Poll: Do soundtracks matter to you in a game?

[jacobythehedgehog]

There are many games that have great soundtracks Halo, Dawn of Mana, Final fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts, Team ICO games, Elder Scrolls games and ect.

But then there are also same games that have great backround round effects too, like Resident Evil series, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid(this one goes for both).

My main question for you is do soundtracks matter. Soundtracks now unlike NES, Genesis days are not as memorible but that doesnt mean there are bad soundtracks. I think they matter for game envolvment. That feeling of emmersion is helped by music.

 

[Rossmallo]

YES. They matter a loooot. A subpar game can be passable for me with decent music, and bad music can wreck a good game.

Just me, though.

 

[CrashBang]

Absolutely! Immersion and a good atmosphere are integral parts of a gaming experience and these things are 50% music and sound

 

[Blow_Pop]

I'm very music oriented so a soundtrack is everything to me. I've seriously had to turn the volume off on a game and play my own music just to finish it cause I hated the soundtrack.....

 

[GamerAddict7796]

Soundtrack is what made Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel fail. Insead of 50s music it had thrash metal!

 

[TheSaw]

Depends on the game for me.

If I'm playing a meant to be "scary" game, or something similar, then yeah the music plays a pretty big part.

But if I'm playing a game like Dead Rising 2, I'll probably put on my own music.

 

[Vaco Deus]

I think it's very important. Games have some great OSTs and without them I don't think they'd be as memorable

 

[dyre]

Depends on the game. Horror games and RPGs that take place in exotic (futuristic, steampunk, medieval, etc) environments benefit a lot from soundtracks, but shooters and RTSs can do without.

Basically, games that rely on atmosphere and storytelling benefit from it more than technical games do.

 

[JWRosser]

I'd say it matters a lot. Soundtrack, or lack of it in the case of games like Amnesia and Limbo, is a great device to set atmosphere. However if I'm playing Call of Duty I often have my own music on. That's about the only exception. I tried with Mortal Kombat but just COULDN'T FOCUS!!! (there are some horribly good people online...)

 

[Biodeamon]

yes they do, but i can kind of ignore it.
Little King`s story music was annoying but the gameplay was good enough to ignore it. if somebody modded the game with diffirent music then it`d fine.

 

[Flutterguy]

Seeing as music is the number one cause of nostalgia, it probably can't hurt. I mean I still listen to the damn Zelda OoT soundtrack. but if a game has a bad soundtrack i just turn music off and turn on a playlist. (I love this gen of systems for that sooo much)

 

[Zhukov]

Uh... kind of? Depends?

To be honest, I often don't even notice the music. For example, I only noticed how good the soundtracks of the Mass Effect games are when I heard them outside of the game.

However, when I do notice (eg. Amnesia) then yeah, it matters a lot.

 

[kasperbbs]

Yes, a good soundtrack makes a great game even better, for some reason this thread made me think of half-life2, it had some great music, whenever the action starts it always plays some intense tune that makes it clear that shit just got real. If i play a mmo i just mute all sounds and play my own stuff.

 

[Shymer]

I think it's reasonably well-known that humans filter information differently depending on the medium - this is a plank in NLP theory and VAK learning modalities. The theory is that some people are very visual and absorb/respond to visual information more strongly than others. Some people are kinesthetic and need some kind of physical stimulus to help them retain information. Still others are very 'audio'.

I'm not sure it's universally accepted, but the theory seems plausible.

I am much more sensitive to sound and music than visual stimulii. I have excellent audio recall, have a keen ear for music and good pitch. I find the sound of my kids eating with their mouths open to be one of the most annoying things in the world - I can't stand it. I need to have music around me most of the time - and find it helps me to concentrate. Similarly, a game can win me or lose me by the way it sounds much more quickly than the visuals.

Game shout out to Brutal Legend. I'm no fan of metal, but they nailed the games audio aesthetic perfectly.

 

[Outright Villainy]

It's absolutely essential. I can't imagine turning it off unless it's the most lunatic of sandboxes (grand theft auto etc, though that has plenty of music to keep me going there too anyway.)

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Yes, every aspect of a game is important.

 

[Mr Shrike]

Of course a sound track matters - 90% of the time I'm gaming (except for WoW) I'm listening to it.

Plus, amazing stuff gets created in the name of games.