GTA Trilogy Is Very Close To Receiving The Worst Ever Switch User Review Score On Metacritic

Ouch , amazing how much flack This is getting

Based review bombers

Good. I know people complain about gamers whinging but who's to say we'd even get a patch on the way if it wasn't for the loud backlash? There's no excuse for a PS2 game (and it still looks like a PS2 game...) to have such an unstable framerate that's actually detrimental to the gameplay.

Tired of certain devs disrespecting Switch owners and making it look like a garbage console that can't handle a glorified PS2 game. Shame Vicarious Visions didn't make it.

I am so never getting this game, I'll stick to my PS2 if i ever want to play them, lazy rushed porting should not be allowed.
Where have the Nintendo Standards gone??

FIFA Legacy Edition: "Whew, thanks god ..😅"

This article looks like

Ok Everyone let's gang up here and act as if nintendo is the only console bugged by these glitches! Even the powerful consoles are having it bad as well, so what does this have to do with the switch?

People waited so long, They have every right to be angry, as it clear they didn't really try with this game. Plus the name is false advertising.

@Bunkerneath It's clearly not Nintendo though. Every release of this 'Definitive Edition' has been a mess.

Maybe this will teach more devs that the Switch isn't just a repository for ports. You still need to put the effort in same as you would for any other console.

ROckStar got lazy eh. I suppose after constant success and money spinners, it is easy to do. GTA V the best selling video game of all time (or close enough) racked in millions with port after port. I suppose this was initially a no brainer - just whack out a low effort 'definitive' edition and watch the zeros roll over like always. Got a bit blind-sided here though. Understandable enough, even if totally lazy. And Nintendo? Whatever happened to Ninty's 'Seal of Quality'. It is like the need to rake in cash and sales figures totally eclipses any regard Nintendo used to have for basic standard (at least with third party content)

This is truthfully getting super embarrassing at this point. If I was in charge of these games I'd be super ashamed of myself, to be honest. What a mess.

I'll stick to the original versions I got for a fiver each on the PS4. Wide-screen, slightly sharper, but essentially the same games from the early noughties. I may take a punt on this when it's £20 and patched. Rockstar games always drop heavily in price after 6 months or so on release.

This is what they get for removing the og versions off of digital stores

@Maximumbeans you know it sucks on all three platforms and most people seem to agree switch actually “suffers least” whatever that means.

Whilst I agree with your sentiment. In this case every version of this release is terrible.

This is well deserved. GTA "Definitive" Edition isn't any kind of remaster. It's a cash grab port developed cheap, and sold for $60.
Rockstar Games have fallen very far.

@JohnnyC lmao. “Rockstar games always drop in price” - based on what? We only had two games in just over generation and both held the value massively. RDR2 and GTA V.

All the flak is well deserved imo.

I'm not into GTA at all, but I can imagine how much it must suck for the fans to have the very first release (not counting the DS game) of this franchise on a Nintendo console be this bloody bad >.<

Having played it on Switch its nowhere near deserving of such a score. Most of that is pure emotion over what people think they should have done with those games. I've played far buggier and worse performing games over the years.

Whatever you think about the visual design choices they have made, fundamentally these are still the same games they always were and the worst things they have done is call them the definitive edition and have such a high price point for minimal effort

@Maximumbeans in this case they did, it just wasn't much effort

Never ever preorder. Never ever buy on release day. Always wait for reviews. Spread the word!

@Stocksy Thanks for telling me, I'm even more shocked they managed to bungle it this badly across the board.

@Rpg-lover More attention and the fact that Switch is one of the systems the game was released on?

I mean, it's a disappointing port as ports go, but it's hardly unplayable. If you enjoyed playing it on PS2, the experience isn't really worse, just poor in different ways.

@Stocksy GTAV, LA Noire and Red Dead 2 are regularly in sales for less than £20 on other formats. LA Noire is the most recent remaster and it didn't take long for that to start rotating regularly through sales, including on the Switch. No reason to think this won't be any different. If you look at the digital rockstar titles from previous generations on other platforms, they're often on sale for less than £4 too. Appreciate the eshop only has LA Noire to go off at the moment.

Is anything deserving of a score that low? I know it's a mess but I don't see why people are so invested.

-And being a hater is tiring! Just ignore it and enjoy all of the good games coming out instead

@Bunkerneath What standards? Nintendo has never had any real standards for third party releases beyond a limit of how many games a year a publisher could release on their platform.

The Nintendo quality seal has always been a bit of a joke.

gonna go immediately on metacritic... GTA must win this prize

@PessitheMystic Yes, but Nintendo have the final say and also they keep on advertising it on their twitter and facebook. Guessing they have not played it just going for the easy money

They are bad versions, but I think they have potential. At the moment they seem unfinished, but having played the PS4 PS2 versions most recently, those versions are poorly emulated, not least as the PAL versions are based on the 50Hz release forced to output in 60Hz. I hope this reaction gets the games properly patched, but they shouldn't have really released in the state they're in. 0.5 though... thats the type of score I'd reserve for Dragon's Lair on the C64.

It's really telling when this situation is somehow worse than Cyberpunk 2077's. And we all know how the story of that game went.

This should definitely be a wake-up call that people are tired of remasters that somehow end up being lesser than the originals.

@scottishwildcat yes... but... those game are ugly even on PS2... now we are 3 generations beyond...

@Rpg-lover hey don’t worry the Xbox one version is at 0.4 this is just a bad release by rockstar

@JohnnyC GTAV took years to drop on price.

Rockstar, GTA specifically, is one of the few where the price takes a long time to drop as their games are nigh always in demand.

@carlos82 emotion? bad graphic, bad controls, bad animation, bad stories... and bad remaster... wow

@Entrr_username maybe you should read what the writer has to say first 🤔

@Gs69 exactly.

@Slowdive AHAHAHA 🤣 ad also note... cyberpunk was a new game, revolutionary in some ways and in cdpr intentions... this is a 20yo remaster 🤣

@Kimyonaakuma Not to rain on your parade, but there's a very good reason for people to be invested. These games are some of the most regarded in the franchise yet they decided to have the remasters be done by a studio focused on mobile games and remove the originals from sale.

Are you saying you want more releases like this and Cyberpunk 2077?

Not surprized it's a lazy port, old game with a slightly new coat of paint.

@Zanzox the stories and animation are the same as they always were and if anything the controls are better. The graphics you can argue either way

@jrt87 I'm honestly surprised they haven't done it yet.

@Tao Not my recollection where rdr2, GTAV and LA Noire had all been in at least one sale within 12 months of release (Black Friday, Christmas flash sale etc), but if this hasn't dropped by spring I'll pick it up anyway as hopefully the patches will have arrived by then.

@Rpg-lover The fact that it's the second highest profile Switch game releasing this month (after Pokemon, before SMT V) means it's relevant news to Switch owners.

@link3710 okay, let's say you're right, So what about the other consoles? So the switch shouldn't have any glitch on lunch is that what you trying to say? The glitches should be on the other consoles but not the switch? This game is a 20years old game and it's rockstars fault for rushing to release a game not tested properly just to meet lunch day release.

Fully Deserved too

Imagine all that money they have made from selling GTA 5 across 7 platforms and all the money from GTA online and Red dead redemption and this is the Trilogy we get?

Pathetic

@carlos82 Ah yes, releasing shoddy "remasters" of 15-20-year-old games for 60 dollars (with the PC version not even being playable) while cracking down on fan projects planning to do so anyway and removing the originals from sale cause reasons are totally unjustified reasons.

They probably would've been better off upscaling the Xbox 360/PS3 port of the mobile port of San Andreas and releasing that alongside actual ports of the other games. Remaking these games from the ground up and trying to stick close to their originals was probably the worst decision I've ever heard of. Either remake it with modern visuals and physics or port the originals.

Since Cyberpunk 2077 i decided to not preorder again and this decision now pays off. It’s unlikely I will ever buy this GTA trilogy. The Root boardgame by Dire wolf comes to Switch tomorrow. Looking forward to that one.

Probably the majority of reviewers never played it and join into the hype. Still, this rating doesn't make me wanna get the game sadly.

PS2 games era ports should run 60FPS 1080p on Switch and 120FPS 1080p / 4K 60 on PS5 and Xbox. It's a joke.

@Clyde_Radcliffe is it pronounced to rhyme with WING or HINGE? (In the US we say whining, which is WINE not WYNN)

@carlos82 i feel like most games are pass/fail now within the gaming community - everything always needs to be BRILLIANT or an ABOMINATION - I like the grey areas and enjoy some imperfections or AA games and when I recommend them to people they act like I’m crazy

No loss for me - there not great games anymore. But I hope everyone else gets refunds.

@r0mer0 i agree with the sentiment in general but also bought Metroid Dread day 1 and was thrilled by it, and pre-ordered Outer Worlds and somehow 100%’d the game without running into any of the issues I read about in all the reviews

The lower scores don't do this one much service, though. Only Wordify is a rare Switch game that underwhelmed me (mostly due to its baffling grid construction - one lategame stage looked like featuring a word with outright more letters than you're provided🙄😅), but even it was parsecs from a "0.4" experience overall. Well, what do I even object to - by all means, fandoms, continue to bury the already nonexistent reputation of score aggregators and user feedback deeper yet. ¯(ツ)/¯

@PessitheMystic Even if it were only the Switch version, it's still Rockstar, not Nintendo.

That aside, and without defending the practices in any way whatsoever, I'm sure that on its own, it's better than 0.5. People nowadays just have the apparent need to see every game as the best or worst ever, and when it hurts their nostalgia and (rightful) expectations, they go to war. Internet being their battlefield, because real confrontation with every aspect of the process would curb their anger and remind them that we're all living beings, while internet only throws fuel on the flames. However, I'm not even that convinced that real life confrontation will bring back real living connection, I've seen the opposite way too much already to deny it, especially in today's climate of disconnection, fear, and masked faces even in real life.
Then again, if the company Rockstar or any other isn't confronted with the loud voices of the people, it will do what any corporation does: consider life a resource to make short term profit and power, no matter if they have to enslave, exploit, butcher,... it. Whatever they can get away with through denial, propaganda, pr,...

See, this is why developers shouldn't be rushing games out the door with the mindset that they can always be patched later. Even if patches do turn the game into the something good, its reputation has already been forever ruined beforehand.

@carlos82

Weapons disappear behind Windows and Game Mechanics (Running, Bikes, the Minigames) are completly broken because it has the Mobile Phone Ports as its Source.
They changed the Sound from Stereo to Mono (seriously, what the F*ck where they thinking?).
Rain Effect is completly broken.
Character Models are a Mess.

The PC Versions aren't aviable, even if you paid for them.
It deserves the Rating.

well, at least i still have vice city for ps2 to cling to
@GannonBanned it's said like hinge

@Rpg-lover ...when did I ever deny any of that? It's totally rockstar fault. All I said is that it's relevant for Nintendo Life to report on the version of the game in Nintendo consoles.

Ok I’m a little concerned for my health. I’ve been playing San Andreas on gamepass and have had 0 issues aside from the missing tracks and some odd visuals, it’s been about what I’d expect from this game. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a reviewer. I’m not real far into it but I plan on playing this thru. Hopefully things get fixed. I’m still waiting on XIII to get a better work around, that was my biggest disappointment last year, I loved that game on the GameCube and really wanted to play it again.

@NinjaSyao The irony is GTA Chinatown Wars on the DS is excellent and is widely regarded as one of the best in the series.

It's not even 400 people though. Deserved, maybe, I don't know nor care, but really should be taken with a grain of salt, no?

The first time the main GTA games hit a Nintendo console and this is how it turns out. Do better Rockstar.

Seems people are finally realising how bad these games really are. This aint just perf issues.

Since when do we care about user reviews on metacritic? Most user score are either 0 or 10 anyway.

phew
Balan Wonderworld is no longer at the bottom

i like that game okey

As I commented on the other article. Pop in is not a legitimate issue and would totally change the game. These old games have really small maps with vehicles that only spawn in really small areas. If vehicles popped in early it would make import/export almost impossible to complete as you would have to travel half way across the map to despawn cars you don't need. I get that it is an issue for some people but it's one thing I'm glad they didn't mess with and I guarantee that if they did change it, it would be included as an issue anyway when people post about how these missions are now impossible. That is one problem that no matter what they do there would have been complaints so I'm glad they just kept it like the original.

The only problem with this game was bad marketing. This game is literally the same as the originals with all the same bugs and glitches. Ridiculously high expectations ruined this game.

Nintendolife's review on here doesn't even mention really basic quality of life improvements such as adding waypoints which the original was lacking. It's like the reviewer just didn't remember the original didn't have that! In fact most of their points in their review make me think they either have a defect copy of the game or their nostalgia glasses are completely broken. It does not deserve the score it was given. This is a collection of three classic GTA games, warts and all. People just expected too much. Which, I don't even know why, because as soon as they said it was coming out on the switch I knew these would be basic ports. Still great games though

This is what happens a lot of the time when people take an old game engine and try and force new things on top of it without properly optimising it or rewriting the code. it's not like the games were transferred to a modern engine. Not only that but the visual style could have been excused if it wasn't so inconsistent. What we get is something that seems like was handled by AI and had very little human input to design the new assets other than press a button. While I understand this was done to save time because of how big all three games are, saving time at the expense of quality isn't the way to go about things.

To all those who are complaining that the Switch version is the ONLY WORST version of the game, think again and look at Metacritic scores on all platforms. You see that other platforms it is just as bad as it is on Switch

@Zenszulu they were using Unreal Engine 4 for this “remaster”

@Zenszulu I honestly don't know why people think the game has simply been AI upscaled. Foliage is completely improved. Character models have been completely revamped. This wasn't an AI and that is clear. People are honestly just hating because they expected more. People should see it for what it is. Ports of the the original trilogy, warts and all, with slight graphic enhancements (better foliage, higher resolution textures) and quality of life improvements such as waypoints and gyro aiming. This is what I expected, this is what I got, and I am satisfied

@TYRANACLES okay. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

meanwhile me who's actually enjoying the game .____.

Here is an excellent video that shows off the improvements that the review here just didn't bother to mention. I also recommend looking at the comments because it kind of looks to me like Nintendolife are now doing the whole "GTA fans hate the new version, here's why" clickbait nonsense. Looks like the game does have fans after all!

https://youtu.be/99w9OhcWfIw

Yes it's buggy and yes it will get patched to a more playable state.

But my main issue is Nintendo and their refund policy.

I shouldn't have to jump through hoops especially if I haven't even played the preorder yet.

Actually, another point about the pop in. Good luck with the rage missions because they would have been impossible

I've been up in a cabin the past 4 days, had no idea people were so upset about the trilogy.

I'm happy it worked out that way, I've been having a really good time playing, and I'm getting through the missions much faster than when I was a kid when these games first came out. You have to understand playing these games WITHOUT the mapping GPS feature, the enhanced aiming, and weapon wheel was absolutely controller-chucking rage back in the day, and that's just the way games were back then. These improvements make the games so much more enjoyable. I'm especially enjoying San Andreas with all the life simulator elements and massive map to traverse. It's amazing to see worlds I am so familiar with looking bland and lifeless and now they're actually interesting to look at and explore. I understand my nostalgia may pardon a few issues (many of which already existed before), but I also think the target audience of these games is for those who played them originally, and if you're playing a much older game for the first time, you should always have lower standards.

@Scapetti great video. Once the trilogy is patched more, these improvements will be al that matters

What a bunch of drama queens

@bluemage1989 Found the guy still trying to justify his purchase.of this mess.

@UglyCasanova found the guy who can't read the comments without feeling like each one is a personal attack.

@Guitario I honestly don't know what needs to be patched... there's a grass area you can fall through but the game does a really good job of having so when you fall through you appear up right and back in the game with no problem. And it's just so strange because it's like they were aware of it and deliberately kept it in, but fixed the issue instead by having you respawn. So I'm thinking it's part of a glitch in the original which allows you to get to the second island early, which they decided to keep in the game rather than patch because they know there are speedrunners who love this stuff (see the Mario 64 backwards long jump glitch that was removed from Mario All Stars).

The game COULD have a slightly better framerate but I'm guessing this is more to do with how things load. In fact it appears to me, that the more you play the game the more the framerate seems to improve. And I checked the original and it has the same choppy framerate so again, looks like they kept the original programming. Probably to keep glitches and things in tact.

So yeah, I don't know what they should patch. I worry that if they patched pop in it would make rage missions impossible to complete. I guess there's that rain issue and the lack of fog which could be patched. But other than that I don't really want any changes. Unless they are optional

I have only played GTA 3 so far though

This is just so...sad. We finally got the attention of a -biiiig- series arriving on Switch and this happens, which could only serve for yet another developer to act like it's our fault and nobody is interested. How in the heck do you mess up stuff like this though?

Only saving grace is it s'posedly being a hot mess across all platforms. Anyone know how any casuals are taking it?

I'm likely still going to wait and see what's on the physical edition next month because I do want this, so I'm hoping they can alleviate some of this migraine before then.

@Lalivero it's the casuals that are taking it badly. Pretty sure most people who played the originals to death actually don't have a problem with these remasters and are glad all the same glitches are there. While loving quality of life improvements such as GPS waypoints and weapon wheel

@Rpg-lover Duh, because this is "nintendolife.com" not "other consoles website.com". Why would they report on other consoles on a Nintendo focused website? Besides that, did you even read the article? They specially mention that the Xbox version has a lower score, and that all versions suffer from massive issues.

It’s unfortunate that this is being “review bombed” but the plus side is that this sends a message to Rockstar that this crap is totally unacceptable, especially for a company whose golden goose is a single game that has been dominating the charts for eight whole years now.

I’m kinda hoping that they do a complete reversal of the “physical” release and do a proper launch mid next year.

If nothing else, here’s hoping that the Switch edition absolutely plummets in price very, very soon and I can grab their joke of a “physical” edition on the cheap.

Still no Playstation or XBox scores. What gives??? Don't they want to upset Rockstar or something?

"This is just people review bombing, the game is great... honest"

"Its just bigots who dont understand the game"

"People giving negative reviews are people the game wasnt made for"

"Some other excuse"

The hypocrisy is strong with this one!

@Silly_G You expectations would make sense if you could name one other time where a company suddenly halted production of standard Switch cartridges and decide to spend more money on larger cartridges that include the whole game.

If you're already disappointed in how this game was handled on release, why would you suddenly have impossible expectations for the same company?

The way people are justifying their enjoyment of the game is pretty telling. It's not that they enjoy a game despite its flaws or public perception, it's that everyone else who disagrees with them is blinded by nostalgia, emotion, or is wearing rose coloured glasses. Nothing says "I'm a condescending douche" quite like that.

People only resort to arguments like that when they experience the cognitive dissonance of enjoying something other people don't. At that point you're not defending the game, you're pathetically trying to justify your own taste. If you enjoy the game, warts and all, good for you. You shouldn't feel the need to defend it.

@UglyCasanova I appear to have touched a nerve haha but seriously though maybe your new to the world of gaming?? If so I'm sure you'll soon learn that just because the internet tells you something is bad doesn't mean it is and it's okay to just enjoy things and have fun.

This release is getting hammered on all platforms. The highest Metacritic user rating is currently 0.9 for the Playstation 5 version.

@GannonBanned but this is not white or black... is brown... like something else...

@NedBundy I think both "sides" of this argument are getting a little silly. Once one side starts getting too unrealistic, the other side feels they need to compensate, but it ends up just making both sides look like idiots living in their own private world away from the rest of us.

As someone from the "I'm enjoying it" crowd, I can say quite confidently these games are janky, but janky by today's standards. The graphics are blurry. Aiming, while easier with the quality of life changes, is still nothing close to the accuracy of GTA V or any other open world shooter. All of these elements were present in San Andreas when it first released and IGN gave the game a 9.9/10 back then, just for some perspective. Not all gamers enjoy this experience because it's all dated now, and that's to be expected.

I wouldn't assume someone who enjoyed Skyrim to also enjoy Morrowind because the controls and systems are completely different, and the while franchise has gone in a totally different direction over the decades, the older titles have a lot of interesting mechanics the recent titles don't have anymore because they're more casual now. I think the same thing applies here, it's just not for everyone.

While it's not fair to say the GTA Trilogy is only for those who played the games originally, the improvements will certainly be most appreciated by that crowd because they will notice the differences. In San Andreas, the palm trees used to be awkward static objects, now they move and blow with the wind like a modern game. The roads used to be a solid gray color with no details, now they include cracks and particles that make it look like real pavement. While flying, you had a risk of suddenly exploding because extremely tall trees could pop-in if you're not careful and you could crash, now I can see these trees from across the entire map. None of this changed the physics of the game or the core gameplay, it's just nicer paint on an older machine, and we were never told otherwise.

@Twiz then what is this he said about nintendo

the Switch edition is a poor port that really doesn't deserve that 'Definitive Edition' name.?

In other words it shouldn't have come to the switch.
Yes he's not all that wrong but credit to finally porting over GTA for the very first time on a nintendo console. Yes it came bugged, but that is outrageous to say it doesn't deserve the definitive edition name, as the other more powerful consoles are suffering from the same bugs found on the switch as well.

Maybe you should've tried to figure out my point before asking if I went through the article.

People defending these games claiming they're just as bad as the originals seem to be missing the point. First of all, surely a "definitive edition" should improve on the originals. And secondly, the originals weren't anywhere as bad as this new release.

@Mountain_Man "Definitive" is just a word, just like "Gold" or "Ultimate" or "Platinum" editions. They're just arbitrary titles to differentiate improvements or additional content. The point is Rockstar set the expectation for everyone the original games would be largely untouched with the exception of a graphical overhaul, lighting overhaul, and multiple named quality of life improvements.

If you opted to ignore Rockstar's statements and instead manifest your own expectations just because the game has the word "definitive" in it, then you should expect to be disappointed quite often with all game releases.

This is not a case of the hardware not able to handle these games, it's a case of the dev just being lazy and greedy and they 100% deserve those low scores.

@Specter_of-the_OLED Might I suggest you read this article: https://www.nintendolife.com/features/soapbox-can-we-please-retire-the-phrase-lazy-devs-already

@carlos82 I agree with you when it comes to the visuals. I actually like the remastered graphics and controls that the trilogy has. However, I cant get over the constant FPS dropping to single digits when driving. It's borderline unplayable when you're driving a moped on docked-TV mode.

Even the developers said the game is garbage within their own game. And how the hell does Rockstar publish a game without reviewing the files and testing the game!? Even hobbyist game-creators know to publish better than this.

I still stand by saying that Rockstar Leeds should of handled the remastering.

One week later;

"We're removing audience negative scores...."

Well, that's not surprising. I don't think it's review bombing if the posters are right.

Actually, if the pc port has anything above 0.0, then it's being review-bombed upwards, since a game you bought and literally have no way of playing should be nothing above 0.0.

@Scapetti Yes, of course, the buildings popping-in in plain sight because they removed the distance fog are just fine. So is driving at full tilt, hitting empty air and crashing only for a car to spawn there after you've already hit empty air. Sounds just fine to me and not like shoddy coding at all.

Ah, so what do we pin the numerous spelling mistakes on? Spelling mistakes in new textures that were based on old ones that had blurry or hard to read parts exactly where the mistakes are? The new textures that look very much like upscales with newly generated text via text recognition? That give us such golden sights as 'meat' becoming 'heat', 'air' becoming 'ar', 'accessories' becoming 'aggessories'? Because if it's not due to upscaling errors then these new textures were made by people who either can't read or know exactly zero English.

Sorry, I've played the originals a lot and this entire thing comes off as supremely shoddy.

Though, let's be honest, maybe not 0.5-shoddy. I'd give it a 3.

Not the pc version, though, that's a straight 0 since you can't even play it.

Cya
Raziel-chan

Unfortunately, to make memes, people are boosting the reviews

Makes me appreciate the effort Nintendo puts into their own remakes.

I gave it an 8. Unlike most reviewers though, I actually played it.

@Astral-Grain
Well said. Finally someone with a balanced view of this. I'm enjoying exploring these massively detailed environments, finding the hidden packages and doing taxi missions. These games have so much to offer and the new improvements actually make a big enough difference that I wouldn't go back to the originals. Has anyone noticed that it's way harder to fall off your motorcycle in Vice City? You used to fall off every time you hit the tiniest thing. Such a small but significant improvement.

There is also some misinformation on twitter that keeps getting shared around. People should find their own glitches rather than just assuming that the glitches are real.

It's a shame, really. I was really excited to get this because I haven't played the classic GTA games. But Rockstar screwed it up by cutting way to many corners to the point of buggyness. I'll wait until they patch it and when it's on sale.

@Klump_Soul very few of these comments are coming from personal experience, and if others want to just jump on the bandwagon and start parroting information that isn't actually true, there's nothing anyone can do about that.

I will say that when I see such polarizing comments, the majority saying it's a bad game while a good amount are chirping in with hands-on experience saying it's actually good, that's usually a clue to me that I should just check it out for myself, even if it's just gameplay without audio.

@Scapetti Could you do me a favor and check the original Vice City's motorcycle handling. I remember it being really sensitive and falling off easily. It seems they have changed that but it's been a while since I played it.

@Klump_Soul I'm still playing through GTA 3 at the moment. Could take me a while

The rating system is completely broken then. Sure this is bad, but how could it possibly be any worse than Handpan, Calculator, Guitar, Xylophone, Night Vision, or Spy Alarm? Having not played the trilogy, I'm still sure I could find 100 shovelware games on the Switch that are much much worse.

@Zuljaras I mean... People could also just not buy a game with issues. That makes your voice heard too.

@Nintendo_Thumb
The rating is based more on their expectations than the games actual content. If this was a new game by a small publisher it would have received an 8/10 or something. Since it's a big publisher and a remaster there are different expectations.

@Scapetti I meant to check the original on the PS2 or whatever you have it on. I got rid of my PS2 a few years ago, so I'm just going based on memory.

@Klump_Soul I don't have access to the original. I didn't mean to give that impression.

@carlos82 You can't be serious, the game is lazy beyond imagination, it's honestly unplayable in the current state on Switch, and not at all ideal on other consoles too, it definitely deserves to have this score

@batata it's not unplayable at all that's just nonsense, I've easily completed every mission so far with no problems. I'm not in anyway suggesting these are good ports but they are better then a 0.5

Not sure it deserves quite that low. From videos I've seen it seems to have the graphical quality and framerate issues of well, a PS2 game. Still bad by today's standards, but the lowest metascore for a Switch port IMO should go to one of the blatantly broken ones like Civ 6 or Neverwinter Nights.

@Klump_Soul
Yeah I can confirm you do fall off the bike really easily in vice city on the original game.
I’ve been playing each game on ps5 and loving it.
This trilogy reminds me of when battlefront 2 got bad reviews because of ea being greedy with micro transactions, but the game was actually really fun and I played it just as much as other games.
Sometimes I go against the grain and not listen to people complaining about games because it can ruin the chance of me picking up a game and enjoying it. I actually recommend some people actually try the game if they were big fans of the originals and actually played the originals when they came out.
I personally feel like if you played them back in the day you will actually enjoy this trilogy remaster.
There’s been some remasters of old games I never played and I don’t like them as much because I didn’t get into them back in the day. I think growing up playing games that were great back in the day and got good reviews. They weren’t bad but with today’s standards they are now. It’s like watching an old classic movie. Some people will watch an old bond film and think this sucks, I much prefer John wick lol.
Both are good. Ones film quality and visual effects out dated but it’s still good and enjoyable to watch.
I think for most who didn’t grow up playing the classics, watching the classics you just can’t appreciate them and you can’t see how good it is to see classics get a visually better upgrade. Bond in 4K looks great btw lol.
When I was a kid and played certain games I liked all I wanted was same/ similar gameplay and just better graphics and I’d be stoked. Now days people want good FPS and are really picky with so much.
There’s so many old games which had bugs and glitches and I actually like them lol. They aren’t game breaking either. You can still enjoy the game with them. I hate to say it but I was born in a generation where people liked games for being games and not their specs.
As technology has advanced it’s made people really fussy.
Especially for people who have grown up in an already fussy generation, you can’t help but be fussy.
Sorry if I offended anyone, but I feel that what I’ve said is true.

I ended up pulling the trigger when I read they were a lot more playable in handheld mode, because honestly that’s the only way I planned to play them. I put in maybe six or seven hours since launch on Vice City and San Andreas. Still encountered some fairly funny bugs. Only one or two that needed a restart (one stuck in a tree, the other a visual bug that was so distracting I had to) but more than playable. Disappointing. But playable.

Just to see it, I downloaded Vice City on my main switch docked to the TV, and OH MAN, it’s jarring how much worse it is. And I was fully braced for it and expecting a performance drop.

Like I said, I never planned on playing it that way, and I’m getting my milage out of handheld. But they deserve the review bombing in this case.

This is what people get for asking for stuff being ported to Switch

@batata
I completed GTA3 without any game breaking glitches, just some framerate dips. What do you mean by unplayable?

@buchu8oolong
Great take on this. I'm playing docked mostly and it's ok, but not great. These are good games but they could be so much better. Review bombing is fine if it's sending a message, but otherwise it doesn't reflect the actual value of the game.

@Kilamanjaro
Yeah, we get to play GTA on the switch! I'd rather they port things badly then not at all. Good example is Kingdom Hearts. Even though I don't care to play it, it still would be better if they ported it and not done just a cloud version.

@Mrpiccolo
Thanks for doing that, that's good to know. I see where you are coming from. When these games were released, I don't remember any reviews talking about the framerate. However, there really is no excuse for this given that it's a 20 year old game. In 2001 I accepted the glitches because it was such an ambitious game, and I would say the same thing now. However, performance is another issue and that really shouldn't be an issue even on the switch.

Personally, I rate the GTA III and beyond games lower than a .5
They play like crap.

@Klump_Soul The gameplay experience is different for different people, if you enjoyed your time, more power to you, but when the game has such bad framerate, with such a horribly soft resolution which is so buggy and broken, with some people even experiencing crashes (though that is less likely), it's just not playable and definitely deserves the score it got

@carlos82 As I said before, experiences may vary, but the port is clearly unfinished and unpolished beyond imagination, it might be a review-bombing, but Rockstar needs to get the flak to wake up

Weird AF

I’m playing through 3 and SA and have hit no bugs at all. Hopefully Rockstar remains their elusive self and doesn’t patch the game. It works amazing as is. I’ve emailed as much to an IRL from years before buddy telling them to ignore the idiots online who are babies that want more and more from their money. They simply shouldn’t have bought it. Makes no sense. Wish they’d simply quieten up and be shooed away as far as possible.