Sound in Games

Sound is another elements of games, one that is often overlooked. However, it is incredibly important. Successful sounds in games add to the atmosphere of a game, creates tension, and adds believability.

 Series of games will often have a theme, or a recognisable style in its music. For example, the metal gear series has its theme (I'm being biased, this is one of my favourites) which is strongly orchestral. 

As with other series, this theme has altered slightly between games, but remains recognisable. Another example of this is the Elder scrolls series, where the music is the same, but has been performed differently to reflect the tone of each individual game.

Many of the current generation of games use an orchestra to perform their scores, however, in the past this was impossible. The storage space for games was minimal, as was the technology they were being played on. This meant that composers only had a limited means of creating music. However, because of these limits, some of these pieces of music are some of the most recognisable video game themes. For example, most people will recognise this:

It shows that not all soundtracks need a huge orchestra to be effective. Personally, I remember the battle themes from Pokemon to be very effective at creating tension. Although I was a bit younger when I was playing them, I still think they hold up today. (listening to this brought back a lot of memories)

Some of the most successful soundtracks are actually the ones you don't notice.  For example, personally, I find the Silent hill series soundtrack very effective in creating an atmosphere. I don't think it would be nearly as scary if it had a different soundtrack . Take this scene for example. if you watch it without sound, and  its nowhere near as scary or threatening as with the sound on. 

It's the sound that adds that atmosphere. Without it the game would not have the same effect, and this applies to all genres of games, not just horror.

 It's not just the soundtrack that is important. The sound effects in a game can add realism and believability. This can be the sounds of guns, footsteps, ambient noise, explosions, even simple things like knocking a can over. If done correctly, the player shouldn't notice these, but they really add to the emersion.

There is a lot of cross over between the film music world and the game one. Composters that work in film or television often work in the video game industry as well. For example Harry Gregson-Williams who has composed for films such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine but has also made scores for video games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Another example is Greg Edmonson, who worker on television programs such as Firefly and video games such as the uncharted series. These two professions overlap, because both games and films need a good score to bring them to life.