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.
