There is still debate regarding the quality of the Grand Theft Auto Definitive Edition remasters, which were very controversial when they were first released. The three iconic Grand Theft Auto games from the PS2 era GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas were updated with far more sophisticated graphical techniques thanks to the Unreal Engine 4. Simultaneously, the upgraded assets fell apart upon closer inspection, and the redesigned lighting was significantly different from the original titles. These games have now been made available for mobile devices iPhone, iPad, and Android for about two years.
The visual aesthetic of the GTA Definitive Edition games differs greatly from that of the original releases. The most badly hit was San Andreas, which lost the sepia-toned haze that characterized the first edition. Vice City had a more neutral appearance, and GTA 3 had lost its blue and green hue. Basically, compared to their PS2 predecessors, which had unique graphic designs, all three games appear drab. It’s evident by looking at the iOS version of the game that significant changes have been made to the lighting to better align it with the original games. A kind of blueish-distance fog obscures some distant detail during gameplay, giving the game an eerie and slightly oppressive atmosphere.
Resolution in iOS
Going back to the PS2, this type of fog effect had two functions: it blurred pop-in on the comparatively shoddy hardware and gave the impression of atmospheric dispersion. As a result, it didn’t need to obfuscate as much distant detail when replicating it on the iPhone. The sun’s rays pass through a thicker layer of atmosphere as the day declines, giving this image a hazy, orange appearance.
For GTA 3, the same holds true. The current iPhone versions give it a noticeable blue-green hue, although the old Definitive Edition remasters present a clear, sterile tone. Here, the sky also appears significantly different. Reverting to the original title reveals comparable artistic embellishments that contributed to defining the appearance of this early PS2 favorite and unmistakably distinguished it from the console Definitive Edition.
With the games set to the maximum setting on the resolution slider—possibly half-res, or around 590p—the results on the iPhone 15 Pro are approximately 600p in terms of resolution. The games render at around 240p at their lowest. This contrasts with the Xbox One’s around 792p picture. It’s annoying that the resolution is always reset to the center of the slider when you close and reopen the applications. According to the video attached above, the games appear soft when blown up to 4K, yet they appear fine on the screen of a real device, such as an iPhone. The game is often shown in ultra-widescreen, however, 16:9 letterboxes are used for cutscenes.
Compatibility problems
Additionally, there are several compatibility problems. Those who use DualSense controllers cannot use the PlayStation button icons, and neither DualSense nor Xbox Series controllers can enable rumble. These are typical problems with iPhone games, but considering their console roots, these titles ought to have more thorough controller compatibility. However, loading times are the only truly noteworthy performance improvement. The average loading time is roughly two seconds, which is really fast. These games include some quite hefty redesigned graphics while being fundamentally PS2 games, and the iPhone loading speeds are pretty astounding.
There are a variety of new Definitive Edition releases available for iOS. Compared to the other DE versions, they have a far better lighting presentation that is far more faithful to the original PS2 games. When seen on a smaller mobile screen, the visual reductions are acceptable and barely visible. Even with their 30 frames per second limitations, performance is regrettably just not good enough, with extremely erratic frame delivery.
