Rockstar Games That Are Difficult To Replay Nowadays

Summary

Rockstar Games is an entertainment juggernaut. It’s responsible for some ofthe best-selling video game franchisesin the world, and each new game they release dominates headlines for months on end.Grand Theft Auto 6isn’t even out yet, but anticipation continues to build every day. The company has built this reputation by consistently releasing games with high production values that tell great stories and are fun to play.

Their games also tend to be immensely replayable. But, time is a cruel mistress, and once-ground-breaking games that were great fun 20+ years ago don’t always age that well. Removing rose-tinted glasses and ignoring the siren call of nostalgia, formerly beloved games can be next to unplayable by today’s standards. That’s as true withRockstar’s games as it is with any other developer. The games chosen for this list were great when they came out, and in many respects still are, but replaying them nowadays can be a grueling task.

This list ignores some games that were never all that fun to play to begin with; it also groups together some entries from the same franchises that are difficult to replay for similar reasons.

We’ve lumped the first twoGrand Theft Autogames together because even though improvements were made in between the two games, they’re both hard to replay today for the same reasons. However fondly they’re looked back on, no one is going to argue that either is one ofthe best Grand Theft Auto gamesever made.

Both games have aged poorly and, if anything, feel older to play than they actually are. Both games use old-fashioned tank controls that are painfully clunky by today’s standards. The top-down view and 2D visuals can also make it hard at times to even tell what’s going on. However impressive the graphics seemed in 1997 and 1999, they don’t look great today (Drivercame out the same year asGTA 2).

The biggest hurdle to replaying them today, though, is the mission design. The gameplay feels simple, and missions and objectives get repetitive fast.GTA 1in particular can be brutally difficult and feels downright unfair at times.GTA 2’simproved saved system alleviated this a little, but barely. TheGrand Theft AutoDNA so many love is here, and there’s still fun to be had, but few modern gamers have the patience needed to replay and finish either game.

People who enjoyed high school tend to look back at their school years with rose-tinted glasses. They remember the pranks they pulled, the friends they made, and the teachers they liked, but often forget about the mean bullies, annoying cliques, and constant homework. It’s the same for those who lovedBullynearly 20 years ago. The game was and still is excellent, but going back to it today isn’t easy.Bully’sstory has aged excellently, is entertaining as ever, and delivered one ofRockstar’s most iconic characters.

However, some modern gamers might find it a little on the linear side. Then again, so many current games are full of meaningless choices that a linear story can be refreshing. Unfortunately, not everything has survived the test of time. In particular, the class mini-games that the player needs to take part in start novel but quickly become tedious. Meanwhile, there’s nothing wrong with the combatper se, but it does feel a little simplistic by today’s standards. This is something exacerbated by the predictable enemy AI that quickly stops being a challenge. Likewise, the movement controls, especially when using the game’s limited “vehicles,” are on the clunky side. It might sound harsh, but these criticisms come from a place of love. There’s a reason so many fans are begging Rockstar for aBullyremake or sequel — they want to play a version that lives up to their memories of it.

At this point, criticizing a game as iconic asGrand Theft Auto 3feels like sacrilege. Countless opinion pieces have been written over the last 20+ years talking about how revolutionary and innovative the game was. It’s not an exaggeration to say its release transformed the gaming landscape of the early 2000s. But boy, is it rough to go back and play it today.

Once again, like pretty much every entry on this list, the controls are clunky. In particular, aiming weapons has never felt good, and the lock-on system most weapons use can be aggravating. With no way to take cover, crouch, or otherwise dodge enemy attacks, combat encounters mostly boil down to hoping you don’t run out of health before all your enemies are dead.

The mission structure was actually impressively varied for the time, but there are some annoying difficulty spikes — especially considering dying means losing all your weapons. That’s a real pain. The limited save system, which relies on one safe house per island, can also suck the fun out of going back and replayingGTA 3today. All in all, it’s one ofthe hardest Grand Theft Auto games, but its difficulty comes from wonky mechanics rather than design. Lots of fans hoped these wrinkles would be ironed out in the 2021 remaster, but alas.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice Cityhas certainly aged better than its older siblings. Despite being released just a year afterGTA 3,Rockstar managed to cram in quite a few improvements. Despite these, and being one ofthe best PS2 sequel games, the game is still pretty hard to replay nowadays. While combat was improved and weapon variety was greatly fleshed out, players still can’t take cover or dodge, meaning most shootouts don’t feel very immersive (or fun).

Difficulty spikes are also an even bigger problem than inGTA 3. In particular, most players would rather walk across a floor covered in Lego barefoot than replay the infamously painful RC helicopter missions. The story structure, which gates off the second island for half the game, also feels dated and overly limiting, as does the fact that Tommy Vercetti never took swimming lessons. Speaking of Tommy, he was voiced by the incredibly talented Ray Liotta, and his passing in 2022 makes replaying the game bittersweet for many fans. There’s still so much to love aboutVice City, but a proper remake with modern mechanics is the stuff dreams are made of.

The Warriorsis a game that has always leaned hard on nostalgia. Released in 2005, it retells (and expands) upon the story of the cult film from 1979. Even back in 2005, how fun it was relied heavily on how much the player liked the film. Nowadays, being a fan of the film, or at least having seen it, is pretty much mandatory to enjoyThe Warriors.

Even then, it’s not easy to go back and replay it today.The Warriorsis a fairly old-school beat-em-up, and the combat itself feels repetitive and lacks depth compared to modern entries in the genre. The game is also incredibly linear, and most missions are similar to one another. On top of this, character progression is paper thin. This might be good news for those gamers tired of RPG mechanics being stuffed into every modern game, but the lack of options means there’s less incentive to go back and playThe Warriorsmore than once.

On the bright side, the game’s story is as epic as ever, and the way it expands on the film is awesome for fans. Furthermore,The Warriorshas one ofRockstar’s best ever soundtracks, so there’s always something for music aficionados to enjoy.

Red Dead Revolveris hard to go back and replay today for the same reasons most third-person shooters from the same period are. It’s a good game hampered by outdated game mechanics. Most levels are linear shooting galleries during which the player hides behind a convenient box or rock and waits for dumb enemies to pop up their heads. These galleries are broken up by an overly hard (but once-innovative) dueling mini-game and bullet-sponge boss enemies.

That might sound harsh, but a lot of those criticisms can be applied to other shooters of the same vintage. There’s just not a lot of reason, besides the game’s entertaining story, to go back.Red Dead Revolveris also in the unenviable position of being the precursor to bothRed Dead RedemptionandRed Dead Redemption 2,two of the best games ever made. Anyone replayingRed Dead Revolvertoday is going to quickly realize they’d rather be replaying those games instead.

Platforms: PlayStation 2

Genre: Racing

As a launch title for the now geriatric PlayStation 2,Midnight Club: Street Racingis the kind of game that doesn’t look as good as you remember it looking. An excellent arcade racer for the year 2000, there’s not much reason to go back and play it today. As an older arcade racer, its driving controls and physics feel their age and are overly simplistic and floaty compared to the racers of today.

That’s a problem because there’s not much else to do. Compared to later entries in the franchise, which were some ofthe best racers on the PS3, the originalMidnight Clubis light on content. Car and track choice is very limited, as are the gameplay modes. There’s also next to no customization, meaning there’s not a lot of opportunity to experiment. That all boils down to very little replay value. Anyone looking for aMidnight Clubnostalgia hit (why won’t Rockstar give fans a new entry?) is simply better off picking up one of the sequels.

Put them side by side, and it’s almost impossible to believe there was just a three-year gap betweenGrand Theft Auto 3andGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas. If GTA 3 was revolutionary, then the scale ofGTA San Andreaswas simply mind-blowing. It provided an entire state, rather than a city, to run around and cause mayhem in, and it featured a genuinely good, well-written story. Even today, it’s one ofthe best PS2 open-world games— and arguably one of the best open-world games ever made. Full stop.

Rockstar really pushed the boat out when makingSan Andreas. Unfortunately, replay it today, and one will find that the boat has sprung some leaks. Rockstar made the game’s map feel massive using some impressive technical smoke and mirrors, as well as clever design moves. Sadly, today, the map actually feels pretty small. Meanwhile, the controls are much improved fromGTA 3(especially aiming), but they pale in comparison to newer action games. What really kills the replay value, though, is some of the mission designs. Some missions, like Wrong Side of the Tracks and the RC missions, are pure misery to go back and replay today. There are some gems, but the lack of a mission replay feature makes getting to replay them a chore. It’s also not much fun to go back and try to complete the repetitive gang warfare system.

TheManhuntgames are being listed as a 2-for-1 because the reasons they’re hard to go back to are similar for each game. This isn’t to sayManhunt 2is a carbon copy ofManhunt. Rockstar did make some impressive gameplay improvements between entries. In particular, the stealth system was overhauled, andManhunt 2took a much better stab at telling an entertaining story. On the flip side, most fans of the franchise actually prefer the original thanks to its more atmospheric setting.

Both games are hard to replay today for two big reasons. Firstly, neither entry’s gameplay mechanics have aged well. Predominantly stealth games, both rely on the player hiding in the shadows for prolonged periods, waiting to execute enemies. Those enemies flip-flop between being comically unaware of their surroundings and having super senses that would make Superman blush.

The second reason is that, back in 2003 and 2007, the main draw of the games was their edginess. TheManhuntfranchise was brutally violent and faced calls for censorship across the globe, even being banned in some territories. The problem with that is neither game feels that edgy nor excessively violent by today’s standards. Instead, it feels like Rockstar was baiting the kind of politicians who blame all the world’s problems on violent video games into giving them free advertising. Anyone going back to replayManhuntthese days looking for what once made it so controversial is likely to come away very disappointed.