About

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is a collection of three remastered games in Grand Theft Auto's 3D universe, namely Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004). The compilation was officially announced by Rockstar in October 2021 and released in November that year.

History

Starting in January 2021, rumors that video game publisher Rockstar was developing a collection of three remastered Grand Theft Auto games began circulating online.^[1][2] On August 8th, 2021, Kotaku^[3] confirmed the rumor that Rockstar Games was remastering Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, with the remasters being in the final stages of development.

On October 8th, 2021, Rockstar officially confirmed that the remastered collection, to be released as Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition,^[4] with Grove Street Games, known for mobile ports of Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas. On October 22nd, 2021, the trailer for the remastered collection was uploaded to YouTube,^[5] where it gained over 10 million views in three weeks (shown below).

The collection was officially released on November 11th, 2021, which was announced on Rockstar's official Twitter,^[6] receiving nearly 6,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below),

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City takes players back to the 1980s and into a neon-soaked tropical town brimming with excess through the story of Tommy Vercetti's quest for revenge.Available now as part of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition: https://t.co/nd8okcBfAF pic.twitter.com/EELamnSE7Z

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) November 11, 2021

Differences from Original Games

The list of remastered items in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition includes remastered character and vehicle models, a rebuilt lighting system, improved shadows, reflections and draw distances, and new navigation and heads-up display designs.^[11] The games now also feature a weapon wheel, similar to Grand Theft Auto V.

Some content was removed or censored in the remastered games. Over 40 songs heard on radio stations in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Vice City are not available in The Definitive Edition, including tracks by Michael Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne and N.W.A.^[12][13] In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the Confederate flag design on character Phil Cassidy's T-shirt was replaced with a skull design.^[14] In San Andreas, a Confederate flag seen in the "Home Invasion" mission was replaced with the flag of the United States (shown below).

Reception

Upon release, the game was review-bombed, with users expressing criticism over a number of issues such as removal of original songs, presence of bugs and glitches, weird-looking character models, crashes and the game not being optimized. Four days after release, the PC and Xbox Series X versions of the collection were ranked at 0.5 out of 10 on Metacritic^[15][16][17] with 3,300 and 560 user reviews, respectively, with the PlayStation 5 version ranked at 0.8 out of 10 with 2,300 user reviews. The PC version of the collection was the fourth lowest-rated video game by user score on Metacritic, sitting above only Madden NFL 21, Madden NFL 22 and World of Warcraft Classic: Burning Crusade Classic.

Remastered Models Criticism

Following the release, users on imageboards and social media shared screenshots of in-game models, raising issues with the remastered version of the game. On November 10th, 2021, an anonymous 4chan^[7] user created a thread on the /v/ board for changes in the remastered games, with multiple users posting screenshots of character models looking weird, such as having peculiarly massive arms (examples shown below). More similar threads^[8][9] were on /v/ board created in the following hours.

Later on the same day, Twitter^[10] user @VinePotato reposted several screenshots from the 4chan threads, with the first tweet in the thread, which compared San Andreas character Denise Robinson in the original game and the 2021 remaster, gaining over 3,400 retweets and 35,300 likes in one day (shown below, left and right).

Glitch Videos

Immediately following the release of the game, users on social media shared videos showcasing bugs and glitches present in the remastered games. For example, on November 12th, 2021, Redditor TheVideoGaymer posted a video of a glitch that occurred when using first person mode on the PlayStation 5 version of the game. The post gained over 97,600 upvotes in the /r/gaming^[18] subreddit.

Later on the same day, TomLister1995 posted a clip from the remastered version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in which an NPC car ran into him at impossibly high speed. The video received over 3,700 upvotes in /r/GTA,^[19] with a same-day Twitter^[20] repost by user @TheNathanNS gaining over 400,000 views, 3,400 retweets and 24,200 likes in three days.

On November 14th, Twitter^[21] user @UltimaShadowX posted a clip of streamer Vinesauce Joel crashing the game by using a Sprunk vending machine for 50 minutes in a row (tweet no longer available). The post accumulated over 477,000 views, 13,300 retweets and 65,800 likes in one day. On November 16th, 2021, Vinesauce Joel uploaded the video to YouTube.

Search Interest

External References