Update Adds Fog Back To GTA: San Andreas

I have a lot of opinions on this, and while I could write a whole editorial on the state of the Grand Theft Auto: Trilogy – The Definitive Edition, I’d rather sum it up as, “Rockstar likes money.” This has been evident time and time again following the release of Grand Theft Auto (V) Online, the company’s endless cash cow filled with hackers galore. However, if you wanted to make a small mod showing off something you love and something you are willing to put a lot of work into making, you will be threatened to the fullest extent of the law. Even if what you do to clean up a classic game is better than the multi-billion dollar company.

Do I sound angry? I hope I do, as one of the most important games of my pitiful life became what Rockstar viewed as something quick and easy to turn over. Through all the horrible things that Rockstar and Grove Street Games did to III and Vice City, I find myself most agitated by the San Andreas changes. Overall the visual style being changed up rubs me wrong, unlike that woman I cheated on Denise with from Las Venturas. However, with the latest updates (Thanks Eurogamer & PC Gamer) a large number of issues have been fixed, including spelling and gaps in the game world. Most importantly Rockstar has given you an option to turn the fog back on.

I don’t care who you are, you can be the worst little cretin that plays Call of Duty throwing racial slurs about, you better have the fog turned on. I will die on this hill. How Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was designed from the ground level to its full release is based on what that fog/smog does to you as a player. If you look at the map, nothing is a straight line, and thus, when the high-speed cars are faster than the hydra, you don’t notice. Without it, the magic that was such a beautiful piece of design work is gone and ruins the mystique of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Of course, this comes not long after Rockstar issued an apology for the state of “Definitive Edition.” An apology in which the publisher would also go on to state they were reinstating the classic editions of San Andreas, III, and Vice City to their PC store/launcher. I guess to end on a not so bitter note, at least they are fixing it with updates. I just wish they would have done this work before they asked for $70.