Grand Theft Auto has always been a singularly musical series. From classic rock blaring over a helicopter sunset to cool jazz simmering on a rainy city night, GTA's many in-game radio stations, coupled with Rockstar's seemingly infallible song-selection, makes each game's soundtrack as good as the last one.
With the recent info-drop on Grand Theft Auto V over at Game Informer, we got a lot of new bits of information. Three protagonists, a ridiculously gigantic map, and more.
But one of the biggest pieces of information might have dropped by the wayside: The fact that, according to Game Informer, the game will have an original musical score.
Every past Grand Theft Auto game has had a fantastic soundtrack, but none of them have actually had a musical score. They've had original music that plays during the introduction, as in Grand Theft Auto IV, or maybe some short riffs that play after completing missions. The idea of a GTA game with a full musical score? Why, I think that'd be just keen.
Rockstar has historically done an amazing job commissioning original scores for their non GTA games. Shawn Lee's soundtrack for Bully is one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. Bill Elm and Woody Jackson's work on Red Dead Redemption is another all-time great. Andrew and Simon Hale's work on L.A. Noire was easily one of the best parts of an often flawed game. And most recently, HEALTH's soundtrack to Max Payne 3 was astonishingly good, and easily one of the year's best.
So what will Rockstar do with an original Grand Theft Auto score? Who will they hire to do it? How will it tie in with the game, and integrate with the sure-to-be-returning radio stations? We'll have to see more of the game to find out. I tell you what, though: If there's one thing Rockstar has literally never missed on, it's music. I can't wait to hear more.
