Review of Grand Theft Auto III – The Definitive Edition

Through “their” flagship support studio, Grove Street Games, Rockstar has decided to ride the popular wave of remakes of old games. However, unlike last year’s Mafia: Definitive Edition with the same name, it did not go down the path of a complete remake of the game, but just a remaster with minor changes. Was that enough, or did this game have to sleep at the bottom of a bay with fish?

• Platform:PS5 (review), PS4, XSX | S, X1, Switch, PC
• Publication date: 11/11/2021
• Producer: Grove Street Games (USA)
• Genre: urban open world event
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 5.5 GB (whole trilogy 40 GB)
• Game time: 20+ hours
• Availability: 18+
• Sales version: digital and box
• Price: 1599 crowns (complete trilogy, Xzone)

Liberty City – the city that never sleeps

GTA3 was at the time of its release in 2001 a revelation from a clear sky. Rockstar has managed to fully transform the concept of urban action (a genre it had invented years earlier with the legendary GTA) into 3D. Combined with the hugely popular PlayStation 2, it was a blockbuster and a complete reimagining of the open world genre. The player has taken on the role of a nameless thief trying to get to the very top of the mafia pyramid. He could achieve this goal by classic criminal methods – gang wars, murders, troubles or driving a taxi or a fire truck. The sandbox was Liberty City, a pseudo-imitation of New York, divided into three main islands.

In its third installment, the GTA series was still on the borderline between arcade number one or two or more story installments. The players were given a cinematic experience in the form of individual bosses (which were also talked about by famous Hollywood actors – Michael Madsen or Kyle MacLachlan), but the main character was still the nameless Mr. Nobody, who knew how to earn his money. as much for working for the mafia as for crossing people. And spree with a flamethrower. Looking back at GTA 3 and its two successors, it’s clear that it was just a stepping stone to something much bigger that made the game far worse than Vice City or San Andreas. The city of Liberty City just doesn’t offer as many interesting opportunities, the plot is absolutely lagging behind, the number of songs on the radio is absolutely minimal. As players, we don’t realize all of this until we look at the title during playback.

Liberty City HD – the city that should not get up

Looking at the games released over the past few years, remakes and remasters are all the rage. Players hungry for nostalgia and developers hungry for quick profits (and relying on poor backward compatibility of console generations) are ready to satisfy them. With enough budget, the work of a group of enthusiasts and careful handling of the source material, you can expect gems like Demon’s Souls on PS5 or Diablo 2 Resurrected. Unfortunately, the GTA trilogy falls into the latter category.

For the developers of Grove Street Games, this isn’t the first rodeo to improve on GTA games from the 3D universe. They got their first try in 2011, during the original filming of the final release. The entire trilogy was released in its time with “improved graphics” for the PS3 / X360 generation consoles and touch controls for mobile phones. However, due to licensing considerations, the game’s radio was cut to fit part of the iconic soundtrack (Vice City suffered the most), the game had stability issues, and the graphical improvements were quite inconsistent compared to the original.

Ten years later, in 2021, this time we have a fact-definite-fact-fact-fact edition with again improved graphics, missing songs on the radio again (Billie Jean rip) and surprisingly again with technical problems.

From the first teaser, it was clear that the developers focused mainly on improving the graphics. It’s worth noting that when they work, the game can look absolutely gorgeous. Glare from neon signs on the hood of your car, denser vegetation, or little things like the car’s interior lighting casting shadows through an open door look great. The character models have been improved, but they still retain their cartoony look from the original parts (which at the time no longer seemed realistic compared to historical titles like The Getaway). However, God did not give everyone the same, and for each candidate we are given some really ugly ones. The protagonist model worked, but Joey or his girlfriend Misty didn’t. However, GTA3, with its clumsy animations and stylized characters, is much less bad than, for example, San Andreas. Among the graphical issues, missing or misplaced collisions (you’ll be pulling your hair mostly at railings), accidental falls through a hole in the map, and the general darkness of the game, especially on OLED TV, you’ll often admire the black color, should be noted. The rain effect, which will be presented to you right in the opening cinematic and will visit you at regular intervals until the end of the game, is clearly annoying.

The protagonist model worked, but Joey or his girlfriend Misty didn’t.

When you turn on the game, you have the option to play the game in Fidelity (4K/30fps) or in performance (lower resolution attempts (!) at 60fps). Graphically, there is no difference between the two options, so logically you choose the other. Much to my surprise, however, this 20-year-old game can’t keep up with frame rates, and with the inferno on screen (or other graphically demanding actions like turning a car left or right) it starts to stutter. fall sharply. So the developers probably tried to bring the cinematic experience of playing the GTA series on PlayStation 2 to a new generation of players. However, a much bigger problem is the number of crashes for a game that could compete in this respect with the legendary Cyberpunk 2077. In about twenty hours of play, the game crashed nine times. This is a problem especially during longer missions (like an ambulance or a taxi) where I later just went into a mode – save game, restart to clear memory, speed up and quickly save before it crashes again. The game has autosave, but it only works between missions. Have you been looking for hidden packages for two hours and driving exotic cars into the garage? It would be a pity if the game fell to you right now. Something went wrong.