Your Game Music is Bland and You Should Feel Bad
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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Personal experience: Video games have some measurable impact on my musical taste, starting with Fallout's Inkspots ("Mayyyybeeeee....") and the ambient soundscapes of Fallout and Fallout 2. The later Fallout Games (Fallout 3 and New Vegas) introduced me to a lot of cool music as well, along with Bioshock. Without games, I would probably still listen to pop'nrock and not much else.
It's a guilty pleasure of mine as well. The main problem is that it plays on just about every menu screen--there's no alternate songs or playlist. Since it stands out more than, say, the menu music from Super Smash Bros, the amount of time you spend listening to it (in a fighting game, so a good percentage of your time is in menus) means it's very easy to get that song permanently embedded into your brain. The Marvel vs. Capcom song is even worse since it repeats the same line so much within the same song, and seems to be the only song that plays in the whole game.Starik20X6 said:
Here's a fantastic example of the music matching the scenario.
Months later I can still perfectly hear this tune in my head whenever I remember that scene.
Months later I can still perfectly hear this tune in my head whenever I remember that scene.
Okay, firstly, the song is called "Holding out for a Hero" not "I Need a Hero".
What the triple-A pimps need to do is spend some of their huge money on a composer of some renown, or better yet, one of some renown from a different country. Then give them a long, stretchy leash to stretch their creative muscles. They'll handle the rest. Ah but Triple-A is crippled from the get-go. When one mentality exerts strict control over everything, than nothing about the work can rise above that mentality's ability. And if said mentality consists of a group, like a board or a committee, then nothing about the work can possibly rise above mediocrity.
What the triple-A pimps need to do is spend some of their huge money on a composer of some renown, or better yet, one of some renown from a different country. Then give them a long, stretchy leash to stretch their creative muscles. They'll handle the rest. Ah but Triple-A is crippled from the get-go. When one mentality exerts strict control over everything, than nothing about the work can rise above that mentality's ability. And if said mentality consists of a group, like a board or a committee, then nothing about the work can possibly rise above mediocrity.
I will always remember the hotel level in SpecOps - the level and combat weren't that memorable on their own, but having Deep Purple's Hush blaring hollowly from the hotel speakers as the DJ taunts you, while you're fighting your way through the hotel, is the first thing I think of when I think of that game.
I have to agree with Yahtzee here; most modern games with orchestral backing don't have terribly memorable (or especially enjoyable) soundtracks. The only one that springs to mind is Modern Warfare 2, and that doesn't really count because they had HANS FRICKING ZIMMER compose for them. If you DO like orchestral stuff, I suggest hunting down the games Jesper Kyd did work for. (e.g. Assassin's Creed, Hitman 2, Freedom Fighters, etc.) He uses the standard instruments as a jumping-off point and adds craziness on top, and it's wonderful.
I'm glad that he was specific about halo 4's soundtrack sucking..because the original score was fucking excellent. I know this song so damn well, I catch myself humming it all the time. I guess it helped that it was free Guitar Hero DLC.
I find it funny that you specifically mentioned Halo 4. I actually found the Halo 1-3 main theme to be quite memorable, and it has a guitar riff i could recite from memory easily, and I didn't even really like Halo that much! Perhaps you should actually listen to it before you badmouth it, BenYahtzee Croshaw said:
In fact, there are quite a few modern videogame songs I enjoy. Blizzard always does a fantastic Job, and the wings of liberty main theme is something I really appreciate. I also find it a bit insulting that you didn't consider valve. "Still Alive" has been a nerdgasm since it first came out.
Other modern videogame themes I know and think are great:
Battlefield 1942 loading theme
Katamari on the Rocks
Everything from the Sam and Max telltale games!
That's completely true, but I'm sure Yahtzee was fully aware of that. It's just that there is something to be said for having a driving, catchy tune that stands out. Not least because it's something you remember and gives you a fond memory of the game. Indeed I bet a large number of older games wouldn't be remembered as well were it not for their memorable theme tunes. Yet this approach seems to have been almost 100% pushed aside in the AAA sector.Andy of Comix Inc said:
That's why I think Nobuo Uematsu was (or is?...but he doesn't seem to actually anything these days) such an immense genius. His soundtracks managed to both provide a great melody AND compliment or even add to the mood. Ordinarily there is a significant trade off between having something that blends into the background, complimenting the narrative, and having a catchy melody that jumps out. He would achieve both simultaneously. Truly a god.
First off, thanks for posting those music pieces. I'd be too distracted to listen if you hadn't posted them. While I'd say that the C-64 was an excellent canvas, the introduction of MIDI certainly enlarged that canvas, even if the canvas wasn't as high quality. There are still some great artists of that era like Jamie McMenamy who was instrumental for setting the atmosphere for Strahd's Possession [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRmRevThXHk] as the visuals and the gameplay and Gabriel Knight [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNaal2N0nww] also springs to mind, but there is music from even excellent games like Master of Magic and Wing Commander was something I wished I could forget.talideon said:
Once full digital recordings could be replayed like Unreal [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Hxfay4EH34] or Mechwarrior II [www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM3MwpkVYKQ], there is plenty of music that I remember [www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJMrrzjELlY] fondly [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxV3uIrNGxw] but there are also an increasing number of big name composers doing their best, but run down the same hallway, making eerily the same footsteps, like Inon Zur (who composed some really memorable [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz2ZpDB6pR0] pieces but I also found he had plenty more forgettable [www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uT0gkzgmTI] ones) or Frank Klepacki, who despite being earning beautiful laurels for his work with Dune [www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYvgOylaQE0] and Command and Conquer [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZTHFRadJwI], there aren't more than odd tracks like Bigfoot and Hell March that I've considered something other than mediocre since 1995.
I won't say that all music from recent games is dull, but I do have to wonder how much money was blown by a publisher to create a mediocre audio experience, which can be as important to a game as any other part of its development.
Here is my irrefutable evidence in how music can (and WILL) make your game feel awesome. Even pinball games:
And if Portal has a catchy ending song, so does Godhand:
Gotta keep my pimp hand strong!
And if Portal has a catchy ending song, so does Godhand:
Gotta keep my pimp hand strong!
Arkham City, Mass Effect, Skyrim, Bioshock Infinite, heck, even Minecraft. All have either great use of music or memorable tunes. I don't get where you're going Mr. Croshaw.
Kind of out of left field here but if you want an example of a AAA game with a soundtrack that adds something to the experience I'd say max panye 3 has that in spades. Not to give spoilers but that last level of the game when that music starts it just makes that whole section of the game just feel epic and memorable.
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Yahtzee, the Halo series has some of the best music in modern gaming. Halo is what started the whole orchestral soundtrack thing for shooters, and not only did it start it, it's always been the best at it. Marty O'Donnell is a genius, and his soundtracks are all really memorable.
Unfortunately, Marty didn't work on Halo 4, which is why the soundtrack, while decent, really isn't memorable or special. Really unfortunate.
Still, the Halo series are all modern triple A games that use orchestral soundtracks, and they work incredibly well, and are memorable.
Also, have you played any of platinum's games for more than 20 minutes? Their soundtracks are freaking great!
Unfortunately, Marty didn't work on Halo 4, which is why the soundtrack, while decent, really isn't memorable or special. Really unfortunate.
Still, the Halo series are all modern triple A games that use orchestral soundtracks, and they work incredibly well, and are memorable.
Also, have you played any of platinum's games for more than 20 minutes? Their soundtracks are freaking great!
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Even if you look at it like that, Halo Reach is still only 2 years old. That's still fairly recent in my opinion, especially considering how often we fellate Valve games from 2004 on this site.Annihilist said:
So no, Halo hasn't been dead for "quite a while."