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Sing a song, make it simple…

Go on, hum the tune for Bioshock. No? What about Crash Bandicoot? No? Me either. Now what about Sonic the Hedgehog or Outrun, yup every note, every chord change. Why is this? Well for a start in the days of yor, music was a focal point in gaming, it wasn’t really used as much to set a scene but to compliment the game. I believe that in a life or death situation I could whistle the entire soundtrack to Sonic, note perfect. If it was Bioshock I would be dead.

I realise that thousands are spent these days on soundtracks but they just aren’t memorable, licensed tunes also sounded a bit of a death knoll for original music. Don’t get me wrong I actually don’t mind DJ Atomica, and some licensed tracks are good, but 75% are dross. I mean, jings! For some reason Burnout Paradise will always be reminding me of Avril Lavigne….Avril bloody Lavigne! In defense I did get into some good bands through the Tony Hawk games, Goldfinger are amazing, I’ve seen them five times now. The Guitar Hero games are utterly sublime, but how good would it be to have Guitar Hero the classic Sega edition? Absolute Nirvana!

Do you remember the Mega Drive had an earphone socket and volume control? For a good reason indeed, the music in the games was worth listening to. Go and download yourselves some classic game music, bang it on the MP3 player and enjoy. Anyway this has got me all hot and sweaty so I’m off to wash my “marble zone” in the “magical sound shower”.

Green Hill Zone Theme
[audio:http://ready-up.net/userfiles/martin/greenhill.mp3]

Splash Wave
[audio:http://ready-up.net/userfiles/martin/splashwave.mp3]

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4 responses to “Sing a song, make it simple…”

  1. Tony avatar
    Tony

    Hey, now don’t knock Burnout Paradise for this. Turn off all the “EA Trax” (read “Utter Shite Created After Burnout Became Great”) and then all you are left with are original classic Burnout game tunes, and these really are tunes of Outrun-esque calibre.

    That’s what I’ve done and I’ve not had to resort to using custom soundtracks to stifle the “EA effect” on this game like I had to for Revenge…

  2. Dan avatar
    Dan

    It’s custom soundtracks all the way for me, it’s a burnout tradition. Splash Wave is a really great driving tune.

  3. Kim Kaze avatar
    Kim Kaze

    To be honest, this is mirrored in the wrestling industry as well. In days gone by, a wrestler came out to a theme tune, designed to musically speak of their size, stance and style etc. Nowadays, they come out to fairly generic, rock music; baring little to no connection to their actual gimmick.

    I think gaming needs to re address this, as wrestling is trying to do with some limited success.

  4. Simes avatar
    Simes

    Don’t underestimate the power of repetition. Sure, the Green Hills Zone theme is catchy but a major reason why you remember it is because you heard it over and over and over again. “Welcome to Rapture” is a great piece of music, evocative, atmospheric and superbly matched to the visuals, but most people who play the game will only hear it once.

    This is also the reason why some of the horrible tracks from Paradise are now looping in my head.

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