Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Definitive Edition launched to a rocky start. Fans expected way more polish from a remaster of three of the most important games of the early 2000s. While they still functioned, the new visuals robbed so much of the aesthetic flair and there were so few quality-of-life changes.

In the years since its launch, changes have come to bring this compilation up to an acceptable standard. Read below to see the biggest changes that have come along and find out if it is worth jumping into today or if one is better off dusting off their PlayStation 2.

Many of these changes came in update 1.112, which released on November 13, 2024.

6 The Old Lighting Is Back

Make The Games Look like how people remember

The biggest complaint about this remaster was the lack of the original game’s lighting. This one component drastically changed the way the games looked. The lighting and fog were vital to the vibe of Liberty City, Vice City, and particularly San Andreas. Without them, the games just did not feel the same.

Thankfully, the old lighting is back along with other more subtle features that contribute to the aesthetic. The old style shows up by default, but players can toggle them on or off in the menu. Most people are probably going to keep them on.

5 CJs Skeleton Glitches

He Used To Look So Uncomfortable

CJs moveset in San Andreas is a huge leap from the limited mobility Tommy Vercetti and Claude Speed had. He can crouch walk, climb over objects, and even swim underwater. Maybe this was why the remaster had a wild glitch that made him look like Quasimodo during certain animations.

Biking and crouching were the biggest victims of this glitch. CJ looked terribly uncomfortable with his shoulders and upper back jolted up. Now, his posture is more natural and he looks right at home on the bicycle.

4 Grove Street Games Is Gone

Erased From Credits, Like Tears In Rain

This remaster project was headed by Grove Street Games. While this name seems like an homage to the Groove Street Gang from San Andreas, the name apparently comes from the street where the office is located in Florida. Regardless of the origin of their name, that did not save their credit from being wiped off the opening credits of the three remasters.

The details are not clear on why their name was effaced from the opening, but they still receive a credit on the Rockstar website. We do not know the conditions or resources Grove Street Games had when making the remaster, so it is important not to be too critical of them for the poor reception of the remaster’s original release.

3 The Games Run Smoother Now

Like They Always Should Have

The newest game in the trilogy is from 2004, making it a seventeen year gap between it and the remaster. Still, in 2021 the games sometimes struggled to maintain a 60 frames-per-second performance during certain weather conditions or when a lot of action happened on screen.

The games run on a different engine than the original PS2 releases, but it still did not feel right that games this old struggled to maintain a smooth frame rate on hardware several generations ahead of when they originally came out. At least the issue is a lot less notable now. The game runs smoothly and players do not have to worry about the frame rate when intense action occurs onscreen.

2 Walk While Aiming More Guns In Vice City And Grand Theft Auto 3

Run And Gun With Every Firearm

Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City, for all their innovations, had some pretty wonky aiming mechanics. Most guns auto-locked and the system did not work well. The few weapons that did allow free-aiming only allowed it while standing still, making the character a bullet sponge while lining up a shot. San Andreas made tons of improvements in this area, allowing for free aiming.

The two older games got free-aiming when they were remastered, but many guns still did not allow for free movement until recently. Now, players can move and aim with shotguns and automatic machine guns in GTA 3 and Vice City when they could not before. This is Grand Theft Auto and not Resident Evil 4, so it is reasonable to expect to be able to move while aiming.

1 Pause During Cutscenes

In Case The Bathroom Cannot Wait

Pausing during cutscenes is a more recent luxury. To be fair, games of the PS2 generation rarely had cutscenes long enough to warrant pausing if one needed a bathroom break. All the same, it is a nice feature to have. It was not too egregious when the Definitive Edition of this trilogy did not let players pause in the middle of a cutscene.

Most of the scenes before missions do not last longer than a couple of minutes. Player are still grateful that it was added in an update anyway. After all, maybe players want to take a snapshot of a cutscene for a memory. It is a lot easier to do when one can pause the scene.