Who Cut Off My Jams!?!: Struggling with Modern Game Music

I can definitely see the draw of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero; having attended and hosted many parties where Rock Band was up and running, I have seen first hand how it can attract even the most hard-nosed non-gamers. Great music is a powerful thing and this recent wave of music-themed games all aim (many of them quite effectively) to tap some of that power. The incredible success this genre has experienced shows us how closely bound music and gaming can be and most importantly how vital music is in the gaming experience.

Looking back on some of my all time favorite games, the music is usually one of the first things to enter my mind. I couldn’t possibly imagine what a game like Castlevania would have been like without those amazing melodies, or what a shoryuken or hurricane kick might have felt without the timeless Street Fighter II themes filling the arcade. Great music is critical for any game that wants to stand the test of time, so why is it that so many modern games have such lack luster soundtracks?

Even the blockbusters, with their multi-million dollar budgets, seem to skimp on the music. Take a game like Gears of War for example: some people might be fooled by the bloated, over the top orchestral stuff, but not me. I have played a shit-ton of Gears and I can’t hum to you not-one -damn-note of it’s sound track. That game should have had screaming shred guitars, raging double bass, all of that shit. What did we get instead: choirs. What is it about an ambient choral piece that says “I am going to slice your ass in half via a machine gun with a goddamn chainsaw on it?” It’s pretty obvious Dude Huge and company aimed for the hardcore action-movie-cheese, so why not take it all the way?

I would argue that had all of Mr. Fenix’s cringe-worthy dialogue been replaced with shedding guitar solos, there could have been potential for that game to literally make your head-a-splode. Especially during that bit where you are hacking your way through the giant worm.

So let’s break it down as I see it.

The problem: When you have millions of keyboard patches and samples at you fingertips it’s easy to mash on a few chords, run some shit through effects and call the boss into your office to convince him that you have created an atmospheric masterpiece. Just because Radiohead makes a career out of it, doesn’t make it right. Sometimes the minimalist stuff works (Silent Hill series), but a great deal of the time it just comes off boring and uninspired.

My proposed solution: Let’s limit all game music composers in the writing phase of their productions, to the original NES sound chipset. I think the limitations of those sounds are exactly what forced all the old boys to make everything so catchy. If it doesn’t sound good, then it needs to sound GOOD. Limitations drive the truly creative to be even more so (need proof? check out this guy. )

Once you have a solid melodic foundation, you can easily build and layer with modern elements. A perfect example of how well this can work is Bionic Commando Rearmed. The techno influenced remixes of the original NES music was some of the best stuff I have heard in quite awhile and played a large part in what made that game so damn cool. Damn, that intro music…

I know the talent to make awesome game music is still out there, SEGA, despite their serious flaws seem to be able to pump out the jams. Also, Castle Crashers had some great music and that was all fan submitted stuff from New Grounds. So, really there is no excuse: we should demand our game music be every bit as fun and exciting as the games themselves.

Notes: Stuarts comments on modern games with great music got me thinking: Katamari, Little Big Planet and Mirror's Edge do indeed all have fantastic soundtracks. So, what is it take makes all these totally different music choices so good; is there a common thread between them? After a bit of thought, the one key for all great game music seems to be how appropriate it is for the game it was created for. When a game's music is done just right, it becomes part of the game and the game becomes part of the music: you can't think of one without the other, it just all fits. It doesn't matter what kind of soundtrack you chose, just as long as it fits and complements the game well, be it metal, techno, rap, ambient and so on. Does that make any sense???