Rockstar debuted yesterday Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – Final Edition, a rebuilt and remodeled GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas collection. Nowadays, you can’t buy it on PC at all. Given that the Internet has been abuzz with screenshots of how lousy parts of the new version look, it can be tempting to assume that Rockstar pulled it from the sale for being a fake. . However, it looks like they’re having issues with the launch software the game requires. Huh! Either way, the game is a mess.
I didn’t delve into the remakes’ cartoon visual style in the marketing screenshots and trailers, but I wasn’t prepared for how ugly and silly it might seem in reality. The internet is littered with screenshots and clips that point to ugly character art, obvious typos, wacky errors, overzealous effects, and animations that make us understand the skeleton.
A bunch of popular issues gathered in a Twitter thread by @VinePotato (click for full horror):
What the hell pic.twitter.com/1tPeUAsdB7
– potad (@VinePotato) November 10, 2021
Some are… ouch.
Brachial rickets are a big problem in Grove Street pic.twitter.com/J0kbdhA7on
– potad (@VinePotato) November 10, 2021
And just yield:
Some obvious typos:
And some completely ruined jokes:
Error is wacky:
And the effects can be many.
My Eyes Hurt Pt.1 #GrandTheftAutoSanAndreasTheDefinitiveEdition #GTA #XboxShare pic.twitter.com/7GSRX24G7O
– Janky (@JankyNedelko) November 11, 2021
The only place to buy PC games is Rockstar Store, doesn’t even list the PC version right now. You might assume Rockstar pulled it because it was so messy, but they haven’t explained what’s going on. Looks like they’re having issues with the Rockstar Launcher, which is required to play the PC version.
Surname tweeted yesterday.
PC Service still going down. NS update only until today said: “We thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work to restore services for the Rockstar Game Launcher and supported titles. “
Maybe Launcher has gone bankrupt to the point where it only seems logical to stop selling games, not wanting people to buy something they can’t actually play. Maybe it’ll come back on sale once that’s fixed. If this is a coincidence, it’s bad timing from a PR perspective.
But man, they’ll still be embarrassed for sure. For a studio obsessed with details like a horse’s scrotum-squeezing form, all this is just… woof woof. Their game is never perfect (the cheating situation in GTA Online is still ridiculous) but this is just a mess. Rockstar itself did not create Def Ed, instead Grove Street Games (formerly War Drum Studios) rebuilt the three games in the Unreal Engine.
I hope they make drastic changes and major fixes. Rockstar pulled the original games from sale after the announcement of Def Ed, so these will be the versions for posterity. Rockstar’s legacy will look very different this way.
I asked Rockstar PR what’s going on, why the collection isn’t on sale anymore, and if they plan to do anything with the whole thing. No reply so far.
Disclosure: I am friends with several people who work at Rockstar. I don’t know what most of them do.
