Week Eighteen- Sound In Games

Sound is an integral part of any modern game. The main things it achieves are: making the game experience more thrilling (or emotionally involving) and providing information for the player to help them or aid their experience. Without sound, the gaming experience would be less realistic. It can even help make the game space seem more 3D with the help of surround sound systems or cleverly programmed volume. For example, when turned away from a character talking to you, if the sound becomes quieter, it gives the illusion that you are hearing it first hand.

In some games sound is used to emphasise and dramatise moments. In The Legend Of Zelda- The Wind Waker, the music was changed by what manouvres you permormed in combat: when you struck an ememy with your sword the music would react with a single note from a trombone or a range of notes from a flute or similar instrument.

In some sences, games are somewhat behind the sound of cinema. Games are afraid to be subtle and tend to show objects clearly for what they are. Films use sound to show what isn't being seen: a monster scuttling over floor boards, a distant explosion or a child crying in another room. In games what you see is what you hear. However some games have incredible soundtracks and musical scores much like the ones you would hear in the cinema. Games such as Final Fantasy and Halo have achieved heavily recognisable ochestral themes that could be music in their own right.

I think that without music, half the experience of a game is gone. I can't really imagine playing FZero GX without the electronic music keeping my heart pumping. I'll be honest... when it comes to COD3, I take most of the fun from the "CHING" sound of the rifles when the final shell leaves the gun or laughing at the terrible german phrases (a bit strange I realise...). The sound in games has always been important to me. It can kickstart nostalgia from previous games in a series or help create emotional content in an otherwise wooden game.