Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition Reviews
Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto series has been a staple of the action-adventure genre since the release of its first instalment in 1997. Many main series titles, spin-offs and expansions have released since, including the ever continuously releasing Grand Theft Auto V, which doesn’t seem to stop appearing on new platforms. With Grand Theft Auto VI now finally confirmed to be in development, there is no better time to catch up on the series if you’re interested in giving it a try.
It is unknown whether Grove Street Games worked on quality assurance at all or whether the studio actually bothered to patch out some bugs, but that is most certainly not how it seems. All games in the collection have lazily been ported from their mobile counterparts by a company who has seemingly never worked on other platforms before. All games have furthermore been given a remaster treatment so shockingly bad, they have somehow recessed and now look and play worse than any kind of emulated version ever would; and the entire Grand Theft Auto franchise, as masterful and great as it is, will now forever be marred by incompetence — let alone three classics forever disrgraced in such a way. There is no argument that Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is an abhorrent mess, and an incredibly disappointing one at that.
Grand Theft Auto takes us back to the trilogy that gave the franchise legs, only to make a few stops for some unwanted additions along the way.
If you're looking for a trip down memory lane, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition can definitely give you a hit of nostalgia that you have been looking for. Once those rose-tinted glasses begin to fall away from your face, though, what you'll be left with is a bundle of three remastered Grand Theft Auto titles that are really starting to feel their age. Even if you still find great enjoyment in these titles from the dawn of the open-world gaming era, the other bugs and lingering problems will surely begin to rip you out of the experience. In simplest terms, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is a mess of a release and isn't anything close to the level of quality that we have come to expect from the Rockstar Games name in the past.
Succinctly and clearly, the Nintendo Switch version of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is not worth your money, at least not yet! It is a painful experience, with serious performance issues that make you completely forget the few improvements implemented in this classic trilogy, which for its legacy, deserved much more respect than it was due.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
In the end, you'll hate that you can't love GTA Trilogy Remastered, at least at its current state, as tons of bugs and performance issues really ruin the fun. That said, if you grew up playing these titles and you can't wait to get back into the good old days, the game is still playable, although we recommend to wait for future updates to iron out the issues. As for new generation gamers who are used to modern gameplay and design, there is probably not much to look for here as the core gameplay mechanisms of this package are really old.
Review in Persian | Read full review
This GTA The Trilogy is GTA The tragedy. Unfinished and very bad edition - especially PC version.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
3 brilliant games are back in a quality that is hard to swallow. I can not recommend GTA The Trilogy The Definitive Edition today and it's best to wait for the reactions of the developers. Will it get better? I hope so...
Review in Polish | Read full review
The remaster of three of the most important games in video game history in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition fails in almost everything that it proposes, even if you can ignore a few contextual merits. However, this definitive version is far from the respect it owes to the originals and, mainly, to the audience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
While it has its rough edges, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is a worthwhile remaster of three classic titles. Its visual overhaul prevents these games from feeling overly dated, and the quality-of-life improvements modernize the experience in a way that meets today’s standards. Sure, its new art style and character models won’t mesh well with everyone, but it may grow on gamers as time goes by. And sure, while these aren’t the “definitive” editions we expected, this is an admirable attempt to introduce three groundbreaking games to a new generation, and I’m glad it exists.
Rebuilding GTA Trilogy could have taken a variety of ways, and the builder chose the worst.
Review in Persian | Read full review
GTA: The Trilogy has a total lack of attention to details. At times it seems that Rockstar Games didn't even bother to oversee the work of Grove Street Games. There are some moments and small details that lead one to think that an algorithm was responsible for remastering the graphics and that no human reviewed the final product. GTA deserves more.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Good, fun games are good, fun games, and even with glitches and the numerous issues this trilogy brings, that's what these still are. However, seeing the state of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, there just isn't any way to let Rockstar off lightly here. This is one of the most successful video game companies in the world, with goodness knows how much raked in from GTA Online, so there can be no excuses to have loaned out these iconic games to a small team with a poor track record and showing absolutely no respect for their own creations. Fifty pounds is a big ask for such old games that have been what one might say "demastered", and even with numerous future patches, these may never be the upgrades they should have been, but Switch owners new to this trilogy can find plenty of entertainment - and not just because of the glitches. This is still a hard sell, though, with the advice being to hold off for a major sale.
GTA: The Trilogy is an experience that suits fans of the original version and who are willing to overlook the technical problems to play the game again other than that it is recommended to wait for updates coming from the company for the game.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Grove Street Games Studio has not been able to provide a GTA-worthy experience at all.
Review in Persian | Read full review
GTA: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition brings all the fun of the classic games of the saga that has always seen its career ascend. However, it shows a hard fall with this remaster due to lack of work in its execution.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I cannot currently recommend Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition on the PC, and a lot has to happen until I do. The truth is that I've had a decent amount of fun with this remaster; part of it is based on nostalgia, and part of it is based on some ridiculous, unavoidable bugs that weren't as frequent as I'd feared. Given all of these issues and the abysmal performance of the three games on the PC, I'd stay away from the trilogy until several major updates have been released. Even then, this remaster may not be for everyone.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition, at the end of the day, is three well-regarded games bundled together, with some modernizations to help keep them relevant, nearly 20 years after their original release. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that I’m new to GTA that prevents me from finding many issues with this collection, as I’m absolutely taken with the fun gameplay and more than content with both the graphics and performance. But that also goes to show how this collection helps introduce these games to the current generation, allowing new fans to understand the hype behind three classic industry-defining titles.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition deserved better. Never mind the lack of parity across all the versions- each platform gets its own flaws to deal with. Sadly, Nintendo Switch is the console that gets the absolute worst way to play any of the games in this trilogy.