I know, I know… Wasn’t it just earlier today that I was going on and on about how I think I’m pumped to play the open-world crime opuses that make up Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition? Yes, that happened. but I think what I failed to impress upon the Half-Glass Gaming readership — and this is my fault, I admit — is that I also think it is vitally prudent to wait until the game collection releases and some of your trusted reviewers or YouTubers have had a chance to play and comment on the quality of these games. I mean, that’s true for every game of course, but it’s especially true in this instance, as the situation surrounding these games is… slightly odd, I guess you could say.
“Odd? How so?” you might be asking. Well, let me break down the timeline for you leading up to the collection’s release on November 11 (or late on November 10 if you’re in Central or Eastern time zones).
Back at the end of the summer, rumors were circulating that the release of these remasters was all but certain, even though mum was the word from any Rockstar Games official lines of communication. The gaming giant would eventually break its silence on October 8, 2021, and officially acknowledge that yes, these remasters did exist. They even included a nifty little .gif to go along with the announcement, although no release date or actual info was revealed.
Roughly two weeks would pass before Rockstar would finally grace the public with the first trailer for these remastered collection, which released on October 22, 2021. It was just a teaser, light on details, but it did at the very least include gameplay footage (although it mostly just served as a comparison to how the original titles looked). But Rockstar also revealed the release date, which would coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original release of Grand Theft Auto III. And we all felt old…
Even though the trailer didn’t really show much, it showed enough to assuage some of my concerns, at least as far as how the games would look. The internet rejoiced. The big dog was back in the yard.
Over the next couple of weeks, Rockstar would dripfeed a few new screenshots here, a few new Switch screenshots there, but nothing concrete as far as longer form gameplay. In fact, to date, with the game launching in just over 24 hours, there has been a surprising — if not also concerning — lack of emphasis on showing the game running consistently on any hardware.
This, my friends, is a little alarming. My hope is that these games are in their current state simply so awesome that Rockstar wants the internet to melt down with excitement once people realize how friggin’ amazing these games look, play, and run. My fear is that these tired old dogs have lost both their bite and their bark. Worse yet, I worry that these are modelled after the awful mobile ports, which, like this new remastered trilogy, were helmed by Grove Street Games.
I guess only time will tell what state these remasters are in, and thankfully we only have to wait a few short hours to find out. I just though it was prudent to mention that you might want to at the very least wait to buy your copy of this collection until the verdicts are in, as tempting as it may be to let nostalgia manipulate your purse strings.
We’ve been burned before, and I’m sure we’ll be burned again…
