Why is game music so poor?!!

PunterCam

PunterCam

Active Member
Just spent today kicking around with crysis - what terrible music, who the hell did that? How can a game get such great reviews with sound that rubbish? In my opinion it's as important as graphics, if not more so in creating the world you want to get lost in, but this is terrible. I find it really depressing, like they think of it as a last minute thing. On the other hand I played 'Farenheit' (Indigo prophecy in the states) as well - it's barely a game, but I found myself enjoying it so much more - simply because of the music (it's a shocking game, don't buy it, real rubbish!). On the other hand, Half Life 2 has barely any music, and creates all it's atmosphere through stunning game writing, fair play. I'm kinda rambing, but it just annoys me. Is anyone bothered by this kinda thing or is it just me?!
 
i agree. there was a commercial on before that showed the same scene with two different types of music. changes everything
 
I dont know what reviews youve been reading but crysis didnt get that many good ones :P.

I get what your saying, and will argue both sides of it. First off, I disagree...

Take for example as you said half life 2, I think the music in that is amazing. The way its different for each level. Combine music sounds metallic, and futuristic.

Also Halo3, Marty is perhaps one of the greatest composers of our time. If you have the chance (and are a really music analyst geek like me) the bonus disk that comes with the collectors and legendary edition has an hour-ish long clip about how all the songs on halo create feelings.

But I could argue with myself and agree with...

You on two points, first off cod4. Not the best music. It has about 3 songs total throughout the entire game and just play different parts of it. And it all sounds with a guitar and rock, the typical crap that people listen to today. Whereas halo3 used a full orchestra and more!

On the second point, old console game. Like the original sonics on the genesis, where music had to be played almost all the time in order for the player to not lose focus and attention. And it couldnt repeat or else it sounds boring. Whereas today music in games generally just pops up whenever it sounds good/fight scenes.
 
I don't think Crysis really worked hard on the audio part of the game. In my opinion, Battlefield 2 has the most immersive in-game sound, especially if you have an X-fi sound card.

As for music, the halo series has really good songs, but the in-game ambient + other sound doesn't really stack up to BF2.
 
Try playing Pendulum's Hold Your Colour to Crysis...

I actually quite like the music for Cysis, but we all have different opinions...
 
Couldn't agree more. CoD4's music I find really poor for example, I'd excpected a bit more 'heroic' music, as they did in CoD1 and 2. (yea, those were WW2, but still)
the music in Crysis isnt really the best.

Halo is made what it is by the music imo. I also find the StarWars and StarTrek games to have really nice music in it. (at least, most of em) orchestra music makes games so much more 'real' (at least to me) than good grafic's alone, in the matter of getting into a game that is.

I do have to say tough.. The game with really the best in game music I've heard/seen so far, is still Homeworld. for example, you send a scoutship into deep space, and only the music made it actually exciting already, while when you think about it nothing important or anything actually happened yet.
 
Archangel said:
Couldn't agree more. CoD4's music I find really poor for example, I'd excpected a bit more 'heroic' music, as they did in CoD1 and 2. (yea, those were WW2, but still)
the music in Crysis isnt really the best.

Halo is made what it is by the music imo. I also find the StarWars and StarTrek games to have really nice music in it. (at least, most of em) orchestra music makes games so much more 'real' (at least to me) than good grafic's alone, in the matter of getting into a game that is.

I do have to say tough.. The game with really the best in game music I've heard/seen so far, is still Homeworld. for example, you send a scoutship into deep space, and only the music made it actually exciting already, while when you think about it nothing important or anything actually happened yet.
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Ah yes, Halo! Fabulous game, and yeah, music is top notch. Homeworld though, that was atmosphere perfected! Might have to look that out and give it another go. Could never get further than half way through...
 
yeah, my favorite game music has to be that off of the Original Halo. its so great. the newer ones are ok, but not as good as the original (still talking about music).

personally, i dont really listen to game music, i usually turn it off and listen to my own, i like picking music to set the mood .... like someone earlier mentioned pendulum... i find them good to listen to whilst playing Trackmania nations (especially prelude and slam).
 
Indeed, no lyrics should ever find their way into game music. Intros don't count, nothing to do with the game - a good game shouldn't need one anyway.

That silent hill track was awful, what the hell was all that about love?!

I'm old fashioned - big orchestral score or something completely epic. But not tacky.
 
PunterCam said:
Indeed, no lyrics should ever find their way into game music. Intros don't count, nothing to do with the game - a good game shouldn't need one anyway.

That silent hill track was awful, what the hell was all that about love?!

I'm old fashioned - big orchestral score or something completely epic. But not tacky.
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You think? Each to their own i suppose. It works really well in conjunction with the game though (well creepy!!)

Metal gear's soundtrack is also a killer! (The japanese seem to do the whole soundtrack thing really well it seems)
 
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