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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 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)
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]
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.
Personally, I still mourn for the 8 bit days of epic tunes composed under byzantine constraints.
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
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.