It’s hard to believe, but the 2021’s Grand Theft Auto Trilogy: Definitive Edition for the consoles, including the Nintendo Switch, has seen an update in the year of our Lord, 2024. While the game was buggy and almost unplayable upon release, do these new updates make this game worth picking up? That’s what we’re going to talk about today. Let’s get into it.
The Update
Kind of out of nowhere, Rockstar decided to update the Grand Theft Auto Definitive Edition on November 12-13, 2024 bringing the game to version 1.112 on all platforms. The versions that you have on the Switch show different numbered versions on the games in the main menu, but the 1.112 can be seen once you boot everything up and check out the in-game menu. The update notes themselves are very vague, but do give us somewhat of an idea about what was done. Outside of the typical “numerous fixes and improvements,” the most interesting tidbit was, “Added Classic Lighting mode which restores the look and feel of the sky in the original games.”
Gameplay
Coming back to the game after nearly three years, it seemed to play almost identically to me. Just to be completely clear, I didn’t think the gameplay was the problem with the 2021 release of the game (you can read my review here). The cars handle great, and the characters are easy to control and the shooting mechanics are smooth and modern, with the weapon wheel being carried over from more recent Rockstar titles. The ability to shoot and move has also been added to GTA III and Vice City in this update, which is a great addition.
You can find an entire list over on RockstarIntel.com that they have pulled from the community detailing all of the updates to the game. Credit goes to them and BeskInfinity, Darealbandcoot, bs_blackscout, HeresHavi, videotechuk_, and the GTAForums community.
Visuals & Performance
If you are going back to the GTA Trilogy on the Switch or are thinking about picking it up for the first time, it’s important to note that this version of the game still has some issues. Before getting to that, let’s get into the good changes. As mentioned in the patch notes, players are now able to turn on a special filter in the games that make them look more like the original releases in terms of lighting via what’s known as the Classic Filter. This is on by default but can be toggled in the Options under Graphics. In the Switch version, players can also turn on/off Ground Haze (San Andreas only), Bloom and Lens Flare. You will not have as many options as you will find on other platforms (Reflection Quality, Shadows, etc.).
Given the somewhat sterile look of the earlier versions of the Definitive Edition, the new filter is great to see. Cityscapes look more natural, and in the case of GTA III, not nearly as dark. The various areas in San Andreas each have their own visual style and just look so much better. The skylines in Vice City look considerably sharper. This graphical filter really does change the overall look of the games for the better, even on the Nintendo’s platform.
Even with that said, the Switch versions of the game still do suffer from some occasional slowdown, but it is nowhere near as bad as what it was with the initial release. I found that all of the games did have some trouble keeping with things while driving super fast. You’ll still see plenty of assets popping in, cars kind of appearing out of nowhere and more. I didn’t find this to have an effect on the gameplay, but some might find it annoying. The framerate here also is targeting 30 frames per second, and hits it for the most part. The main character models typically look pretty nice, while other of the other tertiary characters still look as bad as they did in 2021. At its core, there were just so many things that were wrong with this game that it would have to be completed rebuilt to completely salvage it in that sense. Still, things have been updated enough to make things look a bit more modern.
Conclusion
Like many out there, I’m pretty happy that Rockstar finally got their act together and updated the Definitive Edition. The new Classic Lighting filter really changes the look of the game leaps and bounds over what was available when it originally released in 2021. The gameplay is awesome, and the stories are great. The Switch version still does have some framerate issues, and even when it does’t it’s important to note that this version targets 30 frames per second, which might be a deal breaker for some. Still, if you’re looking for a pretty good way to play these classics on your Switch, this collection has finally achieved the status of “not bad."
But let’s turn things over to you. Did you pick up the GTA Trilogy: Definitive Edition when it came out in 2021? How about after that? Are you interested in giving it a shot now? Sound off in the comments down below. We’d love to hear from you.
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