WhenGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Editionlaunched, it was soon revealed to be in a very disappointing state that appears to left many fans frustrated and less than impressed. Although the remasters ofGrand Theft Auto 3,Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, andGrand Theft Auto: San Andreasadded in a number of new bugs and glitches that weren’t present in the original versions, one major criticism was directed at the game’s visual presentation. Recently, Rockstar Games decided to change one particularly obvious visual issue by fixing Carl “CJ” Johnson’s muscle textures.
CJ is introduced as a former gangster who got out of the criminal life when he got out of Los Santos, San Andreas. However, he quickly finds himself plunged back into the criminal underworld after being framed for murder by corrupt police officers. Like many Rockstar Games protagonists, players can influenceCJ’s appearance including his muscle mass.
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Reddit user Killmelmaoxd shared pre and post-update images of what CJ’s character model currently looks like when at maximum muscle and fat. The original remaster ofGrand Theft Auto: San Andreashad a noticeably bad CJ modelwith little muscle definition to speak of and skin textures that made him look furry. After the update, C.J.’s model not only has more realistic coloration, but his musculature is clearly visible.
This isn’t the onlycharacter model thatGrand Theft Auto: San Andreashas recently updated, but it may be one of the most important. As CJ is the game’s protagonist, the player can expect to spend a lot of time looking at him and customizing his appearance. The decision to improve the textures on CJ’s max fat and muscle model may help players immerse themselves in the streets of San Andreas. Killmelmaoxd also stated that the developers took the opportunity to fix CJ’s running animation for the same model as well.
As of writing, it appears that fans appreciate the effort put into improving CJ’s muscle textures, but still have some criticisms to share. One user jokingly asked if the comparison was a weight-loss commercial, while a second replied that CJ hadn’t lost anything–he’d visibly gained muscle mass. A third user noted that the developers still needed to fix CJ’s eyes the way they fixedGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas' draw distanceby adding the heat haze effects back in. A fourth user compared pre-update CJ to the photoshop meme “Ben Swolo.”
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Editionis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Physical releases for Xbox and PlayStation are due on December 17, with a Switch version coming early 2022.
