Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition (Xbox Series X / Xbox One)

Great games

Takes me back to the good old days, graphics improved and true to original. Best game I’ve bought all year

Personally, I just don’t get the hate!Apologises for the long review……So, here are some of my favourite games, remastered, tidied and running on current and next gen hardware.Now these games have been pulled over the coals by so many reviewers and so many players, but personally I don’t understand the anger. Let me give my reasons, if you will indulge me.Criticism one: Why didn’t they remake them?!Honestly? I’m glad they didn’t! Part of the whole nostalgia and feel good factor comes back to the previous experience of playing them ‘back in the day’. I missed the grimy textures, slightly janky motion capture and the character models that are a little old tech. Some of the textures have been tidied up, some of the mechanics have been updated and a few of the character animations have been improved, but it still has that ‘feel’ that it used to have. Despite being rather old hat, all 3 games feel smooth and well optimised (with a few minor exceptions).Criticism two: “It’s really buggy”I haven’t come across all of the game breaking bugs that others mention. Maybe they have been patched out, maybe I’ve been lucky, I don’t know. It’s not to say there are none. Okay, some textures occasionally (but very rarely) bug out, but leaving the area corrects this. I have had zero crashes at this stage, no massive clangers have been dropped and all seems to work as I’d expect. Saves work as well as they ever did and perform as well as can be prepared for. At the end of the day, the oldest of the trio is 20 years old! Loading times are good, even if slightly longer on the OG Xbox One.Criticism three: “The frame rate and resolution sucks”I’ve tested on Xbox one, One X and Series X. Frame rates have been consistent for the most part, the weakest being San Andreas, despite that being the most modern. But it’s still perfectly playable. At no point have any of them started chugging to the point where you would notice, at least to my mind. All of them look good on a 4K tv and the Series X really doesn’t break a sweat. Vice City seems to be the most fluid and well optimised based on my experiences so far.For reference I tried the originals on PS2 last week, apart from looking appalling on a 4K tv as you would expect, the frame rates, texture pop ins and, loading times and general performance were not even on a level close to what they are now. While some may have expected more, I find it to be great.Criticism four “They feel old”They range between 20 and 15 years old at this stage. But that’s the beauty to me. I wanted that nostalgia hit, and changing too much would lose the soul of what these games were and continued to be.My thoughts:So far I’m many hours in (in self isolation due to surgery coming up in a few days time) and I’ve enjoyed every second of playing them. Of course, personal opinions are perfectly valid and everybody has differing experiences, but I’ve found very little to critique, and a lot of joy in playing through games that remind me of my teenage years.I would recommend!Thanks for reading, enjoy your Christmas and New Year and have a wonderful time! Take care.

The idea of a properly remastered GTA Trilogy sounds like easy money for Rockstar. Add some fresh textures, quality of life improvements and give it some more modern controls and you'll make millions. Unfortunately for us, things didn't go that way and what we got is what could easily be considered the greatest mess of the modern era of gaming.On release, these games were a mess. The textures were messed up, the rain looked horrible, the frame rate was wonky and it was quite simply a frustrating mess. You can see many reviews from the launch on Youtube and every single one of them are right on the money.Thankfully, there have been a lot of updates for the GTA Trilogy since release and it does perform considerably better. I really like the upgraded textures on the roads, cars etc. I think they are quite nice to see compared to the originals. It's helped by the (now fixed) weather effects and some well placed lighting. If the game is in performance mode, you can expect it to look really good AND have a very solid frame rate.There's some other features that I quite enjoy. There's a couple of modern control layouts which work very well. You can also select the classic control layout, which I personally wouldn't recommend. But if you've played these games regularly over the years, you'll obviously feel right at home. There's also added check points to the start of each mission, which means you don't have to re-equip everything and drive back to your mission start. There's also the AI partner update. They officially have better aim, which makes missions a lot less frustrating. Especially that god awful "follow the train" mission.This is of course not perfect. It's now got a serious bad reputation but after all the patches, it has been vastly improved and I would recommend it. Though, only if it's on a steep sale. I picked it up for £15 and felt like I got my money's worth.

Amazing remake. Loved every minute of all 3, again!!

The color palette snd lighting was way off previously but the latest patch has brought back the feel snd lighting of the PS2 original . Awesome 👌🏻

Five stars from me

Great gift