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One thing that is often not good enough to satisfy gamers in a game is the soundtrack. What is your favourite type of soundtrack? What types of music should be used for what types of games? Should futuristic racers like F Zero X have techno soundtracks or heavy rock? Should adventure games like Zelda have classical soundtracks? What type of music do you like in your games?
What brought this on was the realisation one day, that I did not listen to the game soundtrack on most games after having heard the full range of sounds. I noticed that for nearly all my games I listened to CD whilst playing the games. What I listened to the most was Bon Jovi and Oasis. Is it the good tunes and the guitars? Is it something else?
I think that game developers should pay more attention to the sounds in games. Often the graphics are wonderful and a lot of time and effort are spent on them. But rarely is the soundtrack good enough to keep me listening for long. What do you think? What is it that spurs you on to listen to a particular soundtrack for a game or a CD (or tape or vinyl or MP3 etc)?
Frankly I do not think that enough is done when it comes to the music and sound effects on games nowadays. Lastly what games do you think have the best soundtrack? My favourite is actually FIFA97. Worms was also quite good. What is your opinion. My only hope is that the developers actually read forums like this and find out what the gamers themselves want.
Thanks for reading
Biggles
What brought this on was the realisation one day, that I did not listen to the game soundtrack on most games after having heard the full range of sounds. I noticed that for nearly all my games I listened to CD whilst playing the games. What I listened to the most was Bon Jovi and Oasis. Is it the good tunes and the guitars? Is it something else?
I think that game developers should pay more attention to the sounds in games. Often the graphics are wonderful and a lot of time and effort are spent on them. But rarely is the soundtrack good enough to keep me listening for long. What do you think? What is it that spurs you on to listen to a particular soundtrack for a game or a CD (or tape or vinyl or MP3 etc)?
Frankly I do not think that enough is done when it comes to the music and sound effects on games nowadays. Lastly what games do you think have the best soundtrack? My favourite is actually FIFA97. Worms was also quite good. What is your opinion. My only hope is that the developers actually read forums like this and find out what the gamers themselves want.
Thanks for reading
Biggles
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The soundtracks to Grand Theft Auto, Tony Hawks 1 and 2 and Mat Hoffmans Pro BMX are all outstanding!
For me, music and sound is one of the most important aspects of a game. If you look at all the games that you can call truly great (Zelda, Sonic, Mario, Metal Gear Solid, Half Life) they all have brilliantly crafted sound and music.
It’s not just having good music – it’s having suitable music. Imagine having the likes of S-Club 7 telling you ‘there ain’t no party like an S-Club party’ when your battling Vulcan Raven, or having Eminem rapping about killing his mother, his daughter, his dog, and everything else that’s living when you are in Kariko village. Might be funny for a bit, but would be a bad choice of sound.
Much better is Zeldas subtle tunes, or Half Lifes eerie beats.
The music adds immensely to the atmosphere in any game. Try playing Tomb Raider or Resident Evil with the sound of. It has the same effect as when you mute the sound on films – its much less scary. The music helps you think that you are not just playing a game, you are actually there, which, if I’m not mistaken, is one of the main reasons people play games.
There is one brilliant bit in Half Life which made me realize that it truly was an astounding game. You come up a lift from the underground, after you’ve been wandering about for ages. As you go up, you see everything gradually get lighter, until the lift reaches the top. You walk out, turn left, and then some fast, high tempo music comes on, and there are a squad of marines and helicopters and tanks everywhere. The music gives you such a rush, you charge right in there with your machine gun and run around manicly, shooting up everything in sight. I think that is the single best use of music in games.
Activision got it right with Tony Hawks Pro Skater. They had a good game, but the music made it great. It also made the game ‘cooler’ to the casual gamer. You can tell this because of the astronomical sales it achieved.
Every game could benefit from proper licensed soundtracks. WWF No Mercy requires a lot of time on the menu screen when you create your own wrassler. The ‘music’ on that screen should be better than it is. They should have a proper song on there, as with the FIFA games. F-Zero-X should have the Prodigy in the background.
It’s not just having good music – it’s having suitable music. Imagine having the likes of S-Club 7 telling you ‘there ain’t no party like an S-Club party’ when your battling Vulcan Raven, or having Eminem rapping about killing his mother, his daughter, his dog, and everything else that’s living when you are in Kariko village. Might be funny for a bit, but would be a bad choice of sound.
Much better is Zeldas subtle tunes, or Half Lifes eerie beats.
The music adds immensely to the atmosphere in any game. Try playing Tomb Raider or Resident Evil with the sound of. It has the same effect as when you mute the sound on films – its much less scary. The music helps you think that you are not just playing a game, you are actually there, which, if I’m not mistaken, is one of the main reasons people play games.
There is one brilliant bit in Half Life which made me realize that it truly was an astounding game. You come up a lift from the underground, after you’ve been wandering about for ages. As you go up, you see everything gradually get lighter, until the lift reaches the top. You walk out, turn left, and then some fast, high tempo music comes on, and there are a squad of marines and helicopters and tanks everywhere. The music gives you such a rush, you charge right in there with your machine gun and run around manicly, shooting up everything in sight. I think that is the single best use of music in games.
Activision got it right with Tony Hawks Pro Skater. They had a good game, but the music made it great. It also made the game ‘cooler’ to the casual gamer. You can tell this because of the astronomical sales it achieved.
Every game could benefit from proper licensed soundtracks. WWF No Mercy requires a lot of time on the menu screen when you create your own wrassler. The ‘music’ on that screen should be better than it is. They should have a proper song on there, as with the FIFA games. F-Zero-X should have the Prodigy in the background.
In Japan you can get a lot of game soundtracks on CD. Including Zelda and Mario.
Heres the info I posted earlier, its taken from my Xbox thread if anyone is interested in the Xboxs music features
"However what interested me the most was the new features Microsoft has put into the X-box’s basic user interface (Called the X-box Dashboard). Not only will their be parental controls that will allow parents to prevent their children from playing games/or sections of games with a violent or mature content. The dashboard will also allow gamers for the first time to play the music they want in their favorite games. Normal audio CDs can be put into the X-box, and the music can be stored on the X-box’s 8GB hard drive. This means for the first time that gamers will be able to take full control of a games music. This is something that was on my wish list for a next generation console"
Also to have a look at this features see the middle picture at the link below
http://special.reserve.co.uk/news/ story.php?id=889
(remove spaces) :-)
"However what interested me the most was the new features Microsoft has put into the X-box’s basic user interface (Called the X-box Dashboard). Not only will their be parental controls that will allow parents to prevent their children from playing games/or sections of games with a violent or mature content. The dashboard will also allow gamers for the first time to play the music they want in their favorite games. Normal audio CDs can be put into the X-box, and the music can be stored on the X-box’s 8GB hard drive. This means for the first time that gamers will be able to take full control of a games music. This is something that was on my wish list for a next generation console"
Also to have a look at this features see the middle picture at the link below
http://special.reserve.co.uk/news/ story.php?id=889
(remove spaces) :-)
Page: