It looks like there will be remasters of three Grand Theft Auto games from the PlayStation 2 era this fall. Almost out of reflex, everyone on the internet is very enthusiastic, but aren’t we celebrating too soon? Maybe some good memories can stay that way too: good memories, not smeared by the disappointing reality.
The rumors are clear: there would be remasters (or, according to some websites, remakes) of Grand Theft Auto 3, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas are in the works. The games would run on Unreal Engine and will be released this fall on just about every modern platform. As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the original games, it automatically makes my gamer’s heart beat faster, but at the same time I’m very afraid that it will only disappoint.
Freedom, happiness
The ‘Grand Theft Auto 3 Trilogy” on PlayStation 2 came out at just the right time. 3D games were just getting mainstream and players were slowly getting used to the more complicated controls and expanded game worlds. Grand Theft Auto 3 came out in 2001 and showed exactly what was possible thanks to that added dimension. Of course it wasn’t the first game with an open world, let alone the first 3D game, but never before has a modern-looking game environment been displayed so realistically and with so much freedom on a game console.
I can still remember those first steps in GTA 3. I was actually used to relatively linear 3D experiences on game consoles before that – even the demo of Metal Gear Solid 2, which was hummed on many PlayStation 2 purchased at launch, let you walk a fairly predetermined path. But then there was GTA 3. I walked into the street of Liberty City… and then? What the hell was I supposed to do, where the hell was I going? That freedom was extremely confusing, but at the same time extremely alluring.
The above freedom quickly became the new standard. Sure, GTA 3 has missions to complete, but the game is really all about speeding around town, setting off explosions, clubbing prostitutes, shaking off the cops, and firing your rocket launcher at innocent passers-by. I already sketched the picture in the column published last week: I could spend whole afternoons in front of the television with my then girlfriend and play GTA 3, where we only handed over the controller when one of us was arrested or died. In-game, that is.
I spent tens, if not hundreds of hours in Liberty City, and not a second of it felt like wasted time. Follow-ups Vice City and San Andreas added countless hours of play. Although I was familiar with the ‘trick’ by the time I first started up San Andreas, it hardly made the gameplay any less entertaining – certainly the enormous expansion of the game world played a large part in that.
The tooth des time
Nostalgia is a strong emotion and it is therefore logical that the internet is eager for possible remasters. But nostalgia is also a cruel temptress, one that can portray the past more beautifully than it really is. The original GTA 3 trilogy doesn’t look like much by today’s standards, but that’s the least Rockstar can solve with remasters or remakes. I’m more afraid of whether the gameplay has stood the test of time.
Game design has not stood still since the first years of the current millennium. After San Andreas itself, Rockstar was also looking for the future of the franchise. GTA 4 felt very different and with GTA 5 the developer seems to have found the balance between the arcade fun of the classic parts and the realism that belongs to this time. But other developers have also had their fill of the open world genre with games, from ilk like Watch Dogs, Saints Row and Sleeping Dogs to fanciful sandbox games like Assassin’s Creed and Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There is even a certain ‘open world fatigue’ among many players, that’s how popular and all-encompassing the genre has become.
Is it a good idea to re-release the three games that made this genre great? I can’t see into the future and I don’t know how much Rockstar changes the design of the games in the remasters, but the gameplay is quite ‘simple’ by today’s standards. Missions can be quite monotonous or downright annoying at times (hello, flying missions in Vice City!) and it’s no longer unique to drive through a city without any limits and do what you feel like. It was in the early 00’s, which is why we have those fond memories of the games. How is Rockstar going to ensure that with remasters we also have new
can make good memories?
Not to mention the soundtrack, one of the most important aspects of Vice City and San Andreas. In previous reissues, many essential songs were already missing from the radio stations. Will Rockstar pay all artists again to be able to offer a complete soundtrack again, or are we doomed to drive through Vice City without Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean, or through San Andreas without 2Pac and Rage Against the Machine blaring through the speakers?
Favorite games
Anyway, maybe I’m getting ahead of the facts. First, those remasters have to be officially announced. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a better idea of ​​how Rockstar brings these classics to the modern age. I just want to say that I understand the hype that has already been created by a bunch of rumours, but above all we have to be careful not to create expectations that cannot be met. GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas are among my favorite games ever and I’d like to keep it that way.
Every Saturday a column appears on Gamer.nl that discusses current events.
Adrian is working as the Editor at World Weekly News. He tries to provide our readers with the fastest news from all around the world before anywhere else.
