GTA 6 returns to Vice City. The obvious move is to revisit the original, and the most convenient route is the Definitive Edition remaster of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas.
That collection launched in November 2021 to a genuinely poor reception — visual issues, bugs, and art-style changes that many considered a downgrade from the originals. It has been patched substantially since, including significant work on lighting, character models and stability.
The question is whether the patching, and the nostalgia, add up to a purchase.
Apply the fixed-yet test
The useful check on any rough launch is comparing recent user reviews against lifetime scores, reading recent patch notes, and separating technical complaints from design ones. Do that here and a clear picture emerges: the technical complaints have been substantially addressed. Many of the aesthetic complaints have not, because they were deliberate art direction rather than bugs.
So if your objection was that it ran badly, that's largely resolved. If your objection was that the art direction lost the originals' character, that's still true and no patch is going to change it.
Which of the three actually matters here
- 01Vice City
The direct reason to buy this collection right now. 1980s Miami, a soundtrack that defined the era for a generation of players, and the tonal template GTA 6 is returning to. It's also the shortest of the three, which suits a pre-launch window.
The one to play. Roughly 15–20 hours for the story - 02San Andreas
The most ambitious of the three and the one that most obviously points toward modern GTA — multiple cities, RPG-adjacent systems, a far longer campaign. Also the most dated in its controls.
Excellent, but 30+ hours and the roughest to control - 03GTA III
Historically enormous — it invented the template — and the hardest to return to. No voiced protagonist, primitive mission design, and every rough edge of a first attempt.
For historical interest more than enjoyment
The honest problem: these are very old games
Vice City is from 2002. No amount of remastering changes the underlying design, and that design predates almost every convenience modern players take for granted. Mission checkpointing is sparse or absent, so failing near the end of a long mission can mean redoing all of it. Targeting is awkward. There's no mission replay. The map has no waypoint system in the form you'd expect.
The Definitive Edition added some quality-of-life improvements — checkpoint restarts and a modernised weapon wheel among them — and those genuinely help. But this is a twenty-four-year-old game and it plays like one.
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Definitive Edition | Runs on current hardware, quality-of-life additions, widely available | Art direction remains divisive; costs more than the originals |
| Original PS2 / Xbox discs | Authentic; extremely cheap secondhand | Needs original hardware or a backwards-compatible route |
| Original PC release | Modding scene has its own fan restoration work | Availability varies; setup effort on modern systems |
Get back to Vice City
The original discs are close to giveaway pricing on the secondhand market if you have compatible hardware. The Definitive Edition is the convenient route on current consoles.
The cheaper alternative
If you own or can cheaply acquire hardware from that era, the original discs cost almost nothing secondhand and are the authentic experience — including the original licensed soundtracks, some of which have changed in later releases as music licences expired. For Vice City specifically, whose soundtrack is a substantial part of its identity, that's a meaningful difference and worth knowing about before you choose a version.
Should you play it before GTA 6?
Only if you actively want to. There's no story connection — GTA 6 is a new narrative with new protagonists — and no comprehension benefit. What you get is context: seeing what Vice City was in 2002 makes what Rockstar does with it in 2026 more interesting.
That's a real pleasure, and it's also a fairly niche one. If you've never played Vice City and you're curious, fifteen to twenty hours is a comfortable fit in this window. If you're not curious, there are better uses of the time.
What holds up
- Vice City remains a genuinely great game with a defining soundtrack
- Patches have substantially fixed the technical problems from launch
- Quality-of-life additions like checkpoint restarts genuinely help
- Original discs are extremely cheap if you have compatible hardware
What doesn't
- Art direction changes remain divisive and no patch addresses them
- Twenty-plus-year-old design shows in mission structure and controls
- GTA III is difficult to enjoy in 2026 outside historical interest
- Soundtracks have changed across releases as licences expired
The verdict
DEPENDS, and Vice City is the whole reason. Buy the collection on sale, play Vice City, and treat San Andreas as a bonus if you've got time. The technical problems that sank the 2021 launch have largely been patched; the art-direction complaints haven't and won't be.
If you have hardware that plays the originals, buy those instead — they're cheaper, authentic, and in Vice City's case carry a soundtrack that's part of the point.