Sound in video games is a subject that has always fascinated me, even from the early stages of my gaming experience. Soundtracks and music in particular have always been a crucial factor in my opinions of games, especially at an emotional level. Like visual aesthetics and landscape, I think there is something in music that really moves me in ways that  gameplay, story, or competition never have. When I think back on what I would describe as the most beautiful video game scenes I have ever experienced, in almost all cases there is music involved.

 The Phendrana Drifts landscape from Metroid Prime always resonates with me, due in large part to the music and atmospheric ambience.

I have found that in most games, the potential of music depends greatly on the type of gameplay experience that it accompanies. For example, our playing this week of League of Legends has demonstrated to me that if the play style is focused entirely on in-game tactics and combat, the music almost inevitably takes on a background, ambient role rather than a central one. In other words, the gameplay itself is so engaging and distracting that little attention remains to appreciate things like music and ambient sound. Besides, the sound of combat far outweighs anything else.

At the other end of the spectrum, a game like Rock Band is entirely devoted to sound and music. The gameplay is the sound, so music acts not as a complement to the game, but as its foundation. For me, though, the best sound experiences in gaming are passive, in the sense that there is ambient noise and music that you can totally immerse yourself in, without having the feeling that you have to work to produce the sound. As is the case in Rock Band, the constant reminder that missing any notes ruins the song acts as a stressor that in many ways detracts from the sound experience.

One game that stands out in my mind as one in which sound and music are crucial is The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. This is probably the game I have have played  that has the most innovative soundscape, both musical and ambient. The theme of this game is the imminent running-out of time, with the omnipresent falling moon looming over the entire game, literally. As the three days progress, the music gets faster and faster, moving over time from a leisurely atmosphere to one of intense stress and chaos as the moon nears its apocalyptic collision with the planet’s surface. With the ever-increasing number of earth-shaking rumbles and the din of falling debris, sound adds a suspenseful dimension to the game that makes it remarkably realistic. Even the individual worlds within the game have their own soundscapes to offer; from the distorted underwater sounds of the ocean, to the dolorous and dissonant canyon, to the dank, drippy swamp ambience, to the cold, lonely mountains, this game has a uniquely characteristic sound environment for every region within the game. All of this, on top of the somber music in-game that casts a depressing (yet remarkably beautiful) pall over the entire experience.

 Technically a musical tribute, but I think it captures the essence of the game well.

Additionally, the game Slender is an exemplar of how important sound can be in a game. With the spooky background music and the crescendo of grinding ambient noise as the game progresses (broken sporadically by the slamming noise associated with encountering your terrifying foe), this game’s effect on the player is built almost entirely around sound. I can evidence this notion by saying that when I tried playing the game without the sound on – because I couldn’t handle the stress of it all – it seemed to lose almost all of the suspenseful intrigue that it previously had. Even though it was less stressful without sound, the gameplay experience was highly diminished nonetheless.

A few more examples of music that I see as definitive in games:

 The hauntingly memorable “dancers on a string” sequence from Bioshock.

 This recurring melody from the Legend of Zelda series is a great example of the combination of music and ambient sound effects (reminiscent of a forest, right?).

 I know this one in particular evokes very strong emotions in a lot of people who grew up with Kingdom Hearts.

I have never had an app game before. I think the reason is that I have always perceived them as excessively distracting, and borderline rude to play when anyone else is around. Also, I know how addicting they can be if people get into them, and I don’t particularly want an addiction.

Now that I have finally tried a few as per our class assignment, I think that I can more fairly knock them. Starting with Candy Crush Saga, the game is certainly entertaining enough, but something inside me feels like it’s dying when I play it. I don’t know the best way to describe it, but in a way I feel like this kind of game is a waste of time where most full-fledged video games are not. As our book put it, this game seems to be “process-oriented,” and more like a “toy to be played with,” whereas I would describe a good video game as more substantial than that.

The Simpsons: Tapped Out is probably a step up from Candy Crush in my book as far as game quality goes, but to be honest it doesn’t do a whole lot for me either. I enjoyed it for some of the same reasons that I enjoy simply watching the TV show, but the way in which it guided your every step and only left the physical screen-tapping to the player took something away from the gaming experience. In other words, it didn’t feel particularly interactive. Also, it unnerved me quite a bit when my phone notified me that “Homer has finished breaking into the neighbors’ house to watch TV.”

Regarding the last app game, SolForge, I actually thought this game had some good things going for it. To start, its strategic nature was appealing, because it actually felt like an accomplishment to win a game in a way that the other two games did not. It was actually a card game, with elements of strategy, chance, and “interesting choices” that gave it much more room for individual style. In fact, it felt distinctly like a fusion of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, two strategy franchises that I love.

I guess app games are pretty entertaining, but in general I can’t say I am interested in pursuing them further. I think there is something to be said for having physical consoles that you have to go use if you want to play video games. The idea of having endless gaming at our fingertips strikes me as uncomfortably invasive; not just into the life of the player, but those around them as well.

 

The origins of my appreciation for the world of gaming lie in several PC games that I played starting almost 15 years ago. Beginning with such endlessly entertaining Humongous Entertainment game franchises as Pajama Sam and Freddie Fish, I eventually graduated up to “big kid games” like The Sims and Rollercoaster Tycoon. I received my first gaming console, a GameCube, when I was 11 years old. My first game was Luigi’s Mansion. From the beginning I could tell that video games would continue to be a source of endless inspiration and amusement for years to come, because I found the experience of immersing myself in another world to be irresistible.

Perhaps because of my early years, I have always stuck mainly to Nintendo gaming. I have subsequently acquired a Gameboy Advance, a DS, and a Wii. My two absolute favorite franchises are the Pokemon games and the Legend of Zelda series. Some of my other favorite Nintento games include (but are not limited to) Super Smash Bros., Okami, Pikmin, Metroid Prime, and some Mario platformers like Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy.

I have always considered myself to be an individual gamer. I think this is because what I enjoy most about video games is the opportunity to totally immerse myself in an imaginary world; an important aspect of my personality is that I need to have outlets in my life where I can get space from other people and things happening around me. Video games have always fulfilled that need nicely for me.

That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy multiplayer gaming immensely; in fact, I enjoy a good, old-fashioned Super Smash Bros. ass-whooping as much as anybody. In spite of (or maybe because of…) my aforementioned individualistic gaming tendencies, I am actually insanely competitive. I often have trouble dealing with losing even the most trivial of games, to the point where they can sometimes become another stress in my life rather than an escape (I think many of my closest friends can attest to that). Hence, in some situations I find it best to avoid games like Mario Party for the sake of my personal relationships.

Nevertheless, I have ventured a bit  into the realm of multiplayer PC gaming since being at Middlebury, although I am somewhat limited by the fact that my computer is a Mac. Some of my new favorites include Civilization IV, Borderlands 2, and Bioshock (which has swiftly ascended to the ranks of my all-time favorites).

If I had to summarize what video games really mean to me, I think I would characterize them as an art form more prominently than I would describe them as a competition or game. While games like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid Prime will always occupy a special place in my heart, many popular shooters (and iPhone games in general) will never achieve a comparable level for me. To demonstrate my point, I would contrast Bioshock with another shooter such as Call of Duty. In the latter, it seems to me that the sole purpose of the game is simply to destroy the opposition at all costs, a style of gaming that has always struck me as somewhat mundane. In Bioshock, though, I find that there is so much more substance – the art-deco, underwater-city setting is one of the most incredible scenes I could ever imagine, the story is addictingly immersive, and attention to details such as music and voice acting make its imaginary world even more awe-inspiring.

Video games will always represent an immensely beautiful, engaging, nostalgic pastime for me. I think they have artistic and creative potential that no other media have – interaction, exploration, spatial and temporal flexibility, and even more. I tend to consider completion, aesthetics, and story more heavily than competition, score, or social interaction, so it is the most imaginative games that leave the greatest impression on me.

Don’t think I don’t play multiplayer games, though! Just know that in the case of a shooter, I will be the one up in the tower enjoying the scenery and contemplating the furniture (slightly at the expense of my teammate). Oh, and I will definitely be using a rocket launcher.