk restricting them to only work on mobile ports. Either that, or Grove Street Games just works with Studio Wildcard on the mobile versions “ARK: Survival Evolved” from this point forward until it can find another powerhouse partner to work with.

Have you gotten to play the new versions of “GTA Trilogy”? What has your experience been like? Let us know down in the comments below, and don’t forget to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday! Until next time, I gotta go help a gang rebuild and clean up the streets. Later!