Modern Game Soundtracks

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I really find most modern game soundtracks to be really lacking. I was playing some team fortress 2 not long ago and I thought "Why can't they just put some music to this?" It just made the game seem really stale. I guess I just miss how old game soundtracks would play continuously as you went through the level. Maybe it's just not really feasible with the length of modern games. I guess it would distract from hearing footsteps or whatever. It always seems like in most modern games it's just some generic Hanz Zimmer type stuff every once and awhile, and then back to the game.

Do you think modern game soundtracks are kind of dull? Any recent game soundtracks that you enjoyed?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Does Excite Truck count as recent?
I also liked the Tomb Raider: Anniversary music, but it was intentionally "retro".

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Does Excite Truck count as recent?

Sure. After flipping through my games I think Namco soundtracks are pretty much the only ones that have impressed me recently.

http://youtu.be/Hfv1d3bMQ4Y
http://youtu.be/ckmQq8Bf39g
http://youtu.be/mrQHyPfR1EY

[Zaarock]

"Modern Game" means what exactly? clearly not all games try to be modern

good sountracks that come to mind:

- Bayonetta (lots of great composers. even if you dislike the vocal/j-pop stuff it's like 2 songs out of what, 110)
- Child of Eden (guess this is the only game of these that try to be "modern", music game though..)
- Ninja Blade (bad-ish game, great soundtrack)
- Current gen japanese shmups + Senko no Ronde Rev.X&DUO
- some JRPGs I guess, haven't played enough to comment

Good point though.. seems like western games nowadays indeed have much less music playing during gameplay and less emphasis on soundtracks

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

"Modern Game" means what exactly? clearly not all games try to be modern

good sountracks that come to mind:

- Bayonetta (lots of great composers. even if you dislike the vocal/j-pop stuff it's like 2 songs out of what, 110)
- Child of Eden (guess this is the only game of these that try to be "modern", music game though..)
- Ninja Blade (bad-ish game, great soundtrack)
- Current gen japanese shmups + Senko no Ronde Rev.X&DUO
- some JRPGs I guess, haven't played enough to comment

Good point though.. seems like western games nowadays indeed have much less music playing during gameplay and less emphasis on soundtracks

What I meant is current gen systems. Not so much from a gameplay perspective. Now that you mention it, I guess it is mostly western game soundtracks that are rubbing me the wrong way.

[Ji-L87]

Worst modern soundtrack practice = EA Trax?

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Worst modern soundtrack practice = EA Trax?

I hate it when they use licensed tracks. I guess it would be ok if they put some effort into selecting something that actually fit the game well, but they never do. It's always some random songs.

[Jonathan Ingram]

Still plenty of good tunes around.

Nier - Song of Ancients(Fate)
Nier - Kaine(Escape)
Nier - Shadowlord`s Castle(Roar)
Nier - Cold Steel Coffin

Monster Hunter Tri - Main Theme

Xenoblade - Gaur Plains
Xenoblade - Those Who Bear Their Name
Xenoblade - Unfinished Battle

Fatal Frame IV - Tsukimori Song

Ryu ga Gotoku 3 - Lyricism Without Tears
Ryu ga Gotoku 3 - Fly

Oboro Muramasa - Seasonal Beauties

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair - Confession

[Eaglet]

I think a lot of it has to do with publishers thinking higher quality production = better music.
Which is why a lot of modern movie-style games have Zimmer-style background noise as OST.

Back in the day when technology was limited the composer only had a set small amount of channels to work with - which meant that focus had to be put on emphatic, catchy melodies and a style of composition grounded in getting the most harmonic and melodic material out of the lead and bass.
This is what separated the old school of game music from a lot of other forms of music. Add to this that almost all of the classic japanese VGM composers where heavily inspired by YMO and you've got a a pretty clear cut reason why it sounds so special.

In my mind a game song needs to have its' focus put on strong basic melodies, interesting harmonies and an underlying beat that enhances the melodic flow in order to work well.
If you add in stuff like changing the flow of the song to particular set pieces of the stage (something Namiki is very good at) then you get what's pretty much perfect as VGM.
See Ketsui stage 2 (midboss) for an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIxf9W6NlFw

[KAI]

Non japanese games soundtracks are mostly crap (generic rock or symphonic music).

Do you think modern game soundtracks are kind of dull?

Au contraire, they are getting better and better.

Any recent game soundtracks that you enjoyed?

Kisou Ryouhei Gunhound EX Original Soundtrack
UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK SIDE-ABYSS
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 Original Soundtrack
Ridge Racer 3D Direct Audio
Ridge Racer - Planetary Sounds
DODONPACHI SAIDAIOUJOU ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK
Border Break Air Burst Original Soundtrack
Grand Knights History Original Soundtrack
LORD of VERMILION II Original Soundtrack
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Original Sound Track
UNDER DEFEAT HD NEW ORDER Soundtrack CD

Recommended.
Arranged albums don't count, but they have been getting incredibly awesome recently.

Agreed with Eaglet, hardware limitations are the reason why music composers ruled back in the 80's and 90's.

[ZellSF]

Handheld gaming is always forgotten when talking about how bad *anything* about current gaming has gotten. I'll just say that Gravity Rush and Radiant Historia have excellent soundtracks.

[Vexorg]

If I had to pick a couple of favorite soundtracks from recent games, I'd probably go with the ones from the two Super Mario Galaxy games. Recorded using a full orchestra, and they fit the games quite well. Bejeweled 3 also has some good MOD-style music in it, and I was reasonably impressed with some of the music in Little Inferno.

[Gozer]

Recent soundtracks that I've enjoyed:
Bastion
Bit Trip Runner
The Witcher 2
Hotline Miami
Dustforce
Super Meat Boy
Shatter
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Cave Story +

[louisg]

If it's not synthfunk, it can take a hike

But seriously, I do find modern game soundtracks to be horrifyingly formulaic. Games have traded part of their unique identity in to become more like some shitty summer blockbuster movie. There's also a lot of ambient-with-dynamc-layering kind of stuff, which I think is just flat out boring.

[null1024]

Games that try to have "film-like" soundtracks can go fuck off and die.

I really don't think it's anything to do with limitations, remember during the early-90s how totally amazing game soundtracks were on CD systems [eg, Sega CD, PC-Engine CD, etc], where the composer could pretty much have done whatever they wanted. It's just this attempt at being more cinematic that's just results in well-composed but totally fucking boring music.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The problem isn't that the music in games is like in films. Rather, films and games (produced in the US anyway) alike use music badly and that is the problem.
If games had the kind of "acid" soundtracks that was fashionable in 1970s (example 1, example 2, example 3), I wouldn't mind. If games had the kind of computer games music Unreal and Half-Life have, I wouldn't mind.
Then there's my favourite Euro computer music flavour (Gorky Zero, Burnout, Amok) - I'd like to hear more tunes like those in my games.
Generic isn't always bad. I felt pretty smug when, while playing Metroid Prime lately, something about the music seemed familiar and it turned out to be by the Excite Truck person.

[Skykid]

Another vote for Oboromuramasa, the composition was purposely sparse, beautifully arranged, and a perfect atmospheric accompaniment. So much loveliness in that game.

Does Excite Truck count as recent?

I felt pretty smug when, while playing Metroid Prime lately, something about the music seemed familiar and it turned out to be by the Excite Truck person.

Obviously posted this in the wrong thread, Excite truck action is here!

Nintendo say the cheque is in the post Obiwan, they have finally cleared their leftover PAL stock! You will be promoted to marketing deputy, rejoice!

[ZacharyB]

I don't think soundtracks are getting worse. I think composers are thinking about musical theory and becoming more sophisticated, and having the tools to express that in produced games. Then, on the receiving side of this work, many of the cultural tenets used to process enjoyment from such high-fidelity music have been lost. For example, very few people who play video games enjoy opera, but an opera enthusiast has had the "training" to derive more out of a classical soundtrack. Infection and dance be damned, the music's about pushing for a new cultural high now, and testing theory beyond visceral response.

[Ed Oscuro]

I thought this was going to be a complaint about the generally lacking features of modern OST releases. Back in the day you got nice mixes (like the Capcom Game Sound volumes) and occasionally MIDIfied versions of things...today you just get straight versions of the tracks and if you're lucky some of them might be remixed.

I'm not following the hate on TF2. You can always load up whatever music you want in a different player, and TF2's menu music is actually really damn good (along with everything else sonic that Valve has released). It's also not the relentlessly typical style you find in a lot of other FPSes, but actually plays off various genres uncommon today.

[AAA]

Kid Icarus Uprising is another good recent one.
A who's who of composers worked on it (inc. Mitsuda, Takada, Koshiro, Sakuraba).

Ni No Kuni's OST is great too, by Joe Hisaishi.

[lilmanjs]

Do modern Indie games count? If so, that's really the only games I've heard any creativity in the game soundtracks lately.

[KAI]

The only thing I hate about modern game music is: too many anime musicians getting into the industry.

[EmperorIng]

Uh, I'm pretty sure almost anyone who plays more than Excite Truck would note Kenji Yamamoto as "the Metroid music guy" instead of "that Excite Truck guy."
I mean, Super Metroid people. Come on.

The only thing I hate about modern game music is: too many anime musicians getting into the industry.

Look what good that did for Metroid: Other M.

Here I was expecting some of the awesome tunes of Monster and Blue Gender. Instead, I got, well, boring.

Some modern OSTs worth listening to:

Inon Zur's work on Fallout 3, used subsequently in Fallout: New Vegas. A step up from the stuff he did in Fallout: Tactics, that's for sure. Not as good as Mark Morgan's evocative score for Fallout, but you can't win them all. - on that note, I am excited to see Mark Morgan do the score for Wasteland 2. It's going to be sweet. -

The original music to New Vegas is good too, though there's not a lot of it.

Garry Schyman's wonderful score to Bioshock fits well with the artistic milieu of the game.

Michael McCann's score to Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The game might not be as good (but it is damn good), and McCann was a good choice to follow-up the legendary score of the first Deus Ex.

Yuzo Koshiro never disappoints, and even though Etrian Odyssey IV's battle theme is disgustingly poppy, I can't help but like it.

[Remembrance]

Dustforce

Seconding Dustforce. It's a very, very quiet game in terms of SFX, so the music is really composed to stand on its own.

[null1024]

Yuzo Koshiro never disappoints, and even though Etrian Odyssey IV's battle theme is disgustingly poppy, I can't help but like it.

Yes. It has this "every recent anime theme ever" thing going on, but at the same time, it really puts a smile on my face.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Uh, I'm pretty sure almost anyone who plays more than Excite Truck would note Kenji Yamamoto as "the Metroid music guy" instead of "that Excite Truck guy."

I called him the latter because Excite Truck is better known for custom soundtrack support than its native music, which is a shame as those tunes really suit the game.
Other M tunes are forgettable, but not particulary "modern" at that.

[EmperorIng]

Kenji Yamamoto didn't do Other M.

[Obiwanshinobi]

You don't say.

[Ed Oscuro]

I am excited to see Mark Morgan do the score for Wasteland 2. It's going to be sweet. -

Wasteland 2 is going to be everything Fallout 3 wasn't. I'm still stoked.

Speaking of Morgan's Fallout work:
http://archive.org/details/AURAL01

It's a bit annoying that the tracks are meant to be played continuously, as the transitions break up continuous looping. But this does give a new way of listening to the soundtracks. I can't even really complain about the use of SFX in places; it's meant to be more evocative rather than a straightforward recreation of the originals.

[Lordstar]

Amon tobin working on splinter cell chaos theory was all kinds of awesome (xbox last gen though)