Grand Theft Auto 6 feels a little more real this week after Rockstar dropped over 60 new screenshots and opened the floodgates for pre-orders. My cynical feelings around its $100 Ultimate Edition aside, it’s hard to not at least have one toe on the hype train—just about everyone’s talking about it, both the good and the bad.
Critical Hit
Welcome to Critical Hit (formerly known as Soundtrack Sunday), where we celebrate and lament all things videogame music, audio design, and the ways our favourite games make our ears tingle. Mollie is away this week, so I (Sean Martin) am co-opting the column to share my vinyl collection and chat about videogame vinyl.
So it feels like a great time to revisit a question I asked you lovely folks a few weeks back around what you want to see out of Grand Theft Auto 6’s radio stations. For me, music is such an integral part of the series—its radio stations are a hotbed of parody and their music serves as wonderful time capsules for the time period each game is set in.
That’s why I’m so interested to see what these stations will bring in GTA 6. As for what you guys want, you had some very insightful responses.
AgentZee is absolutely on the same wavelength as me, saying they’d love to see Something Good by Alt-J make an appearance, commenting: “This is a great song to listen to while driving”. I absolutely fell in love with this track when it made an appearance in 2015’s Life is Strange—a game with a soundtrack I still adore over a decade later—and I’m already envisioning late-night drives around Leonida while this blasts in my ears.
And speaking of Leonida, some of you want to see its Florida influences shine in its musical choices. Neogunhero said “Real Florida Jit” music is a must, citing artists like Denzel Curry (who I’m a big fan of), Kodak Black, Smokerpurpp, Trick Daddy, and Ice Billion Berg. Viddy echoed that sentiment, saying it’d “be a real shame if they didn’t” have some kind of Florida roots station, including “other FL natives who’d understand the realistic absurdity this game is surely going for.”
Lucky said: “I want to be able to drive the stand-in for a convertible Ferrari at night while In The Air Tonight plays,” which is an image I can totally picture. Wind blowing through Lucia and Jason’s hair, those classic Collins drums kicking right in. Plus, the song was already in Vice City Stories, which makes GTA 6 the perfect game to bring it back, since we’ll be revisiting the iconic area in all its modern-day glory.
Some of you focused more on the parody side of things, too. XoRn said they “could drive around for hours” listening to a parody news channel, while Jimfurbath said stand-up comedian “Tim Dillon hosting a conspiracy talk show radio is what GTA6 needs!”
My favourite of the whole bunch, though, has to be what Ianik has in mind for the game: “Only radio station with monks and Gregorians chorals. Without options to turn off”. Incredible cursed energy, which somehow makes it the perfect choice for a game like Grand Theft Auto 6. Bring on the chants.
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