Modern game music

[env963]

You know I was just thinking of something along these lines today. I have about 15 new PS3 games, and i can't remember much of the music. Some of the older games that I think have incredible sountracks are:

REZ
Panzer Dragoon
Tempest 2000
Final Fantasy VIII (Balamb Garden)

Newer games that the sound tracks stand out to me.

Bit Trip games
Child of Eden

There are other games that have good soundtracks, but for some reason dont "stand out" for me.

[J T]

Here are a five modern games you should check out for their soundtracks:

VVVVVV


To The Moon


Shatter


Sword & Sorcery


Scott Pilgrim VS The World (The Game)

[Erik_Twice]

I can vouch that the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack is no short of amazing, I have yet to get tired of it. Very retroish but not in a bland way. One of the top gaming soundtracks for me.

[Pichu]

It seems like these days, a game has to be made in the style of the past to have actual "video game music." My first thought after reading this topic was Mutant Mudds, which Renegade Kid proclaimed to be a "12-bit platformer," The music certainly sounds like something you'd hear from that era.

But I agree that not too many modern, western games I've played (and I haven't played very many) have video game sounding music. I mean I like some epic tracks, but not in a video game when I'm interacting with it. Plus, music > voice acting in my mind.

[env963]

Ahhhh, i forgot about the Shatter! Good sountrack!

[Menegrothx]

Here are a five modern games you should check out for their soundtracks:

VVVVVV


To The Moon


Shatter


Sword & Sorcery


Scott Pilgrim VS The World (The Game)

Although all of those titles are more or less "neo retro" like Pichu said it. Quite many Scott Pilgrim tunes are straight up chip tunes

It seems like these days, a game has to be made in the style of the past to have actual "video game music."

Rayman Origins had a pretty refreshing soundtrack, but then again, it was an old school style 2D platformer

[Pichu]

Here are a five modern games you should check out for their soundtracks:

VVVVVV


To The Moon


Shatter


Sword & Sorcery


Scott Pilgrim VS The World (The Game)

Although all of those titles are more or less "neo retro" like Pichu said it. Quite many Scott Pilgrim tunes are straight up chip tunes

It seems like these days, a game has to be made in the style of the past to have actual "video game music."

Rayman Origins had a pretty refreshing soundtrack, but then again, it was an old school style 2D platformer

Exactly, games like VVVVVV (Commodore 64 style), Scott Pilgrim (classic Beat 'em up) and Rayman Origins (2D platformer) are all games that could've existed comfortably in the past. And appropiately they have awesome old school style VGM to go with it.

I'm sure there are plenty of "modern" games with "classic" music though. I just can't recall any off the top of my head.

[Xeogred]

This thread reminds me of that Keith Apicary video where he interviews fake gaming celebrities and shows their ignorance on the topic. He talked with the composer with God of War and it was obvious that besides the big ego he didn't know much about videogame music.

I also get the feeling that movie composers see videogame music as shameful or second-grade work.

That part was freaking gold. You could tell he probably didn't even play the damn God of War games either.

I think your points are pretty good though. The market is pushing people into the field that shouldn't be there in the first place, since their heart is obviously not really into it. It's obvious that most devs have forgotten how powerful music can be and it's not much of their concern. Do we go back to the limitations argument here? The Japanese had to try much harder back in the day to convoy emotions and atmosphere through limited machines? Thus bringing out more creativity and passion... who knows.

I'm not entirely sure what Hans Zimmer's work sounds like, but I think a lot of newer (mainly Western) games are supposed to have some sort of subtle, ambient soundtrack. There's an effective way to do this for sure (Secret of Evermore), but generally I find this type of OST to be completely nondescript and boring.

Jeremy Soule is definitely one of the better composers out here in the West. I wish he did more on the SNES (the OST bonus tracks of SoE are incredible too). I'm not totally familiar with a lot of his PC works outside of Total Annihilation, but he did a great job with Skyrim too. It's not exactly anything that completely "stuck" with me, but it was damn good stuff in game.

Might be some funny picks, but I think Marty for the Halo series is pretty legit. Even all the way up to Reach, which felt a little more Hollywood-ized... it still retained the Halo themes throughout and had the videogame-esque melody. He did a great job with the music in that series. The music was a reminder I was playing a videogame, that's a nice reminder to have.

The Assassin's Creed OST's I think are pretty amazing too. They've been consistently great. I think Jesper Kyd(?) did stuff back on the Genesis, maybe his roots trained him well.

I agree about the ambient issue. It seems composer either try to go for loud bass explosions (nonsense), or too much ambiance and there's just not much middle ground. Like, Deus Ex HR I thought had pretty cool music, but for the most part it was too ambient and so not very memorable at all. I can barely recall any of it. The original Deus Ex on the other hand had the atmosphere and it was catchy, completely amazing. I wish Alexander Brandon did more major composing outside of it and Unreal...

By the way back on my Skyward Sword / Secret of Mana comparison, lol... here's a good one:

- this one a bit too

Holy crap is that not like straight up SoM or what?

Panzer Dragoon

I haven't even played these games yet but I've probably spent hours listening to the music.

[Xeogred]

So Xenoblade pretty much has one of the best videogame OST's I've heard in a long time, no... ever! That sounds better.

The Japanese win again.

[J T]

Although all of those titles are more or less "neo retro" like Pichu said it. Quite many Scott Pilgrim tunes are straight up chip tunes

It seems like these days, a game has to be made in the style of the past to have actual "video game music."

But what kind of modern game would actually work with a chip tunes soundtrack if it wasn't retro or abstract in nature? Certainly Call of Duty: Modern Warfare wouldn't work with a chiptunes soundtrack.