What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when thinking about the type of music you normally hear when playing your favorite video games online? Just think about some iconic titles like Tetris, Super Mario, or Need for Speed and try to remember some of the soundtrack music they feature. Without a doubt, you can still recall a few of them, as they are considered some of the best tracks in the world of video games, and for good reason. Nonetheless, if you are a connoisseur of video games in general and you are familiar with the fast-paced advent in the technologies behind them, you might know that soundtracks have also changed drastically during recent years.

Why is it so important for soundtrack music to keep up with the technology or even entertainment and music industry trends? Let’s find out!

Why Is Music In Video Games Important?

Music is that special vessel that picks us up and carries us to a brand new dimension. It takes over our emotions and sets the tone of the story that unfolds underneath our very eyes, every time we hit the “Play” button on a fun themed game of slots, a car racing game, a first-person shooter, or something else.

If you have ever looked up the soundtrack of a movie you enjoyed watching, or you simply liked the kind of tunes they chose to play to set the scenes, you already know just how pleasant, cool, mesmerizing, or captivating a well-chosen soundtrack can truly be. The same can be said about video games’ music and soundtracks that do a wonderful job of setting the scene within the games, often times acting like the actual foundation of the game.

Interactive Movie Experiences

In fact, video games enable us to enjoy a deeper, more immersive experience compared to watching a movie since we are the masters of the characters’ actions instead of simply being witnesses standing on the side. If you’ve seen Back Mirror’s Bandersnatch, you’ve gotten a taste of just how cool it would be to be able to control the action of the characters in a movie and decide the outcome of their actions. The movie introduces us to a young programmer who begins questioning what is real and what is imagination once he begins to transfer the fantasy novel belonging to a mad writer into a video game. The interactive movie features five different endings, and each of them comes with several pathways, making the watcher’s experience even more unique and exciting.

In one of the movie’s endings, viewers are asked to download a ZX Spectrum emulator so they can play the game and there is a different Tuckersoft site that will tell viewers to check back at a later moment in time while seeing an engineering job post for a Netflix opening.

Here Comes the Rain Again by Eurythmics, Love on a Real Train by Tangerine Dream, O Superman by Laurie Anderson, Phaedra by Tangerine Dream or Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood are just a few of the iconic songs part of this interactive movie’s soundtrack. The music perfectly blends in with the action, adding to the excitement of getting to watch a video-game-like movie with an open ending that can change every time.

Music On or Off?

Some players prefer to engage in their favorite games with the sound turned off for different reasons. For an uptight game of online poker with high stakes, for example, hearing background music might create an unnecessary distraction that could prevent the player from focusing and making the best calls. For an upbeat game of slots that requires a lot of reel spinning, on the other hand, cheerful music that does not feature any lyrics could be just what the player needs to get into the right mood to keep going until they hit the jackpot. In video games with a lot of action, the music will not only add to the action and build it in a more realistic manner, but it will also influence the payer’s gaming attitude and desire to keep playing.

All in all, the soundtrack of a video game can definitely make or break the atmosphere that is meant to captivate players, and the main goal is to have players leave the music on and enjoy the overall experience to the fullest: sounds, image, action, music, graphics. Next time you play a video game, really listen to the music in the background and see if it influences your gameplay in any way!

Categories: Music