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Hello everyone.
After flicking at length through the latest copy of PC Gamer, I found myself marvelling at the quality of the graphics of both Doom 3 and Deus Ex 2. Reading the features and listening to Mr Pierce and Mr Stuart wax lyrical about the rather gorgeous visuals further grabbed my interest.
Then I realised that neither feature paid any attention to the soundtrack. Whilst it is obvious that the music in a game is not the most important aspect of the design - reviewers tend to favour graphical prowess and level design - a good soundtrack can make or break a game.
Take Resident Evil, which made superb use of atonality, chromatic strings and brief climaxes of percussion. Imagine if it had been set to a techno soundtrack. The atmosphere would have been totally destroyed, ruining the tension and the experience.
Music has always affected the way I play games - When I was ten, I played Doom 2 for the first time. The music to the level called 'Suburbs' (anybody remember?) terrified me, and I wouldn't play that game for weeks after.
Too many new games aim to have groundbreaking graphics, often at the expense of other aspects of the game. In fact, the only new game with a soundtrack I really enjoyed was JK2 - and that had a film soundtrack. Developers need to make sure of getting a soundtrack that matches the game - MOH: AA anyone? Otherwise they just end up with a game that has less atmosphere than Mars.
After flicking at length through the latest copy of PC Gamer, I found myself marvelling at the quality of the graphics of both Doom 3 and Deus Ex 2. Reading the features and listening to Mr Pierce and Mr Stuart wax lyrical about the rather gorgeous visuals further grabbed my interest.
Then I realised that neither feature paid any attention to the soundtrack. Whilst it is obvious that the music in a game is not the most important aspect of the design - reviewers tend to favour graphical prowess and level design - a good soundtrack can make or break a game.
Take Resident Evil, which made superb use of atonality, chromatic strings and brief climaxes of percussion. Imagine if it had been set to a techno soundtrack. The atmosphere would have been totally destroyed, ruining the tension and the experience.
Music has always affected the way I play games - When I was ten, I played Doom 2 for the first time. The music to the level called 'Suburbs' (anybody remember?) terrified me, and I wouldn't play that game for weeks after.
Too many new games aim to have groundbreaking graphics, often at the expense of other aspects of the game. In fact, the only new game with a soundtrack I really enjoyed was JK2 - and that had a film soundtrack. Developers need to make sure of getting a soundtrack that matches the game - MOH: AA anyone? Otherwise they just end up with a game that has less atmosphere than Mars.
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Hello everyone.
After flicking at length through the latest copy of PC Gamer, I found myself marvelling at the quality of the graphics of both Doom 3 and Deus Ex 2. Reading the features and listening to Mr Pierce and Mr Stuart wax lyrical about the rather gorgeous visuals further grabbed my interest.
Then I realised that neither feature paid any attention to the soundtrack. Whilst it is obvious that the music in a game is not the most important aspect of the design - reviewers tend to favour graphical prowess and level design - a good soundtrack can make or break a game.
Take Resident Evil, which made superb use of atonality, chromatic strings and brief climaxes of percussion. Imagine if it had been set to a techno soundtrack. The atmosphere would have been totally destroyed, ruining the tension and the experience.
Music has always affected the way I play games - When I was ten, I played Doom 2 for the first time. The music to the level called 'Suburbs' (anybody remember?) terrified me, and I wouldn't play that game for weeks after.
Too many new games aim to have groundbreaking graphics, often at the expense of other aspects of the game. In fact, the only new game with a soundtrack I really enjoyed was JK2 - and that had a film soundtrack. Developers need to make sure of getting a soundtrack that matches the game - MOH: AA anyone? Otherwise they just end up with a game that has less atmosphere than Mars.
After flicking at length through the latest copy of PC Gamer, I found myself marvelling at the quality of the graphics of both Doom 3 and Deus Ex 2. Reading the features and listening to Mr Pierce and Mr Stuart wax lyrical about the rather gorgeous visuals further grabbed my interest.
Then I realised that neither feature paid any attention to the soundtrack. Whilst it is obvious that the music in a game is not the most important aspect of the design - reviewers tend to favour graphical prowess and level design - a good soundtrack can make or break a game.
Take Resident Evil, which made superb use of atonality, chromatic strings and brief climaxes of percussion. Imagine if it had been set to a techno soundtrack. The atmosphere would have been totally destroyed, ruining the tension and the experience.
Music has always affected the way I play games - When I was ten, I played Doom 2 for the first time. The music to the level called 'Suburbs' (anybody remember?) terrified me, and I wouldn't play that game for weeks after.
Too many new games aim to have groundbreaking graphics, often at the expense of other aspects of the game. In fact, the only new game with a soundtrack I really enjoyed was JK2 - and that had a film soundtrack. Developers need to make sure of getting a soundtrack that matches the game - MOH: AA anyone? Otherwise they just end up with a game that has less atmosphere than Mars.