Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition [Nintendo Switch] | REVIEW

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition has been a bit of a tricky game for me to review. On one hand, it’s clearly a flawed release that doesn’t only have technical issues but is also guilty of being a bit lazy with its ‘improvements’. On the other hand, I still had a really good time playing through the games, especially since I played it exclusively on the Nintendo Switch’s handheld mode where it was easier to ignore some of the issues. See what I mean?

Check out a gallery of screenshots down below:

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This collection consists of Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, three of the most iconic releases that have ever hit the gaming landscape. We’re not just talking about the PlayStation 2 era here either, but of all time… Rockstar Games’ crime-escapades really have had THAT much of an impact. It’s why gamers were especially excited to see a re-release on modern consoles, especially since they’d bring with them plenty of fancy bells and whistles that would see them feel a bit more like a current-gen release.

It hasn’t exactly gone to plan, though. With little gameplay shown pre-release and plenty of horror stories of the games looking weird and running poorly, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition’s release has been FAR from smooth. The Nintendo Switch version has actually received the most criticism, with the poor performance and less-than-impressive visuals the stand-out issues. Well, I’ve played through all three games on the console now, and you know what? It hasn’t been as bad of an experience as I had been expecting.

“With little gameplay shown pre-release and plenty of horror stories of the games looking weird and running poorly, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition’s release has been FAR from smooth.”

I think it’s important that I focus on some of the issues to begin with, because whilst I had fun playing the games, it certainly wasn’t a flawless experience by any stretch of the imagination.

For one, the resolution isn’t perfect and you can expect the game to look a little blurry in places. As mentioned, I played on the console’s handheld mode where this wasn’t as noticeable, but I did test it on the TV where it was a lot more obvious. Then you’ve got the character models, which were just… well… weird. Changes have been made to a lot of them to make them look better, and yeah, the protagonists look great for the most part. The supporting cast and the citizens of each city, though? They can be a real freak show, with some odd decisions made when it came to their design. This has been pointed out a lot on social media already, so I’m sure you’ve already seen how strange they look. Add to that some visual glitches with hands and backs (especially when riding bicycles) and it’s clear that the ‘improvements’ made to the game have caused some real issues in places.

There were some other weird glitches too, such as the textures not loading in properly or in some cases being replaced with a weird noise-like effect, which required a restart of the Nintendo Switch to fix. Whilst these issues didn’t happen too frequently, they were still annoying to see.

There aren’t just visual issues present in Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition though, with some weird technical hiccups causing problems too. One of the worst offenders with this came with the traffic in-game, with cars often appearing in front of you from out of nowhere. There were SO many occasions where I’d be speeding up the road only to hit a car that wasn’t there a second ago, causing me to crash and mess up the mission I was on. It isn’t as bad an issue when driving a slower car, but when you’re going at some speed, it can be super annoying. Want some advice? Try to stick to your side of the road if you can, though let’s face it, that’s not really the Grand Theft Auto way…

There were some other little things too, such as seemingly invisible objects blocking my way when driving up a street, an inconsistency in objects that you can drive through, as well regular frame rate drops that went below 30fps. In fairness, I never suffered from any frame rate drops that made the game feel completely unplayable, but it was a nuisance – especially since this is meant to be the ‘Definitive Edition’ of the game.

“One of the worst offenders with this came with the traffic in-game, with cars often appearing in front of you from out of nowhere. There were SO many occasions where I’d be speeding up the road only to hit a car that wasn’t there a second ago, causing me to crash and mess up the mission I was on.”

It can be a bit of a s**t-show in places and I’ve seen other players suffer from some worse issues in gameplay videos online. Despite all of this, I still had a good time playing through Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition on the Nintendo Switch. Re-visiting the iconic locales, completing memorable missions, and just causing chaos on the streets is still a whole lot of fun. Whilst it’s clear that the open-world gameplay mechanics and mission design have come a long way since this trio of games initially released, they still hold up well today and kept a smile on my face. Add to that the brilliant writing and radio stations, and yeah, it’ll feel like you’re back in the early 2000s and having a blast on your PlayStation 2 all over again.

There have been some worthwhile improvements made too, with the new checkpoint system going a LONG way in alleviating one of the game’s biggest issues. Being able to simple restart a mission with all of your weapons, armour, and health is a big plus, with players no longer having to gear up and trek back to the mission-giver between failures. The games have always been guilty of having some really challenging missions to complete, but this ensured that they never felt as frustrating as they did back in the day.

The aiming mechanics have been improved upon too, making them feel more in-line with modern Grand Theft Auto releases as opposed to the hectic auto-aiming of yesteryear. Admittedly, this isn’t always perfect and could still lead to some awkward moments where you’ll aim at the wrong target, but it’s a heck of a lot better than it used to be. The newly introduced weapon wheel makes it much easier to switch between weapons too, which is a game-changer when in the middle of a frantic gunfight (something which you can expect to happen on a regular basis).

Some of the visual changes can be genuinely good, too. Vice City has never looked better with its bright-lit buildings and impressive vistas for example, whilst some locales across Liberty City and San Andreas really look the part. It helps that the draw distance has been extended so that you can see a lot more of what’s ahead of you, and whilst this doesn’t ALWAYS work perfectly (fly over San Andreas and you’ll see what I mean), it did give each city a stronger sense of presence.

“Re-visiting the iconic locales, completing memorable missions, and just causing chaos on the streets is still a whole lot of fun. Whilst it’s clear that the open-world gameplay mechanics and mission design have come a long way since this trio of games initially released, they still hold up well today and kept a smile on my face.”

So yeah, my feelings on Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition have been really mixed. It’s flawed and needs a fair bit of work, but it’s also still a lot of fun to play through the three games on the Nintendo Switch. It can be frustrating, but never to the point where I stopped enjoying playing. I think players do need to get their expectations in check ahead of time – this feels far from being the ‘Definitive Edition’ on the Nintendo Switch, regardless of the promises made ahead of time. If you want an experience that really feels a lot more modern then you might want to play on the PlayStation or Xbox, but if you’re happy to just enjoy the three games in a way that feels more akin to their original release (with the benefit of handheld play), the Nintendo Switch is fine. JUST fine, though.

Developer: Rockstar Games, Grove Street Games
Publisher: Rockstar Games
Platform(s): Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC
Website: https://www.rockstargames.com/GTATrilogy