Slashdot Mirror
On The Quality Of Licensed Game Soundtracks
Thanks to GameSpot for their 'GameSpotting' editorial discussing the correct blend of licensed music for videogame soundtracks. The writer argues that "there isn't anything inherently bad" in using licensed music, but suggests: "Whether you produce your own music or use existing music for your soundtrack, thematic consistency is of the utmost importance." He then picks Wipeout XL ("[changed] how people perceived music in video games") and the more recent True Crime ("a well-made licensed soundtrack") as good examples of this, before singling out the EA Sports Trax program, as used in Madden 2004 and others, as "destined to fail - 'cus you can't make a good soundtrack out of singles." Do you have a favorite licensed soundtrack, or is the whole concept a concern to you?
I don't understand how this article doesn't mention Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That is probably the single best video game soundtrack ever.
For those of you who haven't played it, Grand Theft Auto has you running into and out of various cars. Each car has a radio, and you can choose from maybe a dozen stations. Vice City was set in the 80s, and all of the songs on the radio were actual radio hits from the 80s.
This was really a genius move. It added such a level of authenticity to the game, and since these songs were already a couple of decades old, it won't feel stale and dated a few years from now (like a soundtrack made of current hit singles might).
I really liked Vice City's soundtrack. The developers deffinately put a lot of thought into what songs to use which represent the best of the worst of the 80s.
I really don't follow things in games all that much (I like what I like, but I don't have enough time to devote to games to get fanatical about anything). However, one of my favorite CDs ever is my copy of "Inferno", which is a game soundtrack done by Alien Sex Fiend. Totally sounds different from any other ASF stuff I own, and I totally dig it. Lots of electronic samples, explosion noises, and cool audio drops.
So yeah, a good game soundtrack can be awesome, if it's fairly original. I don't usually like game or movie soundtracks that are just collections of existing songs or songs that really don't link to the game or movie (most Jerry Bruckheimer movies are very guilty of this level of blandness).
It's a strange world -- let's keep it that way
This game had one of the coolest collection of tracks available for a game ever. Over a hundred songs all from indie artists. Really great stuff. And there's music for "almost" everyone. (read Britney Spears style crap not included)
I think the radio stations for GTA:Vice City are very well thought out. Some rare forgotten gems that were everywhere back in the 80's but are so out of fashion now. Alcatraz and Romeo Void come to mind. Whoever chose the source music (soundtrack is all of the audio) did their homework well.
I've hit Karma 50 and gotten a Score:5, Troll... I win!
a recent upserge in video game soundtrack popularity. There are even a couple of winamp streams out there playing them. ALT + L in winamp, under 'Internet Radio' there will be a couple. Also, check out Shoutcast for streams. Last time I tuned it, they are streaming some final fantasy tracks.
I sincerely believe in original soundtracks (if done well). The best example is Grand Theft Auto III. Since what I was being immersed in was a fictitious city, with fictitious ads, I felt the fictitious, but realistic, radio stations really added alot to that feeling of immersion. I felt like I was in "Liberty City", a realistic but still wholey unique and fictitious world.
Before anyone goes and nay-says me, saying that GTA3 had some licensed tracks, they were for the most part obscure enough to count as original in my book. They were not big name singles like in GTA Vice City. And personally I didn't recognize anything but the classical/opera tracks.
Which brings me to a great example of why I feel original works better than licensed: GTA Vice City brought us a bunch of memorable 80's tunes. I (We) already have real-world memories associated with those songs. We've seen videos, we've seen the artists, and we've heard them on the radio or in other media for that matter. So it's hard to feel that we're in a unique new city. Instead, it feels more like I'm playing a virtual Miami Vice.
What further broke the entire coherence of the immersion in a virtual world through its sound and music was the addition of voice-ver work for the player's own character. In GTA III your player never said a word. That's because you WERE that character. Whatever you thought in your head in reaction to what you saw and heard in the game, was your own. It helped immerse yourself in the game's world.
But in Vice City, suddenly you hear "yourself" saying things. To me, half the time I don't even realize it's my player character talking. I first think it's just more banter from the pedestrians in the game, and then when I understand the context of the phrase uttered I realize it's my player character saying it. It just doesn't work as well as keeping him silent. If the cops are honking and I'm standing in their way... let ME tell them to fuck off. It works better than making that decision, that "impulse" for me.
and the more recent True Crime ("a well-made licensed soundtrack") as good examples of this,
I can't really agree or disagree because I never played the game, but he states the choice of using music that "consisted almost entirely of hardcore West Coast hip-hop and rap and really made you feel like you were listening to LA radio". I'm sorry, but L.A. radio isn't that different from radio anywhere else. Most of it is the same old Clear Channel crap. Independant radio survives a little better because of the size of the audience, but not to the point where you're going to hear that music on the air, especially uncensored. You'll get the same watered down hip-hop and rap that plays on 50+% of the radio stations in the country. I do agree, however, that the particular choice of music was probably good for the style and feel of the game they were trying to create.
before singling out the EA Sports Trax program, as used in Madden 2004 and others, as "destined to fail - 'cus you can't make a good soundtrack out of singles."
Of course, that one line was probably his worst argument in the entire article. Even the rest of his reasoning for EA Sports Trax' problems is better than this (and even the part of the quoted line before 'destined to fail'). You can make a good soundtrack out of singles, you simply have to make sure that the singles you use are coherent as a single piece, or that they play against each other well.
His section on how SSX 3 handles music was probably the most interesting analysis of a single game, probably simply because it's the most complex handling of music in any game he mentioned. I do agree that the rhythm-game approach (similar to that of Frequency and Amplitude, for instance) is one of the best ways to handle changing the music in reaction to what's happening in the game, especially if you are licensing the music (rather than writing or having it written specifically for the game). Otherwise, the music you license would have to be very close in sound to not cause awkward shifts from one track to the next when the pace of the game changes (you can write music to limit the audible shift from one track to the next even if you don't know where it's going to shift, but it's significantly harder to do this with music that wasn't written with this in mind).
-PainKilleR-[CE]
I indeed do. I love the soundtracks to the Might and Magic games (especially 6 through 8), Heroes of Might and Magic series, Age of Empires series and others. All these soundtracks have two things in common: they are original and coherent. They work as one piece, and are not as eclectic as most sports soundtracks. They do what soundtracks are supposed to do - enhancing the atmosphere of the game.
My favorite original soundtracks would have to be the Medal of Honor series and Tropico series, both have great music that just happens to be in a video game.
A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men... --Willy Wonka
It doesn't take a commercial game to get a great soundtrack, ESF (website) has an amazing soundtrack which introduced me to my new favorite band, The Faulty. (website) I also think the original music from Desert Combat is high quality.
Do you have a favorite licensed soundtrack, or is the whole concept a concern to you?
Not sure about how things were licensed and whatnot, but my favourite soundtrack was probably Trent Reznor's (NIN) score for Quake. Creepy ambient music, perfect for blasting zombies. The soundtrack to the sequel sounded too cheesy-90s-action-flick.
NHL hitz on the Xbox has a great soundtrack
Personally, I still mourn for the 8 bit days of epic tunes composed under byzantine constraints.
i think the game that really made me appreciate its soundtrack was "quake" with music entirely by "trent reznor" (well known for being "nine inch nails"). the best thing about it, was being able to take out of of your computer and play the audio tracks on any cd-player. old playstation games sometimes did this, and the modern equivalent is finding all the game tracks are stored as mp3s.
the article is a bit whingy and i think misses the point that it is a case of "right tool for the right job". sometimes existing tracks work better, sometimes something entirely new is what's needed. that's what makes it art.
Before Wipeout XL, there was arguably two starting points for licensed music in games. The most obvious, was Road Rage for the Playstation. While the licensed music didn't make it into the the game proper, all of the menus / setup screens / shops used tracks from Soundgarden. At the time it was quite shocking, and the music fit well. If anything, that sold the game far more copies than it deserved.
Predating that, there was the little known BioMetal for the SNES... Yes, that's right, the SNES. That U.S. Developed games used MOD versions of 2Unlimited's excellent first album, a collection of mostly repetitive blips and beeps anyway (being dance techno). The soundtrack, however, turned out to be phenomenal, and particularly well suited to the shooter aesthetic. Sadly, the rest of the game wasn't quite as tight, and sales flagged.
Both soundtracks were excellent, but the games were terrible. I leave the consequences of this difference with Wipeout XL as an exercise to the reader.
The ______ Agenda
Perhaps it's just me (it seems the 'geek' community's official party line is to hate this game), but few things stir my blood like the music from FFVII. Maybe it's just because that game was instrumental to my procrastination sophomore year, but any time I hear...
Estuans interius ira vehementi
Estuans interius ira vehementi
Sephiroth!
Sephiroth!
I get all tingly.
I....think I've said too much.
El riesgo vive siempre!
The soundtracks of this serie have been played by an orchestra and a choir/soloists and it sounds awesome. I especially like FF VI soundtrack and FF VIII has a nice theme too.
...
Warcraft II and Starcraft soundtracks were pretty cool too, even if they sound a bit too techno/pop.
Other games that I remember having a good theme are Max Payne, Diablo I (the town song), Curse of Monkey Island 3 (the pirates song was hilarious), No one live forever 1 & 2, Rayman
Intelligence shared is intelligence squared.
As a whole, either way, i'd have to say that the whole game-music scene is declining. I haven't really got into a soundtrack since 'Final Fantasy X'. Seems like Uematsu's star is very quickly fading, in particular. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he retired within the decade. He's becoming less and less prominent within Square, and he very rarely does stuff outside of it, so i don't see him keeping his FF7/FF8/FF9-era popularity. Even FFX wasn't entirely his project. Mitsuda is supposed to be still working on new stuff, but i'm not very hopeful.
And FFXI is being done by Sakimoto. Boo. :(
So... yeah. With the big composers quickly fading, it seems like the whole game-music thing is going to go down-hill pretty quick from here. Licensed music is getting a lot more popular, even in Japan, and it's only going to get more so. Alas~~
I remember the first time I played the demo for the LucasArts adventure game Full Throttle. After the short little stint of getting Ben's keys for his Bike, he drives off and we hear Legacy by the Gone Jackals playing for the rest of the demo in front of cut-scenes of the full game. The entire soundtrack was done by them, and I jumped at the chance to download a small program to let me rip the music as wave files (it wasn't encoded as Redbook Audio), and then dump them to MP3. I still listen to these guys to this day.
I can't spell ripburger
For some reason midi died. I blame consoles but I blame them for anything. More likely just to many cheapo soundcards came out that did not properly support midi. Instead some games. Tombraider comes to mind played music from the cd. Not file from the CD. Actual cd music. In fact speech was played from the cd as well. This more then anything else is my reason for hating consoles. Anyone who played it on a pc would probably agree.
Anyway. Nowadays music is most often an MP3 or even more recent an OGG or somthing like that. And I noticed something. Almost always switching the music off will improve not only speed but stability as well. The speed issue has dropped a bit since Command & Conquer days but the stability still seems to be there for me. Over several new pc's I always noticed that if a game reguarly freezes switching the music off will help.
That and the fact that most music is crap and even more crappily mixed. Soft music during heavy combat then swelling up as people start to talk.
So leave the music out eh? Or least keep it to the movies. I can play my own cd's thank you very much. My tastes are probably different anyway. Worst example of that was playing Kotor and finding a techno beat in some places. Ewh.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
How can the guy say that about a soundtrack that consists completely of one genra of music: hip-hop? And the controls to setup the music were wonky. I found myself constantly disabling songs because they seemed to be all I would hear. And every time you got in the car a new song started fresh. How the hell does that "really [make] you feel like you were listening to LA radio?"
;)
Don't get me wrong, I loved the game, the mechanics were great and the map was huge, but I hated the music. But listening to a car revving at 7k rpm gets old too.
Maybe the guy was trying to write an article without stating the obvious about Vice City. Come on... you don't normally listen to salsa and samba but you do leave those stations on some times.
The irony of Wipeout XL's soundtrack is that it just didn't fit the game as well as the beautiful in-house "Cold.fusion" soundtrack to vanilla Wipeout. When I gave my playstation to the kid next door, the wipeout CD silently failed to make the trip, because I knew I'd want to play it on an emulator someday... And just yesterday I ripped the audio and was unsuprised to notice this playstation game was in the CDDB.
Hands down. Mostly obscure licensed tracks, but perfectly fitting the aesthetic of the game. Jet Set Radio Future wasn't quite as good, but still nice. I just wish they'd kept Dragula out of the US release (Jet Grind Radio). It's a nice song, but not in tune with the rest of the tracks.
From Grand Theft Auto 2. It had some pretty good stuff, as far as I can tell it was mostly original. For what it's worth, I have the GTA1 CD-rom in my car as its music is all CD-Audio. I still listen to it every once in a while, when I get the urge to hear "The Ballad Of Chapped Lips Calhoun, by the late Sideways Hank O'Malley and the Alabama Bottle Boys" You gotta give the guys at Rockstar credit for having good soundtracks long before they had mega-hits like GTA3 under their belt and could license music people had heard of (A la Vice City). The best track on Vice City is definitely Maurice Chavez on VCPR, and any time you hear the Degenatron commercial. Favorite commercial - probably on GTA2 for the Enduro-dong(?) condom. -End of incoherent rambling about the GTA series.
I agree with the selection of Wipeout XL- I remember my heartrate picking up whenever Prodigy's Firestarter rotated in. That track made any race that much more intense.
Two more recent examples of the use of "singles" come to mind. The SSX series (SSX3 in particular, since its still fresh in my mind) pulls it off pretty well. The music matches thematically, and though it may not be music I normally listen to, the game is enriched by it (I tried turning it off, it felt a bit hollow).
Gran Turismo 3, on the other hand - ugh! I hated the music. The selection was too disparate. I turned it off. It was better.
-h3
Let me look at the Game Soundtracks I have on my computer right now and see what my selections prior to this discussion say is best:
Doom Music, Bobby Prince (original, separate OST) - another mp3.com users bites it.
Mechwarrior II (original, ripped from the game CD)
Mechwarrior II:Mercenaries (original, ripped from the game CD)
various Final fantasy MIDIs (original, from the 'net)
Nobuo Uematsu - Final Fantasy S Generation (oringal, pseudo OST)
Nobuo Uematsu, Junya Nakano, Masashi Hamauzu - Final Fantasy X OST (original, OST)
Wipeout (licensed, ripped from the game CD)
Wip3out (licensed, ripped from the game CD)
Halo - waiting to buy after/asking for Christmas (original OST)
I don't seem to see many non-originals in there. I believe that tells my opinion. Also, Wip3out's rip is 6/14 by the same artist: DJ Sasha so it's really a combination of licensed and original music). I wish vendors went back to using audio tracks on their CDs, but with DVDs in consoles becoming more common, I'm not surprised. I was disappointed not to find any audio tracks on the PC version of Halo, but at least there is a soundtrack available.
Time to send my office mate into gaming land....
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
I like games that play as a good movie (that involve you, not like Final-Fantasy X..whatever), and "Primal" did a good job. They used music from 16-Volt's "Super-Cool-Nothing", which was really fitting. The developers even worked some of the lyrics into very nice commercials and promo-edits. The game rocked, the music fit, and I recommend both the game and the music.
Recently I've played SSX3, and I IMMEDIATELY took the "dj" factor out. I hate radio. I'm the kind of rotten bastard that absolutely hates "talk" when it's nothing more than PAP, and the first time the radio "looped" on me, it was outta there. Maybe this is why "surveyors" for radio hate guys. After playing SSX-Tricky for over a year (I'm pathetic, forgive me) my skills quickly enabled me to enjoy a full playlist and to max out all of Kaori's skills. BTW, she's the most up-beat, least idiotic of the characters in the game. And she's so damn cute she makes me want to hug my monitor whenever I win with her. I'll go so far as to say they made her loveable. Sappy but true. I haven't gone looking for them, but I imagine there's a "Love Kaori" webring out there somewhere.
Every new form of media has it's own Requirimento
Slightly off-topic there, as none of the FF game soundtracks use liscenced music. I do agree with you that FF7 (and numerous other Square games) have great soundtracks. What's especially cool is that in recent years they've been taking to creating their OWN pop songs ("Eyes on Me" from FFVIII, "Hikari"/"Simple and Clean" from Kingdom Hearts, a whole bunch of songs from FFX-2, etc.), which is probably the way to go if you want pop music in your game without having to go the liscencing route.
it wasnt licensed music, but interstate 76 has my all time favorite soundtrack.m
http://altpop.com/stc/reviews/i76.ht
------ hi mom
Having read through this I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the xbox's ability to put the music that YOU want into a game... Nothing quite like having Ludicris' "Move" while crashing into shit in Burnout 2, and then go directly into "Ducks Like Rain" by Raffi.
This series, for me at least, has offered the best blend of different genres in terms of licensed music. If you like rap/hip-hop...you're covered. If you like rock...you're covered. If you like punk...you've more than covered. Before these games, I had a tendency to turn the music off (volume down), leave the ambient noises on and put on some cd or another. I do hope that future iterations on PS2 will utilize the HDD and allow people to play music of their own choice, though...because one Strike Anywhere song only makes me want to hear a bunch of Strike Anywhere songs.
"How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
Kickass soundtrack, and only on 5 floppies!
The best game soundtrack is definitely Halo. The launch menu, for example, is like a bunch of Tibetan monks doing their prayers or something. It's so serene, it's scary. And the in game music just pulls you into the game, chews you up, and spits you out. MS did a real sweet job of putting this together (Yes, I know MS bought Bungie software for this game). Here's a demo of the game if you want, 134 MB, PC only. You also need the latest version of DirectX (9.0b).
Soundtrack is available at Amazon, Buy.com, and Overstock.com
Samples of all the tracks can be found at buy.com, but overstock.com has it for cheaper.
Older 3-D RTS game, but best soundtrack *ever*!
Each track was a 'classical' piece that was for a certain 'mood' in the game. Just building an army? Mellow tunes. Going to war! The music gets going and so does your blood! One of the nices things was that each track was an actual audio track on the CD. I've ripped them and occasionally listen to them outside the game. Fantastic stuff.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
Ah, the beauty of ADX- I own the Dreamcast version of the game and riped it to my HD, just so I could pull the songs out (plus all of my other DC games), and found that it's a pain to stich the music back together again. You see, they have about five or six ways they can play the music (I guess based on how well you are doing?)- so you have a huge amount of music files which turn out to be parts of the song. Cool to see it work though...
Other Sega games that have incredible musc:
Crazy Taxi, I and II
Ecco, starting back with the Sega CD version by Mark Nelson, up to the DC version.
Rez
MSR
Mr. Bones (Saturn)
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
GTA:VC is one example of good licensed music, though often I prefer music written for a particular game:
Arena/Daggerfall/Morrowind
Dungeon Siege
Skeleton Warriors
Thunderforce III, IV
Vandal Hearts
King's Field
Dark Wizard
Robo Aleste
Actually too many game sound tracks to list!
There is the Video Game song remix site that I've visited from time to time. Some of them are very well-done remixes. If you're into video game music, check Overclocked out.
I'll second the nomination of Interstate '76 as a damned good soundtrack. Also, I really like the soundtrack to Homeworld, and one of the things that makes both these soundtracks so memorable for me is the fact that I was able to rip the music from the CD. I still listen to both on a regular basis. I really wish more game publishers would do this. Instead, you get music files in some weird format. Or worse, they put it inside the executable. (I realize it's probably piracy concerns that cause this, but it still annoys me.)
so many posts and no mention about castlevania's awesome _original_ soundtracks. especially that of symphony of the night. i really can't think of a real band, which could borrow its songs to any of the castlevania games. i think that in games the music is tied to the other material. in snowboarding games it's best to use the music people listen to while snowboarding. but what do you listen to when killing vampires?
Be thankful you didn't play True Crimes...it was crap. It handled like a drunk whore, and the soundtrack was the worst collection of ghetto trash I have ever heard. The fact that it only consisted of West coast hip hop means all it did was limit the audience. After playing the game for five minutes, I put the soundtrack on mute and turned on my stereo. And 25 minutes later I put the game in the Gamefly mailer and shipped it back. My experience with True Crimes just left me wanting to play GTA3 again.
Homeworlds tracks were awesome, but I didn't know they could be ripped. Guess I know what I am doing tonite! You know, besides wanking and all.
"Do you suppose that's why God lives in the Heavens? Because he lives in fear of His creations?" - Steve Buscemi
I really enjoyed the orchestra in both Medal of Honor PSX games.
Say what you will about the mindless hack and slash style of the Diablos, they are addictive. More relevant, however, is the fact that the soundtrack for DII rocks! (Ok, it doesn't really rock, it kind of ambients. But THE perfect mood music for a day of old school pen and paper gaming!)
For reasons I cannot explain, I still love the little crystalline music bed that plays in Everquest during your swim from the dock at Halas to the cave into Everfrost. How a little new age hypno-track can be so immersive, I've no idea... but it works for me.
"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you mad."
-- Aldous Huxley
Ignoring the obvious CD releases to tie into the Dance Dance Revolution franchise, others here have already mentioned the wonderful GTA: Vice City boxset as well as the FF soundtrack.
We'll be seeing more of this as labels and artists see the crossover potential. EA released the soundtrack CD to SSX3, featuring "exclusive" cheat codes and music by The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, and N.E.R.D., while Hypnotix went for the MTV video angle for the band Diffuser on their CD soundtrack to OUTLAW VOLLEYBALL.
Even in the late 80's, music started to become more important to the players. Remember SEGA's OUTRUN? One "wow" feature was the ability to change the station you were listening to in the car at the start of the game.
Just as we're seeing successful movie soundtrack tie-ins (insert example here), I'm sure that we'll be seeing more and more gaming companies deciding that it's just another aspect of their marketing push.
You can also find the title track, "Homeworld" on Yes' album "The Ladder". (And a playable demo of the game, IIRC.)
And there are various mixes of "Homeworld" (the song from "The Ladder") floating around the P2P networks. Maybe the whole soundtrack, even.
I don't think I've seen a hockey game since the Genesis days that actually played organ music, but I'd like to see it make a comeback. I'd certainly rather hear it than the crappy pop-rock that EA puts into it's NHL games.
I know that most arenas don't even play much organ music these days (I work in a hockey arena, and they keep playing Avril... ugh...), but it's a part of hockey history.
-"One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man." -EH
Gran Turismo 3 has a great sound track. One track. Singular. Namely, Dogg Turismo. The rest is just awful. I've played the game about 1/2 through, and have had Dogg Turismo on repeat for about all of it. What an awesome song.
One of my favorite parts is where Snoop stumbles over the lyrics.
It's even got one of those - uh - PT Cruisers too
'nuff said
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
The first hitman:47 had an increadibly immersive soundtrack. Worked well with the mixture of action and stealth and was powerful without being overwhelming. I think it won some awards but it really was something, I didn't like the second much.
I have the soundtrack playing on my iPod now... :)
Sara
Machead & Gamer-grrl
as someone whos played true crime, it's sound track sucked horribly. it offered little variety from profanity filled c-rap. considering rap is one of those genres lots of people hate you'd think they'd offer more than 2 alternative tracks
..used "Shade" by Feeder for the opening and final battle, and it was great! I remember reading an interview with the band, who had no idea it had been used in that game(probably because a Feeder track or two had been in the Gran Turismo OST, and OB was also developed by Polyphony Digital)
Unfortunately, when OB was licensed for the States, Sony removed it and any other non-generic track to replace with Static-X and Wisconsin Death Trip..yawn. Destroyed the feel of the opening video entirely.
--
I remember that one, fun game...using the music's volume to find the flame was also pretty neat (the music got louder as you got closer to it and so on)
A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men... --Willy Wonka
How can you talk about licensed soundtracks and not mention Jet Set Radio? Sure, some of it was done by the very cool people at Sega's Wavemaster, but most of it was licensed. I can't think of a better licensed soundtrack, with the exception of the awe-inspiring Vice City soundtrack (also not mentioned, bizarrely).
Jet Set Radio Future also featured some amazing licensed music ("I love love you" is classic, as is "Birthday Cake" and "I'm not a Model"), admittedly marred by a pretty boring game design and some horrid remixes/mutilations and original tunes by the Latch Brothers/Beastie Boys.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
Also, there is an orchestral soundtrack for Final Fantasy VII, with some lyrics in it. The track for Sephiroth is gorgeous. In my ever so humble opinion, Final Fantasy VII is perhaps the best RPG ever made; About half the FF fans will agree with me, and the other half are screaming for my blood now, but regardless the music in it was excellent. This is probably due in part to the sound hardware in the PSX, which you could play (essentially) like a MIDI device, and which sounded pretty good, thus encouraging people to write ambitious scores. WoXL, of course, used red book audio.
Other than that, my favorite "video game soundtracks" didn't come with any game. I loved playing Quake and Quake 2 with Tool's CD Aenima in the drive, and I love playing games on the Xbox with my own soundtracks. I have one I use for Sega GT (I can't wait until I can actually afford Xbox live, Sega GT Online, and a FF wheel) which I call "how to drive fast" which starts out with the Cardigans' "My Favorite Game" which accompanies one of the Gran Turismo games... 3? And goes through I'm Afraid of Americans, Be Aggressive, and several other songs whose performing artists I should not need to introduce.
Finally, my all-time favorite video game score song is, of course, the theme to The Legend of Zelda. There's also a very nice orchestral version of that beloved tune, which sounds fantastic. The assorted rehashes of it for the long line of Zelda sequels tend to be quite good as well.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The SSX soundtracks are great, and they introduced that cool mix-depending-on-how-well-you-play feature.
The soundtrack of the first Tenchu on PSone is prolly one of my favorite original soundtracks of all time. I'd like to have that one on CD...
Of course, GTAIII and GTA:VC have to be mentioned. What's better than a police chase with the classic station or your favorite 80's radio channel on?
Do not be alarmed. This is only a test.
Oh come on, everyone knows that Britney's Dance Beat has the best soundtrack ever!!!</sarcasm>
Not that it couldn't be done well in other types of games, but I just feel there are so many examples of amazing original scores that have been written for non-driving games.
My main example here has got to be System Shock 2. Any fans out there? The music alone was enough to make this game part of my favorites list. When combined with the great sound effects and creepy atmosphere it never failed to scare the crap out of me.
Driving games however, benefit from licensed soundtracks. Especially if they have a way to customize the soundtrack with your own mp3s (big fault of EA Trax IMHO) There's not much better than racing a F-50 at 180 mph listening to the same music you commute to at 2 mph.
The 3DO (and later Sega CD) had a killer soundtrack including Soundgarden and Hammerbox in '94
Same year had Rock 'N Roll Racing on the SNES/Genesis which had licenced music (albiet played by the systems' audio...)
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
Pretty great nostalgia by now, I guess.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Are there any great games whose music is forgettable? most of the great ones have been mentioned, but you can't single out any single game as the best. The best sound track provides a unique sound to the game and separates it from others in its genre, while immersing the player into the world that the game is set in.
Some instant examples (some involving licensing) that come to mind
Although the principle has evolved from the GTA line of games, it's the pinnacle of in-game sound-track licensing. The makers didn't just license the sounds, they fully integrated the music into each station, categorizing it, making it real by adding all the little intermezzo's of speech to include the player and the game world into what you hear. I still crack a smirk when I hear the leader of bikers gang lamenting the quality of the music on VROCK.
The band composed part of the sound track specially for this game and it's so much the better for it. This is a case where quality professional music makers enhance the atmosphere of the game, by giving it the ambience so needed. Space never sounded more melodic, or dramatic!
Morrowind has been done along the same lines (just check the music credits), but it's final execution went along a different path. The fact that my Morrowind Theme is the "Bridge to Kasach Doom" (forgive the misspelling), should indicate the flexibility of the sound system. They made a start, but the entire game design was to allow for the player to immerse themself. want to start a fight to rock music? plop in an MP3 into "\Data Files\Music\Battle" and you're off!
Another prime example where the music helps dictate the atmosphere. Live mixing of tracks is essential to changing the mood, and when you're running (or driving, or flying, or being chased) from battlezone to battlezone, the music is queued perfectly put you on your guard or soothe you into a lull before the storm (*ehem* flood) is unleashed.
The Zelda series has always had an in-game link to music. Instruments and songs have played an integral part in all zelda games and tWW pushes zelda to the forefront of music integration and ambience. Having played a few zelda games (and learnt one or two top 40 Ocarina tunes along the way
I've gone a bit off-topic here (and I didn't RTFA, admittedly), but I hoped I've stressed the importance of good music in order to have a great game. There's a reason I have Tetris Tune #3 as my ringtone. :)
click-clack, front and back. I'm not moving this car otherwise.
Not to go overboard, but just to prove this isn't a recent phenomenon, I'll give a mention to the 7th Guest. the best example of how MIDI music should be used in a game... thinking back it STILL gives me chills.
And it's the reason I know who the Fat Man is.
click-clack, front and back. I'm not moving this car otherwise.