The missions and storylines that play out through the duration of the game tie into the cities themselves, along with the characters (and innocent bystanders) that populate it.
Through the years, Rockstar has excelled at maintaining this illusion. It needs to have an identity, a social structure, some evidence of reality buried beneath the layers of cynicism and dry humour. It's not enough to simply throw players into a splotchy suburb of some anonymous metropolis - the city needs to be alive, teaming with civilians and traffic. When it comes to establishing a solid atmosphere for a Grand Theft Auto title, location is everything.
