Poll: Is music important in games

[cornmancer]

Yes. Though if it's something like Burnout that's all licensed stuff I'll turn the music off and put on whatever's on my ipod.

edit: ^ I don't play games just to listen to music, unless Nobuo Uematsu was the composer, but I think it can be one of the most important aspects if not the most important. The right music can make or break a game.

 

[SteinFaust]

for most games, yes, it's great for setting atmosphere, or conveying an emotion or subtext.
you have no idea how many serious scenes can be turned into comedies by playing "Tijuana Taxi" or the Benny Hill theme in the background.

but for games like Crackdown, Dynasty Warriors or Tetris, where all that matters is you concentrate on what you're doing (killing, smashing bricks etc) it's okay to plug in your flash drive and turn up the tunes.

to me, it's always good to have the option. not that i NEEDED to, but i found it EXTREMELY pretentious that in Halo 3 they had a message that comes up when you try to play custom music that said something like "adding your own music will compromise the cinematic experience that is Halo 3". i just wanted to line up the people in charge of Bungie and individually slap each of them in the mouth.

 

[doodger]

Music can bring back some great memories (see: zelda music)
Music can be an integral part of the game(see: The world ends with you)
Music can make a bad game a bit less bad(see: sonic)
MUSIC CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY TO BE RUSSIAN(see: Modern warfare 2 spetnatz theme)

 

[Varun Garuda Maharaj]

listen closely to the music

 

[Deadlock Radium]

Of course, music equals atmosphere, a game without an atmosphere isn't worth playing.

 

[Jamvaan1992]

Dependant on the situation, but for the most part it makes up about 90% of that atmosphere.

 

[noeggsforyou]

Yeah the music deffinatly sets the mood for the game, it can completly change the atmosphere of a game for example left 4 dead with the Benny Hill theme tune.

 

[Oktanas]

Of course it's important

 

[SteinFaust]

MUSIC CAN MAKE YOU HAPPY TO BE RUSSIAN(see: Modern warfare 2 spetnatz theme)

lol i love it so much the Spetsnaz Spawnpoint theme is my text message alert!

 

[chinangel]

music can say everything a director can't.

 

[Benefactor]

Music is very important in most games, but in some games, like sports games or racing games, it isn't.

While I would agree that it's not nearly as important in those games, I fondly remember the music in games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. While it's certainly a side-note in games like this, good music can still add something to it.

 

[Kris015]

I fucking loved the electronic music in Half-life 2! Normally i hate music like that, but when you use it like this i see why it exists.

 

[Radzilla]

Ever tried watching a film without a soundtrack to it? It more then sets the mood for the scenes in question they set the tone for the whole film. Bad use of music in a film can ruin it. Picture the first 20 minutes of film and the camera hovers over a random dude and the music goes "DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN". *CLICK*

 

[astrav1]

The fire fights in Tomb Raider: Legend would be a lot less boring if it had good music. Also just listen to everything Nobuo Uematsu has composed and that should be enough.

 

[Raykuza]

Sometimes, but other times, the lack of music is even more effective.

Take Demon's Souls for example.

That game had almost no music whatsoever and it was highly effective at scaring the shit out of me.

That may be true, but that theme song in the opening video gives me chills every time I hear it.

 

[Kamunt]

With MMORPGs, the music gets repetitive after awhile, so I eventually turn the music down just because I eventually venture to the same locales over and over again. But at the beginning, I always have the music on. With every other game, I pretty much always keep the music on. With the Fallout 3 DLC, it always made me sad whenever I would find myself unable to listen to Galaxy New Radio. Of course, don't forget the rhythm action(?) genre, where the music literally is the game. Stuff like DDR, Guitar Hero, IIDX, Audiosurf, what have you. Music is probably my single most favorite pastime in the world, with video games being a close second, so obviously combining the two makes for a win-filled experience nearly every time.

 

[Chicaine]

In games like GTA the music keeps things a bit more interesting when moving from A-B so i'd say its pretty necasary
Other games rely on it for setting a mood, epic games like MGS would struggle to be any way near as emotional without the epic scores
For MMOs i usually ignore the music as it annoys me and either play my own or watch videos
I've also been introduced to plenty of great music through games, if i'd never touched Getting Up on the ps2 i'd probably still be an ignorant "rock" fanboy

 

[OceanRunner]

Of course it is. Games like Okami, the Final Fantasy series, the Kingdom Hearts series, the classic Sonic games, Dark Chronicle and so many more are as defined by their music as they are by their gameplay, story and characters. They all come together to form a superb whole. Though unfortunatly bad music can make a bad game worse.