Where do you begin when attempting to define the atmosphere of a locat𝐆ion, mission, environment, or a character’s journey via audio? Do you recruit the best composers and instrumentalists to create an original, singular piece, unique to this experience? Or do you scrap music altogether and rely on the environmental ambiance of the location?
Or instead, do you attempt to imitate reality and create a world that exists outside the restrictions of your game? Arguably, the Grand Theft A𝕴uto series brought this into the mainstream with its array of radio stations, but its not the only one to have ventured into the realm of radio.
7 🌼 Grand Theft Auto 4
The only entry from the GTA series we allowed into this list was always going to be a controversial one. Where many proclaim that Vice City easily dominates the list with its synth-heavy '80s bangers; and gangsta rap-loving 90’s kids would defend San Andreas, GTA 4 had everything to match thꦯe grimy, underground subcultures Niko would encounter.
Where the game really began to analyze and mock the media obsession of modern culture was the radio adve🀅rts. Rainy drives home listening to Aphex Twin after depressing gunfights, and David Bowie whilst being chased by cops, were equally iconic.
6 🧸 ꦆ Fallout: New Vegas
True to Fallout style, New Vegas didn’t fail to deliver with its array of fitting musical choices for roaming an apocalyptic wasteland. There’s something strangely comforting, familiar, and charming about listening to the likes of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Peggy Lee when exploring New Vegas - almost as if the ancient ghosts of these 1940s and '50s icons are still relevant in the barren 2281 setting.
Speakin🍰g of ethereal presences, it’d be rude not to mention Mr. New Vegas, the AI radio DJ who keeps the player company on their travels.
5 𒅌 Cities: Skylines ༺
City builder simulator Cities: Skylines was a masterclass in creating engaging and enticing music for the strategy-heavy gameplay, making it part relaxing, exhilarating, and frantic at times. The generous variety to select from, with radios including classical, relaxation, country, jazz, and many more, offer some of the most easy-going, lo-fi beats 🐻to build your utopian city to.
With occasional newsbreaks featuring commentary from ꧃the aforementioned radio station presenters, the immersion is strong, yet laid back enough to make players forget how long they’ve been playing al🍌together.
4 Mafia 2
Often, the best bet for an in-game radio is to just stay accurate to the period. Through 1940s and '50s New York, jazz and swing were always going to be the go-to. The suave, upbeat music was not only immersive but distracting from the atrocities you were committing as a "reformed" gangster.
Music by the like൲s of The Cadillacs, Chuck Berry, Les Baxter, and Dean Martin would play not only whilst cruising around the city, but also on radios when entering shops, making shopping for your next suit jacket, or battling the heavily-armed gun shop owner all the more atmospheric and epic.
3 Sleeping Dogs 🅘
Delivering eclectic, thumping bass tracks, mix-heavy Asian hip-hop, ambient Chinese pop, and global rock classics directly from Kerrang, it’s safe to say that the radio stations in Sleeping Dogs are drastically underrated. The Hong Kong set criminal underbelly adventure was deserving of music that matched its highly energized, neon-drenched streets, and savage 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:martial arts action.
Thankfully, when traffic-swerving car chases are scored by the vivid melodies of The Cine🅰matic Orchestra, the trippy audible stimulation of Flying Lotus, and legendary rock anthems from the likes of Queen, Tears For Fears, and Thin Lizzy, ⭕missions are nothing short of awesome.
2 ꦏ Burnout Paradise
There’s no denying that Crash FM's DJ Atomika was a vital component of the classic open-world racer/crasher, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Burnout Paradise . Set in the east coast-inspired Paradise City, players were treated to hefty servings of nostalgia trips. Iconically opening on🎀 the titular rock anthem Paradise City by Guns N’ Roses, players are thrown into the sprawling, constantly sunset-soaked land of infinite highways and audacious ramps to launch themselves off - all the while being fuelled by the chaotic, free-spirited energies of LCD Soundsystem, Jane’s Addiction, Killswitch Engage, So😼undgarden, and Jimmy Eat World.
For a game about cruising in oncoming traffic and earning points for transforming your vehicle into a mangled version of i𝕴ts former self, the music is suitably invigorating, uplifting, and carefreꦬe as it should be.
1 Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag 🧸
Who doesn’t love a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:sea shanty? Yes, this entry isn't technically a radio. It’s more of a spoken-word radio, a triumphant vocal performance radio, with thirty-five classics to cycle through.
When the sails are soaring and🅘 a storm is on the horizon, there’s no better way to boost morale than with a sing-song, from classics such as Cheerly Man, Drunken Sailor, Fish in the Sea, The Worst Old Ship, and other boat-and-fish related songs that you once never knew but now can’t get out of yꦜour head.
