Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy is Being Review Bombed After Rough Launch

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy was released earlier this week on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Rockstar Games Launcher, but the games are off to a rough start. The collection, which includes remastered versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, and San Andreas, turns out not to be the “Definitive Edition” after players across all platforms are reporting numerous problems. This has led players to take to Metacritic to review bomb the game. At the time of writing this article, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy sits at a 0.9 user score with nearly 1.5k votes. And that score had dipped to as low as 0.5 earlier yesterday, briefly making the collection the lowest-rated game on the site.

This brings us to the question, what makes The Definitive Edition so bad? Well, first there’s the performance problems. Players across all consoles have been reporting low framerates with the game reportedly hitting as low as 20 frames per second on the Nintendo Switch. Players on the GTA subreddit have decided to share side-by-side comparisons of the original games and their remastered counterparts. You should be cautious though, there are a lot of doctored images making the rounds that are just trying to add fuel to the fire. That being said, gameplay footage of the rain in San Andreas does highlight how difficult it is to play the game in its current state.

Additionally, the Rockstar Games Launcher was down on launch day, and after the launcher was back up The Definitive Edition was unavailable to play or purchase due to files that were unintentionally added and needed to be removed. This potentially could be due to unlicensed music but one interesting discovery was that the code for the hot coffee sex scene, which was removed from the original San Andreas due to an Adult Only rating, was found in the remaster.

Due to all the problems, players are asking Rockstar Games for a refund. It’s easy to get swept up in the negativity and make comparisons to Cyberpunk 2077, which launched last year with similar issues. Players are quick to point out the hypocrisy of a poorly aged interview from earlier this year that has resurfaced where the Take-Two Interactive CEO, Strauss Zelnick, criticized Cyberpunk 2077’s rushed release.

Now, with that all being noted, it’s important to remember that screenshots and clips on social media don’t always tell the full story. And according to Thomas Williamson, CEO of Grove Street Games, the developer behind the remasters, updates are already in the works. And though a lot of players have reported problems, there are still a lot of players who are getting the chance to experience these three classic games for the first time. San Andreas is on Xbox Game Pass and Grand Theft Auto III is on PS Now, so players can play the games at no additional cost. It’s evident that The Definitive Edition was released a little too early to make it in time for the anniversary of Grand Theft Auto III, but with a little time and plenty of updates, the games will end up in a good place.