Fascinating and unusual ways of using music in games

[J T]

Most games have a soundtrack, but some games really do something interesting with it. This is a thread for posting examples of interesting uses of music and highlighting what makes these examples unique or unusual.

Portal 2: musical lasers

I really liked this puzzle in Portal 2 because it was so cool how connecting the laser beams created the soundtrack you were hearing, and that build up of sounds made it feel like the testing facility is operational again, which GlaDOS warned you of.

Rez: synchronized shooting

I have always found Rez to be an interesting game to play because your lasers are quantized to match the beats in the soundtrack and trigger samples that fit the musical composition. There's a synaesthetic quality to the game in how it combines your movements with the visuals and music.

Medal of Honor 2010: the hillside ambush

Overall, I thought the Medal of Honor reboot was a bad game, but this one scene really stuck with me. There's a point where you are pinned down in a little stone shack at the base of the hillside with enemies approaching on all sides and no hope of escape. As the gameplay unfolds, it becomes more and more clear that you are completely outnumbered, and really shouldn't have a chance of survival. The shooting and action is intense, but the music juxtaposed on top of this is very somber and morose. Even though Medal of Honor was an easy game by FPS standards, I found myself feeling hopeless during this part and I didn't think me and my boys were going to make it out alive. I realized that this was largely due to the effectiveness of the soundtrack more than the gameplay itself. It just left you with the feeling that you were so overwhelmed that you should just give up.

[alienjesus]

Chibi Robo: All fo your actions have a little musical blast that accompanies them, making every action you do add to the soundtrack. Running on different flooring plays different piano or keyboard notes, using your spoon tool plays piano chords, using the toothbursh to clean stuff up plays acoustic guitar riffs. It's pretty cool.


De Blob: When you paint things in this game, the colour you're painting a building determines which musical instrument will play a short blast of music - for example, saxophone for red, keyboard for orange and electric guitar for purple. The music for the level also starts out incredibly sparse, but quickly builds up as you paint more buildings into a pretty awesome funky soundtrack.

[Erik_Twice]

This isn't exactly music but I think it fits.

Tetris The Grand Master: Each piece makes a different sound so they are not only differenciably by color but by ear:

[BoneSnapDeez]

There's a musical combat system in Mother 3. You keep tapping buttons to the beat of the background music to dish out combos, it's pretty neat.

I always liked how Lemmings featured remixes of classic "public domain" type songs (She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain, Pachelbel's Canon).
My favorite mix.

[Gamerforlife]

Most games have a soundtrack, but some games really do something interesting with it. This is a thread for posting examples of interesting uses of music and highlighting what makes these examples unique or unusual.


Rez: synchronized shooting

I have always found Rez to be an interesting game to play because your lasers are quantized to match the beats in the soundtrack and trigger samples that fit the musical composition. There's a synaesthetic quality to the game in how it combines your movements with the visuals and music.

Flower does something similar when you fly over unblossomed flower buds. The sounds they make seamlessly blend into the music. I picked up a subtle Rez influence in that game. There are certain familiar sounding sound effects

[noiseredux]

what about how jumping on Yoshi adds bongo drums to the soundtrack of Super Mario World?

[Jontendo]

How about TLoZ: Windwaker where successive sword strikes during combat created a percussive emphasis to the music? (I can't remember the term, it's like a "something hit")

Or even Ocarina of Time where a collection of melodies helped you move around the map and solve puzzles.

[Edit (again)] - The term I was looking for was "Orchestral Hit".

[Gamerforlife]

How about TLoZ: Windwaker where successive sword strikes during combat created a percussive emphasis to the music?

I noticed that in Skyward Sword too. It's an interesting effect. Reminds me of Sly Cooper games where you get close enough to a guard and your character starts to do a "sneaky" walk and the game has an accompanying sneaky food step sound effect for every step you take towards him

[J T]

Left 4 Dead 1 & 2: special infected theme songs


The special infected are more challenging than the majority of the zombie-like hordes you encounter in the game, and special infected like Hunters, Chargers, and Smokers can come seemingly out of nowhere. However, you often can anticipate their coming because they each have a theme song that is triggered to play when you are in their vicinity. This works in tandem with sound effects, so even though I may not see a Witch, I can hear her crying and hear her siren song theme music, so I know to turn off my flashlight and watch my step. And a tank fight just wouldn't feel as dramatic without the tank's music playing along to match the hulking beasts nasty disposition.

Grand Theft Auto Series: open world, free radio


Grand Theft Auto III and onwards just wouldn't be the same if it wasn't for the brilliant radio stations. They are one of my favorite aspects of the game, and I've been known to just pull my car off to the side of the road to simply sit and listen to the music or the talk radio programs. And the fact that the music has to be found in the radio makes it still feel completely like part of the world, but it also gives you the choice to add your own flavor to the cinematics. Listening to classical music while you do a drive-by makes you feel like a very different kind of gangster than if you are listening to hip hop, and GTA gives you that choice. Also, Rockstar deserves some special credit because each of their make-believe radio stations are surprisingly better than almost every real world radio station I have ever listened to in my lifetime.

[AznKhmerBoi]

I've noticed this alot with Nintendo games such as, Mario, Zelda, and Mario Kart.
Do you guys think Nintendo was the innovator of syncing musical melody into gameplay action?