Have you tried playing GTA III or Vice City lately?

[Calavera]

I remember when I first got GTA III it was AMAZING! Just the fact that you could drive any car you saw on the street was mind blowing at the time. I spent so much time just messing around before I even finished that first mission where you take 8-ball to Luigi's club. The map seemed huge at the time. Then Vice City came out and did everything GTA III did but better! I was super into my 80s phase at the time so of course I loved it. Just the atmosphere of the game was amazing. Driving around listening to those awesome 80s tunes it was the best!

Fast forward to today and it is amazing/sad just how badly these games have aged. When I try to play them now I just can't believe I used to find them so amazing. The graphics and especially the gameplay have aged so poorly. Sure they are 20+ years old now but still there are many other games from that time that I can still play that aged pretty good. I could name several Dreamcast and Gamecube games that still hold up visually and gameplay wise.

I guess the main reason is that they were the first of their kind and open world games have been done so much better over the years that they just seem really primitive now. Even still you'd think their would be a nostalgia factor that would make me find the games still somewhat fun. I mean this is the guy who can still enjoy Sewer Shark and Road Avenger despite knowing that I probably really only like them because of nostalgia. But with GTA 3 and VC I just can't have any fun at all with them.

An example of a similar game from the time is Mafia from 2002. It is pretty similar to the GTA games and while I'm not as memorized by the atmosphere nowadays I can still play through it and enjoy it. I think the GTA games are the only games that I really liked back in the day that hold zero fun for me now. I say the reason is probably because they were the first of their kind but Gran Turismo was also sort of the first of it's kind and has been done way better nowadays. For example Forza Horizon 5 is awesome but even still I can go back and play Gran Turismo 1&2 with it's blocky graphics and still have fun.

The GTA games are just such an anomaly with me where I can't even see how I ever thought they were fun. So does anyone else here feel similar about the original 3D GTA games or can you still find fun in playing them?

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I still enjoy the old GTA games. You just need to lower your expectations a bit when playing them, especially III.

Have you tried playing the newer versions of them that came out a year or two ago?

While they aren't great remakes and had big issues at launch, they still updated and added some things to make the games a bit more modern.

[ian]

Each new GTA game renders the old one a complete dogshit unplayable mess. The exceptions to this rule were when GTA 2 came out it wasn't as good as 1, and when San Andreas came out it wasn't as good as Vice City. But over the years I've been able to go back to the old games for small amounts of fun... Because playing 3 or China town or GTA advance is more fun than watching 5 update again.

I did recently try 3 to pass some missions for a friend (definitive edition on switch) I forgot how late game everyone is constantly shooting at you everywhere you go. I loved that mechanic! the more gangs you pissed off the more dangerous areas there were as you went along. I wouldn't choose to play an old GTA game at all if 5 wasn't literally updating 350+ times a fucking day.

GTA 6 should render 5 unplayable... But I think between, DLC, micro transactions, updates, and day one patches to fix basic shit that 15 years ago would have been made properly in the first place, it will be worse than 5 is. Then again they've had 4 fucking ice ages to make it a proper game.

[Calavera]

So when I tried to play GTA III and Vice City I couldn't get any enjoyment out of them. However I tried playing Scarface which is GTA clone from 2006 and you know what, it was still fun! I was surprised because I expected to have it turn out just like GTA III and VC but nope it is actually still enjoyable. It isn't as awesome as it was back in 2006 but is still fun. Scarface was an awesome game in it's time but it seems hardly anyone ever talks about it. It has an amazing soundtrack as well. If they remade the game with modern graphics and a few new feature here and there but kept the core gameplay the same I think it could make for a great modern game.