We suggest you don’t buy the $60 Grand Theft Auto Definitive Trilogy

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  Comparison images provided by Rockstar Games. (Rockstar didn't clarify what these were captured on, so we're assuming PC.) [credit: Rockstar Games ]

The PlayStation 2-era Grand Theft Auto trilogy is now available on modern gaming devices and comes with across-the-board aesthetic touch-ups. That should be good news. The series' shift from top-down 2D to open-world 3D was a seismic event in the gaming industry, and despite showing their age, each of these games provides a fine amount of macabre criminal adventuring.

But while some parts of the trilogy's re-release are easy to praise, others are less exciting. Shortly after the $60 GTA Definitive Trilogy went live on Thursday, I logged some time with the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X versions. I also spent a few hours staring at the game's locked-up installation on my Windows 10 testing rig. I can now see why Rockstar wasn't eager to make this collection available to the press ahead of launch—and also why the game maker didn't want to break up this set into three $20 purchases. As Ryder might say in GTA San Andreas: This re-release is a buster. (And that's not a good thing.)

That’s one way to encourage grand theft, Rockstar

Over 12 hours after the collection's launch on the Rockstar Games Launcher, I still can't launch the games despite having fully downloaded them.

The worst part of the release is the collection's Windows 10 version, which is now exclusively available on the Rockstar Games Launcher. Ahead of this week's launch, Rockstar removed the old versions of GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas from storefronts like Steam. You can still access these versions—along with years of community-driven mod support—if you've already purchased them, but they are no longer for sale.

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