4. The Soundtrack Doesnt Need To Be Recognisable
Most people who call Vice City their favourite GTA game will say its because of the soundtrack. Whether its Flash FM you listen to, or Wave 103, the Vice City OST plays like a double-disc compilation of 80s number ones, charting everything from Herbie Hancock to Flock of Seagulls. It set the bar for games to come: Equally pop-centric, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was backed by a veritable mix of famous grunge, dance and hip-hop tracks. GTA IV bucked the trend: With a plethora of unsigned artists clogging Libertys airwaves, Grand Theft Auto IVs soundtrack has more in common with the original GTA from 1997, made when Sam Houser was a talent scout for BMG Records. Theres bashment, grime, hardcore; electro, jazz, trance, dance; rap, rock reggae; indie rock, prog-rock, krautrock; every genre you can name, from hundreds of artists you cant. And like the gang tags and clothes shops dotted over Libertys districts, GTA IVs eclectic soundtrack gives each borough a unique cultural identity: Cruise Bohan at night and youll be greeted with menacing dubstep from passing Humvees; hang around Hove Beach, and hear European rap thumping in the dive bars. Its another layer on Rockstars dense game world, the diverse soundtrack to a modern, multi-cultural metropolis. Heres hoping GTA V sounds the same.