Idle mode

One becomes two, seven becomes eleven. This is how the development from the first Grand Theft Auto to its successor can be described - at least on an acoustic level. In terms of gameplay, very little has changed: we still run and drive through the creatively named Anywhere City from a top-down perspective, completing missions and leaving behind an impressive trail of dead pedestrians, criminals and cops. The action is accompanied by eleven different radio stations, ranging from funk to techno to gospel. Originally there were supposed to be twelve stations, but according to the GTA-Wiki , the progressive rock channel Ridiculous FM was cut before release.

There are also a few other changes compared to the first GTA: each of the stations is now hosted by fictional DJs, which is why we are entertained by Sammy Starock on Rockstar Radio and DJ Dai on Lo-Fi FM, for example. 'Entertain' is a good keyword, because this part of the series also marks the beginning of the usual commercials for the series, which stereotypically advertise all kinds of things in an exaggerated manner. On the one hand, this loosens up the music parade a little, as they are linked to the individual songs, but it can be annoying if you want to listen to this one particular song in peace.

Games from the Grand Theft Auto-series

Grand Theft Auto (1997)

Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)

Meanwhile, there are plenty of them. A total of 45 tracks can be found in the score, even if 15 of them are played on several stations. This gives us a less impressive net number of 30 songs. However, because the stations are pleasantly different, this is less of an issue. And with songs by Davidson (All I Wanna Do), Bula Matari (Taxi Drivers), Flytronix (Pendulum and Past Archives) and Track 7 (I Wanna Phunk), works by real-life artists and bands have also made it into the game for the first time.

Does it make the whole pack interesting to me? Not really. As with its predecessor, I simply don't have the connection to the game for this loose pile of genre music to get through to me. Although the compilation has become more comprehensive and the quality has improved, Grand Theft Auto 2 is nowhere near the milestones of scores like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. For the sake of completeness, however, here is a brief overview of the stations.