Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition tested on iPhone
Free with a Netflix subscription and revised from the existing console versions, but is GTA worth a look on mobile?
www.eurogamer.net
The new Definitive Edition releases on iOS are a mixed bag. They feature a greatly improved lighting presentation relative to the other DE releases, with much closer fidelity to the original PS2 games. The visual cutbacks are reasonable and not especially noticeable on a smaller mobile device. However, performance is unfortunately just not good enough, with highly unstable frame delivery despite their 30fps caps.
If you are interested in playing these games on the go, I think this collection probably offers the best portable experience at the moment, however. The other alternative on iOS would be the original GTA Trilogy ports, released about a decade ago and updated periodically since. These offer high resolution rendering, but suffer from similar performance issues at times, don't have all the effects from the PS2 originals, and can feel a little uncomfortable to control given the lack of proper right stick camera control in GTA 3 and Vice City.
The other upside of this collection is that it's available without additional cost, as long as you have a Netflix subscription. The games can also be bought separately, but for many people these titles will essentially come for free. So, in a lot of ways, these new Definitive Editions are a success, translating eighth gen console code to run effectively on mobile devices - it's just a shame that performance couldn't be smoother.