'GTA Trilogy' Still Has Mobile Controls Because Rockstar Forgot To Remove Them

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition has mobile controls, strangely enough, and it seems that Rockstar Games forgot to extract this part of the game when it re-released the classics last month. 

Ah, the autumn of 2021. A brighter, better time for Grand Theft Auto players. The promise of the remastered Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City filled their imaginations with glorious possibilities. The trio of games were most deserving of a lick of paint and a helping of elbow grease to (re)introduce them to new and old fans. 

Unfortunately, Rockstar Games stumbled and gave us games riddled with technical problems, unnecessary changes, and an entirely different atmosphere for the settings of Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas. A lot of the original files for the games were missing when the team sat down to remaster the trilogy because the original developers "never thought [they would] have to revisit these projects.” One might argue that the games were better in their pristine states, in spite of their evident datedness. Hindsight’s a heck of a thing, though. 

Here's the comparison between the originals and the remasters below - what's your verdict?

Dataminers discovered the removed radio station songs, hidden notes from the developers and the controversial Hot Coffee minigame in the original release of the remasters and they’ve continued delving into the game’s code. Vadim M. on Twitter, who has been chronicling the issues with the Definitive Edition, showed off that there are in fact mobile controls in the console version of the remasters. 

The mobile versions of the Definitive Edition are slated for 2022. So, what this discovery seems to suggest is that the console versions of the remasters were not developed with the specific consoles in mind, and aren’t as optimised as they could have been if there was a singular approach. Well, you didn’t need to be an Einstein to tell that, but this screenshot is not a good look for Rockstar Games. 

While admitting that the games missed the mark, the studio was clear on the front of how feedback should and should not be supplied. “It pains us to mention that we are hearing reports of members of the development teams being harassed on social media. We would kindly ask our community to please maintain a respectful and civil discourse around this release as we work through these issues,” it said.

Featured Image Credit: Rockstar Games

Topics: Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games