Your Game Music is Bland and You Should Feel Bad

[UncleAsriel]

While there are individual game soundtracks which stand out, I find Yahtzee's criticism of Triple-A titles is a legitimate one. Like many projects of that kind of budget, the need for financers to have creative control over the creators means a lot of stuff is going to conform to a checklist rather than a creator's desires.

Still, some gems do get through. Anything Valve does tends to be memorable.

As well, someone mentioned fighting games having a tendency to be memorable. I found myself still humming this jaunty number, despite myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xarzFrDsc1I

 

[warmachine]

I specifically buy game soundtracks, such as Deus Ex Human Revolution, Command and Conquer 3, Portal 2 and Black Mesa. Admittedly, I don't play the games he denigrates. If AAA means big budget games, the first three I mentioned are big budget games and they have great soundtracks. Perhaps Yahtzee means big budget first person shooters.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Your Game Music is Bland and You Should Feel Bad

Staying with Saint's Row, near the end of Saint's Row 3 you're given a mission to run off and rescue someone, whereupon "I Need A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler starts playing, independent of any car stereo. And I found that the moment stood out in my mind so much that a few days later I found myself looking up the song on Youtube. And when I did so, I couldn't help noticing that the first comment - and incidentally I loathe that one often accidentally sees the top comment on a Youtube video and in almost every case it spoils the best part of the fucking thing - was someone asking "Hey, did anyone else come here because of Saint's Row 3?
Read more at http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/10340-Your-Game-Music-is-Bland-and-You-Should-Feel-Bad.2#ye9fqsvoj7mdV4pt.99

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Exactly that! I even upvoted that comment!
Are you sure you didn't pop up in my head as a psychotic imagination around the time of your Guitar Hero 3 review and stayed there?
Hey, I found a game where the music is really good and important for you there!!!

Except it's gathering dust in a corner now...

Thanks much for all those years of video and columns and books, mate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cidbahamut]

This is something I've known for years and lamented endlessly. When you think back to the games that really stood out in your childhood, more often than not you can identify them entirely by ear. A good soundtrack used intelligently can turn a good game into an excellent game.

Super Metroid wouldn't be half as good as it is without its soundtrack.

 

[nin_ninja]

I think the theme that sticks out most in my mind is the Max Payne 2 theme.

 

[BurningWyvern90]

I have to say, the music to Deadly Premonitions is really memorable. The whole sequence set to the song Amazing Grace is unforgettable. The various character's songs are all good and catchy, particularly the 'around-town-whistling-song'. I honestly can't say enough good things about this game. It'd be pretty cool if Yahtzee reviewed the new Director's Cut of the game.

I agree. The music isn't the best ever, but it's definitely catchy, and if for whatever reason I heard it outside of the game itself I would immediately recognize it for what it is.

I don't know, there are some pieces from modern games that I like. The themes for Skyrim and Portal 2, a lot of the stuff from BioShock Infinite, things like that. But yeah, game scores as a whole have become a lot more movie-soundtrack-ish, and have kind of faded into the background because of it.

 

[Scrubiii]

Couldn't agree more.

I feel the perfect example of this is a game Riot made for April fool's this year. It was a flash game that took around 15 minutes to complete and was only playable on April 1st.

This some of the music from it

It's soo good! If Riot can make music like that for something that's more parts joke than game, then triple-A devs should sure as hell be able to do it for their multi-million dollar products.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

Old news, I was bitching about this back in the day when Final Fantasy X came out.

Final Fantasy IX music was basically a MIDI soundtrack brought with a piano, voices, flutes, etc. It was as memorable as a (S)NES-tune, but could be labeled as "actual music" because it wasn't limited to 8/16-bit blips and bloops.

Have a go at Jesters of the Moon, Loss of Me or The Place I'll Return To Someday and tell me that doesn't sound like the stuff that could linger in your head for days to come.

 

[Tenbob]

I had a quick flick through and don't think anyone mentioned Deus Ex HR. Aside from Icarus, the entire soundtrack of the game is outstanding- on their own some are really weak but, for me, the real triumph of the DXHR soundtrack is atmosphere. It really helps build on the atmosphere of the argument. Icarus is an outstanding stand-alone piece (imo) and the opening credits track (Forget its name, sorry!) really struck me as well.

The MGS series has been mentioned several times here and I'd like to echo that, having replayed the HD collection recently. Not only is the music memorable, but there are "center pieces" in the game(s) as well. For example, I played Peacewalker recently and on one of the latter missions the song "Heaven's Divide" played which really cements the game in my memory.

Someone mentioned Skyrim too which I couldn't agree with more, the soundtrack there really made the game stand out to me.

I think that it's important we don't get too hung up on "memorable" tunes, though. They're great, they have their place, but what about music that simply adds to the atmosphere? Gaming is an interactive medium so music should (ideally) add to the atmosphere and be able to impart a.. sense of the game world, of the surroundings. You've got your visuals, you've got the nearby sounds (NPC's coughing or what have you) but what is the baseline? What is in the "silence"?

Games that pull of both, having a hugely memorable soundtrack that completes the game's aesthetics and delivers part of the story with it is truly the best, but being great at one or the other isn't too bad either.

I can think of examples of truly "bad" music such as the recent Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2 which I thought sounded terrible, but I don't think that'd leave me to say game music overall is "bad". If anything, I'd say it's way beyond what we had ten, twenty years ago and has made some of the really stand out pieces in modern gaming stand equal to, if not better than the old 16 bit tunes.

 

[Descalon]

One of my favourite background soundtracks I stick on regularly is from Bastion. It's so good (especially Setting Sail, Coming Home). I've never bought a soundtrack from a Triple-A title, however.

Hear, hear! My personal favourite is "Build That Wall". Chills me to the bone every time I hear it.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Anyone who's played Mario Galaxy has got to admit that you remember Good Egg Galaxy and Gusty Garden Galaxy's music. Seriously, those game's scores are the most under-rated scores in existence. I mean, they went from Sunshine's mediocre score to probably one of the best fully orchestrated scores in gaming.

I just find that a lot of music for games nowadays stems a lot from the lack of identity a lot of games have today. Isn't it obvious that the games that know exactly what they want to be to set themselves out from the crowed often-times have the best music? Your Metal Gears, Deus Ex: HRs, Mario Galaxies and Halos. There main themes fit so well because they personify the games they are in. If you listened to Metal Gear Solid's theme song you would probably think about the themes the games are trying to convey, the same if you listened to Halo's theme. It's one thing to look at the game's genre and go "make music that would fit it", but it's another thing to look at the game itself.

 

[II2]

Good article.

I might have a slightly different take as someone drawn to more experimental music and sound design over strong 'anthem' and 'theme' tunes, though I can see the value of them, absolutely.

Here's a thought, Yahtzee - it strikes me that all these soaring symphonic scores and orchestral arrangements are, in a very strange way, almost trying to serve as an atmospheric ambience to establish a mood, in the same manner minimalist soundtracks are used for RPG / horror games. However, it seems the failure is in that where your Silent Hills or Fallouts or Planescape Torments had excellent, memorable feels from their respective experimental OSTs, the 'feel' that the cliche common orchestration of major releases is just that of a high budget spectacle and the perceived need for top-tier production gloss.

We associate the big dense orchestral OSTs with big budget games because that's always where we hear them and the homogenized association also seems to be driving demand for them in games who want to be 'important' and 'big', but might be better served with an approach that offers SOMETHING different, tonally.

Just my 0.02

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Old news, I was bitching about this back in the day when Final Fantasy X came out.

Final Fantasy IX music was basically a MIDI soundtrack brought with a piano, voices, flutes, etc. It was as memorable as a (S)NES-tune, but could be labeled as "actual music" because it wasn't limited to 8/16-bit blips and bloops.

Have a go at Jesters of the Moon, Loss of Me or The Place I'll Return To Someday and tell me that doesn't sound like the stuff that could linger in your head for days to come.

Though I've played FF9, The Place I'll Return To Someday really didn't hit me as THAT memorable. Sure, it was catchy and all, and sure I could hum the melody from memory, but it wasn't really iconic (to me, at least) as a Final Fantasy song. However, that all changed when I heard this:


Now, as I remember both this and the old song, I can say with absolution that it is an iconic song. I needed that perspective shift that the original song didn't quite give before. Perhaps it's that it didn't suit my personal taste before, but I can see now how the original inspired that kind of memorability.

Also, Persona songs should not go without mention. Very memorable. (Again, to me at least)

Spoiler: Go go Persona!

[sub][sub][sub][sub][sub]WORLD, Y U NO NAOTO?[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

 

[Vigormortis]

One could argue on some of the finer points you've asserted, Mr. Croshaw, but if there's one thing you are unequivocally right about it's this little snippet:

"Whether it's running from cover to cover snapping off gunfire, or blocking your way through a melee fight, a good song instantly makes any moment of generic combat memorable."

Upon reading that, I instantly recalled a number of memorable crescendo-like moments from across my gaming experiences. Including this one:
Without that song, it would've felt like just another "fight off waves of incoming enemies" event. With it though, it was far more memorable.

On a side note...

Spoiler: I feel modern games don't have nearly enough operatic music.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Did really nobody mention Skyrim yet? I thought bought the main theme and "The dragonborn comes" two super memorable songs.
I loved all the Mass Effect BGM, the atmosphere was always astonishing.
And of course Borderlands 1+2 are probably in my top 10 ever.

Spoiler: Skyrim

Spoiler: Borderlands

Spoiler: Borderlands 2

Beware contains awesomeness!

 

[zenoaugustus]

"Ezio's Family" is a song I'll listen to on occasion. I'd say Assassin's Creed 2 got it's soundtrack right. But, overall, I'd agree; there aren't many memorable songs anymore.

 

[ImmortalDrifter]

The Elder Scrolls has always been top-notch when it comes to soundtracks



And of course the song that is burned into the mind of anyone that played Morrowind.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

Oh Yahtzee, you poor bastard. You clearly haven't played Super Meat Boy, have you? Somebody get Danny Baranowsky on the phone ASAP; a British-Australian game critic is in desperate need of his talents.

XD

 

[sammysoso]

I don't think a recognizable melody is really necessary to make a game score great. It all depends on the function the music is trying to have.

And I will have to disagree that there aren't any good melodies anymore. Halo, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Elder Scrolls and more all have great scores with prominent melodic parts in the music.

Not sure what full orchestras have to do with anything, they can do basically whatever the composer wants them to do.

 

[Olas]

I know it doesn't count as an 'original soundtrack' but the 1950s (cold war era) music from Fallout 3 always struck me as a very ironic yet fitting backdrop to the game.

"I don't want to set the woooorld... ooooon... fiiiire... "