Since the official announcement of the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition was made by Rockstar Games, many fans were wondering just how extensive the remastered updates would be. For a long time, there was little to no word on how much the three Grand Theft Auto games have been changed, nor the kind of quality the experience will offer. However, after the title has finally hit store shelves, players have stopped wondering have started questioning the remaster's more unusual graphical and visual choices.
For the uninitiated, the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition is a collection of PS2 series remasters that come bundled with revamped versions of three of the most acclaimed GTAs of all-time - Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Not only does it serve as a way of making these industry-defining games more available for current gaming systems, but it also comes packaged with various upgrades such as resolution improvements and modernized controls.
In short, the GTA: The Trilogy aims to mechanically overhaul the games on almost every technical front possible, making the gameplay more in line with more modern shooter titles. However, while this sounds like a dream come true for many gamers, some are expressing that the trilogy craves a much needed stylistic overhaul too.
Looking at the Grand Theft Auto games in their original state, characters and environments were cartoony and blocky, with textures being mostly plain. This is due to the graphical limitations forced upon them by the console hardware constraints at the time. However, being at the ninth generation of consoles, the sky is the limit to where developers can push video games today. Consoles such as the PS5 come shipped with compatible high-speed DDR4 RAM to run the most demanding games with no stutters at high resolutions.
With this being the case, it should not come as any surprise that many fans are disappointed in the lack of graphical enhancement. For some, one of the causes of the negative first impressions for the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is that the smooth caricature-Esque visual style in the original games does not translate well when cranked up in high-resolution and compared to Rockstar Games' more recent releases.
In summary, it is not a pretence to say that the reaction to the GTA Trilogy has certainly been mixed. Although improvements such as more detailed vehicles, roads, and buildings have been met with open arms, here's hoping that Rockstar Games will fix the faults and support the remakes with future updates to iron out some of the more glaring creases.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.