GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is out, and the reception can't be more lukewarm. While the core gameplay of the three games is all still loads of fun, a lot of design problems, technical issues, and flat-out weird decisions were made by the developers, making the entire collection's definitive editions pale in comparison to modded versions of the originals.

Remastering video games really is challenging. We're not writing this article to downplay the difficulty of doing remasters, but as a healthy criticism of the things GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition did wrong. Remasters are highly demanded by fans of video games, and it ends up in disappointment most of the time. We hope that through this article, we can highlight the mistakes Rockstar Games and Grove Street Games made so that we can help developers focus on what gamers actually want when they ask for remasters of classics.

Here's everything that GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition got wrong in remastering GTA Trilogy: GTA IIIVice City, and San Andreas.

Everything wrong in GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition

The Graphics

The initial response to GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition‘s updated graphics shown during the trailers was mostly positive. However, once the players got their hands on the finished product, the new art direction's flaws began appearing. The updated graphics look less realistic, sacrificing subtle details for an uberly clean but utterly unrealistic look, especially for many of the character models.

The cleanup of the assets also sacrificed some of the humor and accuracy of the source material. Part of the model upscaling involved re-writing some of the text on storefronts, which is rife with typographical errors and mis-spellings. One of the most hilarious mistakes is found on Shaft Hot Dogs' signage, which originally reads: “The Taste of a Real Man's Meat” and ‘remastered' to “The Taste of a Real Man's Heat.”

Physics and Character Model Animations

Another issue in the remaster involves the game's physics engine and the movement of the character models. Some character models have weird joint locations, making them move very unnaturally. Arms bend in horrific ways, and characters hold their weapons in all the wrong places.

Meanwhile, some players experienced physics glitches in the game. Some cars behave erratically, sometimes even launching high up in the air for no reason. These are hilarious to watch when they get uploaded on the net, but we can only imagine how frustrating and immersion-breaking it is when this happens in your own game.

Diminished Tracklist

Back when GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas first came out, the fact that real-life songs were used in the in-game radio FM was mind-blowing. But that trick has its shortcomings. So that they'd be allowed to use those songs in the game, Rockstar had to secure licenses for these songs. But licenses don't last forever, and once they expire, any new versions or re-releases of games will no longer be able to use those songs, unless the licenses get renewed.

However, Rockstar chose not to renew these licenses, and so many of the songs have been removed from the tracklist. While a lot of players might not even notice them missing, it will still sometimes feel like the game plays differently, especially when you've become used to the songs playing during car chases and races.

Single-Player Game running on an Online Launcher

GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is a wholly single-player experience, which makes it very frustrating that you need to open an always-online launcher to play it. There's no reason why this should be the case, and it adds one unnecessary step for players to access the game. Most of the time as well, having a separate launcher can even deter players from even playing your game. The most ideal way to do this is to offer your games on Steam or the Epic Games Store, but Rockstar foolhardily sold GTA Trilogy on the Rockstar launcher anywhere.

This came to a head when too many players went ahead and played GTA Trilogy all at the same time, causing the Rockstar launcher to crash. This led to many players not being able to play a single-player game they already paid for. The frustrations continued as Rockstar pulled GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition from their online storefront, making it impossible to purchase the game anywhere.

GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition Switch version

The Nintendo Switch version of GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition is barely playable. It makes its inclusion feel like a massive cash grab.

Removing Mod Support and going after Modders

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That Rockstar Games have been going after modders and removing mod support of GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition paints the publishers in a very bad light. It means that they are not confident with how well they'll remaster the game, being worried that enhanced editions of the three games made available through mods will be much more preferable to what they're producing. It makes them look like sore losers.

Modders are an essential part of the gaming landscape. Mods showcase ways games can be played in ways not intended or have not even been thought about by the developers. It can even give rise to new genres of games. But Rockstar attacking modders not only hurt their relationship with the GTA community but also discourage creativity from naturally sprouting from the grassroots. There's no good reason not to support modding, and Rockstar is just making them look like villains in the eyes of the gaming community.

Crimes against Games Preservation

Finally, the most frustrating move done by Rockstar Games leading up to the release of GTA Trilogy is their decision to remove previous versions of all three titles from storefronts. This means that if you want to play GTA IIIGTA San Andreas, or GTA Vice City any time now on any platform, your only means to do so is through the very flawed version of GTA Trilogy.

This poses two issues: it removes your choice of playing the version of the game you want, and you are committing a crime against games preservation.

On the first issue, Rockstar is forcing players to experience a flawed version of GTA Trilogy just to make money. This harms the brand as GTA Trilogy is a bad, unoptimized mess. It also ruins the gameplay experience of players.

On the second issue, it's not a huge problem specifically for these three games, as there are many copies of the games all over the internet at this point. The games are popular, and so, copies of the game will most likely never get lost. However, the issue here is the action of removing the game from storefronts, making it impossible for players to have legal access to better versions of the games. It's also a bad practice altogether, and such practice has led to a lot of old classic games but with very small fanbases to be lost forever.