Hidden Music Gems
By WhatTheDang 1 Comments
It's pretty easy to say I have a certain appreciation for when music is done "right" in games. Music can often act as a backbone to a game, and in rare cases, act as the saving grace. You can't really make a game without music unless you're going for a certain vibe, and even then it's monumentally difficult. Music is an integral part of the human experience.
Sometimes great video game music can come from unlikely sources. The game Pictionary for the NES, for example, has one of my favorite soundtracks on the console.
It was done by the often overlooked composer Tim Follen who's work spans a lot of overlooked video games. The soundtrack is funky, upbeat, and far catchier than the soundtrack of an 8-bit game based on a board game has any right being.
Sometimes music may not be "good" but will fit the subject matter of the game like a glove. For example, the game Drakengard for the PS2 is a horribly dark, bleak, repetitive hack-n-slash. The music follows suit, offering classical pieces chopped up and remixed until barely recognizable, becoming more and more cacophonous as the game's plot steadily grows more insane. Even the final boss itself is a sort of twisted, horrendously difficult rhythm-action game, which is seen almost like a slap in the face to the players who met the ludicrous requirements to reach that finale.
There are many more examples, but I felt these two signified two opposite looks at how music can influence the games they are in.