Game Music

[Demosthenes]

It is not often that people stop and admire the music of a game. And, for the most part, there really is no reason to do so. Most project managers have dozens of programmers, designers, and concept artists under their belt, but there is also that one audio guy who gets stuck with the task of finding musical and voice talent. This all too often overlooked aspect of the game has lead to some rather uninspiring, repetitive, and even painful music, especially with the storm of equally uninspiring FPS finding their way onto the market. End rant.

In no real particular order, but kinda from oldest to newest:

• Quest For Glory - The Main Theme was one of my first favorite songs. Thankfully, its reincarnations still hold true to the original. Should listen to it at least once.
  
• Zelda - Again, the main theme for the very first Zelda was *beautiful*, absolutely beautiful. Out of the piece of crap synthesizers at the time, they created music. Not much to say about Zelda II, but the one for SNES was again top notch. The Overworld and Hyrule Castle theme were very moving.
  
• Final Fantasy VI - The first game I played where music was what defined and somewhat "completed" the characters. The use of leitmotif to separate and individualize the characters added to the believability and player catharsis. Mentionables include Setzer's Theme and Dancing Mad as done on the Reborn album.
  
• Final Fantasy VII - Again, a very well done game and score. Did not receive as much praise as VI, but it really is a diguised rewrite of it. The parallels are clear and numerous. While most of the songs did not stand out on their own, there still were many nice arrangements. Notably, Aerith's Theme, which is quite moving when orchestrated and the Battle/Boss Themes, which are actually quite nice when orchestrated also.
  
• Legend Of Dragoon - This game holds a unique position to me. It is the only game whose towns I would actually want to visit. The town art is very beautiful and scenic. It actually looked alive. All aside, the music is very flowing and somewhat character themed. But, the CD is very short. The theme of each song is only played once or twice, so the tracks are usually 1.5 minutes or less.
  
• Chrono Cross - While I have not played the game, I must admit the score is done very well, and furthermore, the synths are amazing. Given the same hardware, how can some create such amazing musics while others just produce sound? The accoustic guitars and woodwinds are very lifelike and give a nice feel. I wish I could play the game to make the music have meaning.

Add your favorites to the list.

Respectfully,

Demosthenes

[Prew]

I mostly play FPS's and haven't been impressed with the music of newer games (I usually just turn it off). However, two games with memorable scores (found myself humming the tunes long after playing the game):

Outlaws

Grim Fandango

Worse music- any of the games that used midi sounds

[Guinness]

I kind of like the music to Morrowind. It transitions smoothly into the action sequences of battle and the like. Gives the game a very nice cinematic quality.

[Nuclear Krusader]

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?threadid=32454

I must add, the menu theme from Crusader: No Remorse.

[nbcrusader]

The music from the Age of Kings series is awesome. I even got a couple of CDs of the music!

[Iman74]

I don't have favorites but I can picture some good ideas. For a game like Unreal where you are constantly moving even though it can screw up the concept of hearing the people around you I think it would be cool to have something like Motley Crue's Wild Side or GNR Welcome to the Jungle while you are playing those games. OR have a thing where you have to kill X amount of people before the song ends. When the song ends, the person with the most amount of kills wins.

[Nuclear Krusader]

One of the things I really liked about Half-Life was the music. It got intense in combat situations or whey you were about to trigger an scripted event.

[mike breck]

Yes Nuke,

But I believe Unreal was the first FPS where the music "reacted" to action sequences in real-time.

I've just finished playing the original again plus the marvellous Mod "Operation Na Pali" and the music and sound effects are top-class. Very often music and sound-effects can be inextricably linked to create the ambience and atmosphere.

So for FPS, I would say Unreal is king for music.

In my opinion, other worthies would be:

Heretic
Hexen
Duke Nuken (I defy you not to remember the main theme)
Hexen 11
Quake 11
Half-life
Outcast
NOLF
UT
MOHAA

[Alienware_Dude]

MOHAA has a really good score, and the music gets creepy at just the right(wrong?)times. All the sound effects are top-notch as well.

[Demosthenes]

I think Unreal was a big let down. I read the concept proposal in its very early stages and it called for some really, really, sweat cooperative multiplay. It was meant to be a massively intricate online world. But, it was more of a red herring than anything. Eventually, the project lost aim and boiled down to just another first person shooter.

As far as I am concerned, FPS music is just filler. It can fade in and react, as Morrowind subtely does, but it offers no addition to the game. Killing a person to NiN is the same as killing them to Pink Floyd. Suspense is really the only emotion that FPS music is meant to convey.

As per the MIDI music, man! All games were MIDI synthesized. X-Wing and Tie Fighter had the best "old" synthesized music. I think MIDI is a neat format.

Respectfully,

Demosthenes

[Alienware_Dude]

Well, I play mostly FPS' and none of the games you've said, so I guess I wouldn't know!

[mike breck]

As with other gaming genres, I believe music in FPSs can convey many moods and emotions: suspense, relief, happiness, sadness, humour, bravery, excitement, fear - to name a few.

Many good FPSs have a main theme, several sub-themes, as well as incidental music. It is mainly incidental music that is scored for action sequences in good games - and indeed in movies.

When the action sequence is finished, then the musical score will change to a theme, mood music, or a period of silence.

If the game is good enough, then you're not always aware of the background music all the time, but it's there, none the less, working on your emotions.

So I think the music in many FPSs has a bit more to offer than you suggested.

And for my money, Unreal still does it superbly.

[jackjones]

In my opinion the absolutely best game soundtrack ever made is that of Hitman 2.

http://www.lynnemusic.com/hitman2.html

[LordofEchoSide]

My favorite is probably the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack

[DilLy]

My latest favorite gaming tune is from DM-Tokara Forest in UT2003.

[mike breck]

My favorite is probably the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack

Yes, lovely but disturbing and haunting.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Originally posted by mike breck As with other gaming genres, I believe music in FPSs can convey many moods and emotions: suspense, relief, happiness, sadness, humour, bravery, excitement, fear - to name a few.

That idea was carried out pretty well in Red Alert and the theme Hell March. That theme made you want to get out to the battlefield and kill, kill and kill.

I extracted that theme from the game and still use it in certain real life situations, when I need to feel my morale skyrocket!

[TwoRails]

I guess it can depend heavily on one's mood. I just got done working "out in the shed" and one of the CDs I played was a Heretic/Hexen mix. I also liked System Shock 2 music, but never played it "stand-alone." (I used to have some links to the music, but lost them... )

For Humor, I like to play Redneck Rampage music from time to time. For a different direction, Quake is nice, too.

Although I never finished playing the game (forgot about it after a system crash) Redline is good for certain moods, too.