As a teenage youth I spent countless hours playing Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas. Games that redefined the genre and breathed new life into the franchise, each with their own unique added elements that made each one a little better than its predecessor. While each game themselves is a classic in their own right, the Definitive Edition seems to tear down the original games luster while still feeling a little polished at the same time. Rockstar Games’ website it lists several updates and enhancements for the new generation of consoles. Since I had pre-ordered this for the Xbox One X, I will be writing my review based solely on how this version handles on this version of console. As I delve into the new Definitive Edition, I will take a look at all the “across-the-board enhancements and updates” and seeing if they live up to what was promised. Here is my overall review and critique of the newly acquired Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: The Definitive Edition.
One update to the GTA experience is
the controller layout, making it compatible to the style of Grand Theft Auto V.
I will admit, jumping into any of the remastered releases is easier than ever
with the controller style being updated to follow the same style. Gone are the
days of leaving GTAV and hopping into a ported version of the PS2 classic and
quickly realizing that I have made a mistake and accidently knocked out some
random pedestrian when I was trying to perform an action. A revamped controller
mapping makes it a bit easier to bounce from one to the other with ease.
Definitely a promise kept on this feature and a handy one at that.
Gunplay and Targeting controls as
well as upgraded Drive-by controls was another enhancement that was promised.
While yes, as soon as you enter aiming mode your target reticle is already
highlighting an enemy, yet it seems like you went through boot camp on the
Death Star and trained by some inadequate Stormtroopers. As far as drive-by
controls, I have yet to fully test out that feature just yet but am hoping it
is similar to GTAV. For the regular gun targeting alone across all three, I
would say a half point since it still incorporated the autotargeting even if it
is a bit clunky and feels like it takes forever to actually recognize hitting
the target.
Updated Weapon and Radio selection
wheels were another addition to the original trilogy which I will admit was
elated to hear about. Even better was seeing it firsthand. Being able to choose
a weapon quickly and efficiently with a button and joystick move makes swapping
weapons easier than pressing the d-pad to scroll through all the weapons in
your current set. The same thing goes for Radio options. Gone are the days of
scrolling through all the radio stations trying to find the station that had
your favorites. Speaking of the in-game Radio don’t be surprised if some of
your favorite songs from the original don’t actually come through. Due to
expired licensing, a good chunk of songs across the trilogy are no longer able
to be played.
A feature that originated from GTA
IV and continued on to GTA V, A mini map with navigation has also been added to
the original Trilogy. I will admit that this was definitely a feature that I
had wished for in the originals. I was fortunate enough to have had the maps
that came with all three and would use those as a reference as I played. Having
the navigation makes getting around much easier and faster than stopping to
plan your route on the fly by going into the map screen or having a printed map
on hand. (I will admit, I became very good at map reading during my original
play through of these three classics.) This was definitely a promise kept. I
have noticed in GTA III and Vice City, it will take you the fastest and most
direct route possible, even if it is weaving in through the alley ways in Vice
City which can be a bit tricky.
The
ability to immediately restart a mission was another feature added to the
remaster. In GTA V it takes the form of a selection via your cell phone, yet
with The Definitive Edition, it will bring you a choice that fills your entire
screen. While yes, the menu system in both GTA IV and V was accessed from a
cell phone which was not available in GTA III, VC, and SA; the immediate
restart puts a huge pause on the game to make this selection. With that being
said, I do like the option to immediately restart missions instead of having to
travel all the way back to the triggering point from the closest police station
or hospital from where you died. This is definitely a huge bonus, especially
later in the games when the main character is working on a mission that takes
place across the different areas in the map, some of which are on different
islands.
Now let’s talk Visuals, the enhanced
visuals, I mean. Rockstar games totes that the Definitive Edition has been
“Improved with graphics and fidelity across all three games. Here is where I
have conflicted points of view of the Re-released versions of the games.
“Higher resolution textures of
Characters, weapons, vehicles, and roads have been fitted with Greater detail”
says the website. While yes, the characters now have fingers and their faces
are more defined, the vehicles still are fairly boxy and the roads still seem
to be smooth and flat, albeit a bit shinier than they were previously in their
original state. (The shiny part is due to lighting which I will get to in a
bit.) I can’t help but look at the visuals of the game and still see the
original graphics. The greatest difference, to me, comes with San Andreas a
clear difference of details of interiors, like CJ’s mother’s house whose plain
blue walls have sprung to life by adding more detail to how they look. You
don’t see a lot of interiors unless they are during a cutscene in GTA III, and
we start to be able to explore interiors in Vice city, but not nearly as much
as San Andreas. Weapons seem to be a bit more detailed but to the same level of
the characters who have been a bit more defined even if they teeter along the
line of being a bit cartoonish. I will admit that some of the random NPC
pedestrians have been glanced over or so it seems. The Pedestrians also seem to
enjoy jumping headfirst in front of my vehicle, I wonder if these are
connected.
As I mentioned, even thought the
vehicles seem to still be a bit boxy as if I were playing the original games,
they do have a shinier and a bit more reflective quality to them. Thanks to the
rebuilt lighting system for the Definitive edition, there are a lot more things
that take on this same quality. While the lighting enhancement can be a huge upgrade,
it also has its pain points. I have an issue when the lighting makes the game a
bit worse. Cut scenes where the characters look more like silhouettes than the
focal point takes me out of the experience, unless that was the intention of
the cut scene. However, one would be able to tell if the style was intentional
or not. This was my experience right out of the gate with San Andreas of the
Definitive version. A cut scene I have seen on numerous occasions looked less
like the cut scene I remembered and more like police reenactment from a true
crime tv show. This is definitely not the feel for the start of GTA: SA by any
means, feels more like an amateur filmmaker’s mistake. The neon lights in Vice
City have a nice glow to them, however, I do feel like they could have been
toned down just a slight bit more. Overall, this is a great addition, but I
feel as though some of the lighting aspects could have used some revising and
editing before the official release.
Now I want to talk about the “Improved
water and weather effects” along with the “enhanced detail to trees and
foliage”. It is here that I come to what could be, and in my opinion is, a game
breaking issue. While the water details and effects look better than ever,
trying to drive on rainy days is a serious challenge with screen being flooded
with milky white streaks that pretty much leave screen blind to any and all
surroundings unless you are near vehicles and buildings. The raindrops are more
opaque than necessary making your character look like they are trying to find their
way through a snowy television screen. I have felt like I have had to pause
gameplay to wait out the storm before continuing on. Another feature that was
in the previous originals was fog. If you were looking from a high point, there
was fog that would cover up areas farther away. This seems to have been removed
from the Definitive Edition in its entirety. (I will cover more on this when I
get to Render/Draw Distance.) As for the trees and foliage. Yes, they look
better than ever with a decent amount of attention to detail, however some
foliage is no longer able to be driven through making those shortcuts from the
originals no longer accessible.
The render distance being increased isn’t a bad thing where
the newer consoles and systems with improved hardware are more than capable of
doing so. Being able to look out on a vista and revel in its beauty is second
to none. With many open world titles, it is an added bonus to be able to take a
moment and enjoy the scenery. As mentioned above, the fog element is missing
here when standing atop a high building or mountain and looking down at the
buildings which adds a little bit of beauty in its own right. However, the fog
played an integral part of obscuring the low resolution of the building and
other parts of the scenery while making them all still visible. Now every bit
of the low poly buildings off in the distance can be seen which definitely
pulls the viewer out of the immersion that they tried to do by enhancing the
detailed textures. Honestly this was a bit of a swing and a miss, in my
opinion.
