Your Game Music is Bland and You Should Feel Bad

[Steven Bogos]

Your Game Music is Bland and You Should Feel Bad

Yahtzee speculates that using full-blown orchestras to make a triple-A game's soundtrack doesn't help that game stay memorable.

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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, Ben


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!

 

[nomis101uk]

As a musician and composer, I have to say: I don't think a theme song being "humable" is a very good metric when determining how effective a soundtrack is. By all definition, a soundtrack's job is to compliment, not overburden.

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.

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.

 

[Breywood]

Keep in mind though that we're not just talking about any old 8-bit machine, but the C-64, whose sound chip was designed by synthesiser design legend, Bob Yannes.



There was something very, very special about that little machine.

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.

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.

 

[DioWallachia]

Here is my irrefutable evidence in how music can (and WILL) make your game feel awesome. Even pinball games:

Spoiler: Extreme Pinball - Soundtrack

And if Portal has a catchy ending song, so does Godhand:
Gotta keep my pimp hand strong!

 

[GameChanger]

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.

 

[Bigeyez]

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.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

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!

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

You're kidding me, right?

Most games with OS's use them incredibly well. And saying that Halo has a bad soundtrack? You can accuse Halo of alot of shit, but saying its, I dont know, dumbed down music in games, thats defiantly not it.

Having a "hummable" track dosent mean jack shit for the quality of the music, really. It just seems like your playing to the "Gaming sucks because its not exactly like what it used to be" crowd -_-

Well Halo has actually been dead for quite a while now, so it's not exactly a new AAA release.

What? There was a new game less than a year ago.

Bungie respectfully discontinued the franchise. Halo is therefore over - Bungie left it alone because it needn't be milked for cash any more. Microsoft shamelessly resurrected it so they could make more money from it.

It's not a Halo game. It's just another bland AAA title with the world "Halo" stamped on it.

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.

So no, Halo hasn't been dead for "quite a while."

 

[someonehairy-ish]

For everyone mentioning Halo, you're right. It did have awesome music. At least, until Halo 4, which is the one Yahtzee mentioned.

The theme song everyone knows from that didn't show up ONCE, nor any variation, nor even a new theme song to fill the void. Generic orchestral soundtrack, ho!

Yes I am still bitter, why do you ask?

That would be 'cos Martin O'Donnell is still with Bungie, doing the Destiny soundtrack x) so there's still hope...

 

[chapomon]

You should play more indie games, that's where some of the songs that are stuck in my head have been coming from lately. Maybe its because triple-A games try too hard to make the soundtrack epic that it comes out anything but.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

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

How about you get Daisuke Ishiwatari on the line and have him play some of his awesome fight music that he makes for Guilty Gear and Blazblue

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

There are a great many video game soundtracks now. Problem is, they mainly stem from Japan. Try listening to the Soul Calibur IV OST, or Sonic Unleashed (as flawed as the game is, the soundtrack is marvelous).

How about any of the fight music in Blazblue or Guilty Gear? Daisuke Ishiwatari may focus on metal songs but he is awesome at his job as the composer for Arc System Works

 

[Bullfrog1983]

Shameless self promotion there at the start Yahtzee but a well done series of videos all the same.

I agree with the message that if the music in your games are horrible the developers should feel bad about it but there are some Triple-A titles with orchestra music that really enhances the game, Civilization 4, Deus Ex:HR, Borderlands and Crysis 2 are four examples of games doing it right. I feel that while others like the Dynasty Warriors series of games are horrible and should never be allowed to publish their games with the headache inducing nightmares they unleash on the player, there are still people who love that kind of music. I agree with you that companies should produce good music or buy the rights to good music but it is all for the most part experimental and it is hard to say what people will or won't like so I'm sure this kind of practice will continue.

Side Note: Ugh. This captcha actually has an advertisement on it.

 

[Terramax]

There are a great many video game soundtracks now. Problem is, they mainly stem from Japan. Try listening to the Soul Calibur IV OST, or Sonic Unleashed (as flawed as the game is, the soundtrack is marvelous).

How about any of the fight music in Blazblue or Guilty Gear? Daisuke Ishiwatari may focus on metal songs but he is awesome at his job as the composer for Arc System Works

Indeed. I'm not a huge fan of the Blazblue soundtracks (there's the odd decent track), but the earlier Guilty Gears were fantastic!

 

[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

How about you get Daisuke Ishiwatari on the line and have him play some of his awesome fight music that he makes for Guilty Gear and Blazblue

I'll have to listen to those at some point. Never played either game, so atm I currently cannot comment on their music.

 

[mrhappy1489]

Personally I think the Halo theme song is pretty memorable. Play that in any situation, out of context or not and I'll pick it up. Other than that I find it a little difficult to think up any other ones that weren't 8-16 bit games, like pokemon and what not.

 

[Colt47]

A lot of what Yahtzee is talking about is the prevalence of environmental music. At some point in the last decade there was a movement in the gaming industry that changed music from being something that shaped the mood to something that was meant to punctuate the mood in a game. The idea was that if the person could separate the theme from the scene than it wasn't synergistic enough, which seems like a rather odd conclusion to draw. Thankfully they started mixing things back up again with more music being brought to the forefront rather than just being environmental.

Also, it should be noted this mostly was happening with shooters, western RPGs, and many movie action games like Uncharted and Assassins Creed. Fighting games, platformers, and other games pretty much stuck with the earlier idea since it tended to provide more energy to the entire affair.

(Edit: Yes, they need to drop Action Adventure and just call these linear quick time event driven games Movie Action Games. They only got the most tenuous of connections to adventure games of old. They are short lived, completely fueled by the story and the quick time events, and once you've ran through them once you likely will never play them again.)

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

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

How about you get Daisuke Ishiwatari on the line and have him play some of his awesome fight music that he makes for Guilty Gear and Blazblue

I'll have to listen to those at some point. Never played either game, so atm I currently cannot comment on their music.

Fair enough, Start with the Guilty Gear X Blazblue Music live 2011. It contains several remixes of major songs from both franchises

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

There are a great many video game soundtracks now. Problem is, they mainly stem from Japan. Try listening to the Soul Calibur IV OST, or Sonic Unleashed (as flawed as the game is, the soundtrack is marvelous).

How about any of the fight music in Blazblue or Guilty Gear? Daisuke Ishiwatari may focus on metal songs but he is awesome at his job as the composer for Arc System Works

Indeed. I'm not a huge fan of the Blazblue soundtracks (there's the odd decent track), but the earlier Guilty Gears were fantastic!

Opposite for me, only have heard snippets of Guilty Gear's soundtrack but I love the Blazblue soundtrack. Nightmare Fiction and the new Roku Eiyuu from Chronophantasma are fun to listen to and act as great fight music

 

[Terramax]

Opposite for me, only have heard snippets of Guilty Gear's soundtrack but I love the Blazblue soundtrack. Nightmare Fiction and the new Roku Eiyuu from Chronophantasma are fun to listen to and act as great fight music

Well worth giving the older soundtracks a shot then. You could say they're less eclectic than Blazblue, but at the same time, I consider them more focused. With Blazblue, I often feel it seems like he's running out of ideas.