Is GTA Trilogy working yet? Is Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy worth it?

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition was released on Steam on January 19th, after a long period of exclusivity on the Rockstar Games Store for PC players. Featuring remastered versions of Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice Cityand Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, the bundle that hit the market in a less-than-ideal form at the end of 2021. Each entry has been plagued by multiple performance and graphics issues, and while Rockstar has since released a few patches, this re-release calls for caution.

At the moment it is not possible to buy the original versions of the three games on Steam, which means that the Definitive Edition pack is now the only pack available in the store. After some hands-on time with each title, here’s a breakdown of what to expect (or rather, what to prepare for) from the Steam version of the GTA Trilogy.

Image: Rockstar over Polygon

Is the GTA trilogy working yet?

Well, the answer is complicated. Yes, you can largely launch the GTA trilogy on Steam and play any of the games without so many problems. At least in my experience, I haven’t encountered any particular bug that would have prevented me from getting from A to B without so many problems (I’ll tell you more about the enemy motorists later). Disturbances such as the heavy rain that made visibility almost impossible are no longer present.

That said Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is largely from being in optimal condition. In all three cases, the games hang on the first boot. After the Rockstar Games launcher opens – which also runs in the background on the Steam version – I get a black screen and the game process does not respond. So every time I have to open the task manager, kill the process and open the game again. All games also asked for firewall permission, in case you are interested.

In terms of presentation, the games are a mixed bag. i went with GTA Vice City

‘s Steam version first, and to my surprise, the top-right corner of the UI was present throughout the opening sequence. It didn’t repeat itself afterwards, but it wasn’t the best first impression. In terms of interface, all three games have the same structure – the options are displayed on the left side of the screen, while the background itself is the game’s map. You can use your mouse to drag it around, but it’s not until you select the map button that you can see the icons or place waypoints. Also, sometimes hovering the mouse over this menu selects the button above it that my mouse pointer was pointing to. While this isn’t a deal breaker, the presentation as a whole feels unpolished.

As for the optics, it’s complicated. None of the three games defaulted to my PC’s default resolution, which is 1080p, and they had black bars down the side until I changed the setting and restarted them. In-game, some cutscenes showed characters with blank or downright cut-off eyes, and some models looked blurry up close. A few other times the location of NPCs or key objects – like the bomb that goes off at the beginning GTA III – was clearly in a different position than intended. Again, while these issues don’t stop you from playing the GTA trilogy per se, they do add up to a constant distraction.

Your mileage will vary in relation to each game’s new overall aesthetic, both due to different uses of lighting and different model designs. But even if you don’t mind that all the faces look like a cross between a surprised baby and a crushed clay figure, some lighting effects are distracting at best and annoying at worst.

Floating objects like police stars or quest markers emit their own light, and it’s incredibly bright, to the point where you can see their reflections on fences or other nearby objects. Shadows have the opposite problem, particularly during cutscenes where characters are often obscured (although this is sometimes related to the current time of day in game). In other cases, it’s the reflections that can hide characters, as in the San Andreas drive-through scene where the group picks up food. The glare against the windshield was so intense that I could only see CJ clearly inside the car.

Image: Rockstar over Polygon

Is GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition worth playing?

Honestly, visit again GTA III or GTA Vice City in this day and age it inevitably feels clunky, and most small additions are just subtle changes, like the radio channel wheel off grand theft auto 5

now present in all three games. It’s also worth noting that there’s a decent amount of accessibility options compared to the original versions.

However, there have been some odd cases here and there. For example, hitting a police car or bike sometimes doesn’t immediately result in having a wanted star. Sure, that’s helpful, but still daunting. Driving in general just seems chaotic – in GTA IIII couldn’t get through more than a few blocks without seeing a car crash or a dead pedestrian on the ground blocking a street.

In San Andreas drivers sometimes just get angry and start hitting you over and over for no reason. In one particular case, they managed to turn my car over so I could get out before it exploded. But even after the deed was done, the driver slowly continued to reverse and then marched towards the wreck in an endless loop.

Unfortunately, performance can also be pretty random. With an RTX 2060, i7 8700k, and 16GB of RAM, I was at the 60fps mark on the highest settings most of the time. But framerates often dropped across all three games, sometimes for no particular reason. DLSS is at least an option, but overall it seems like the games are acting a lot more demanding than they should, impacting performance as a result. (My PC’s fans were making a weird, continuous noise while gaming that I’d never heard before.)

All in all, if you plan to check out all three games, you will inevitably encounter problems and glitches like the ones described above. If you really want the GTA trilogy on Steam, they are the only option available and the presentation leaves a lot to be desired. But if you still have a PS2 laying around, this might be the best choice for diving into nostalgia without being horrified or disappointed every ten minutes.