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I remember being very impressed with many aspects of The Last of Us, the audio being one of them.
Captain Kirk, can you save me?
One of the multitude of topics covered in TNL Dirty South dinner conversation tonight was game audio: specifically Duo Y's I&II being the best example of game audio out there, bar-none. It got me to thinking about what some other truly great examples of game audio design might be, not just music (although this is obviously very important), but also ambient sound, foley/FX, voice, and even mastering.
One example that readily comes to mind is Mechwarrior 2- when it really comes down to it, the fantastic onboard computer voice ("Ambient temperature is 94 degrees...") and excellent electronica soundtrack go a long way towards giving the game identity and flavor that seperate it from other games of similar type that are totally forgettable. The sound is really the only way the feeling of being on different planets is conveyed and the package simply doesn't work without it. Look at the Saturn 'port' for evidence of this- the different guitar riffy soundtrack make the game feel more like sluggish Doom.
What are some others?
Last edited by Vasteel; 10 Jun 2016 at 02:49 AM.
To boldly go where lots of men have gone before...
I remember being very impressed with many aspects of The Last of Us, the audio being one of them.
Sausage-in-training
Silent Hill seems an obvious choice.
Captain Kirk, can you save me?
I personally didn't like the game, but you are absolutely right.Originally Posted by No One
To boldly go where lots of men have gone before...
Sausage-in-training
The first three games, really. Most of the tension comes from the constant bombardment of industrialized creepy dissonance and disembodied sounds. Horror games in general tend to live or die by their sound design.
Namco was always great at this, particularly in the PS1/PS2 eras. The Ridge Racer and Tekken series have phenomenal soundtracks and audio.
The early years of CD game technology is probably my favorite for audio. Great music composition paired with uncompressed audio was amazing, and the quality actually took a dip a few years later when game data required more space on the disc so you couldn't just slap a bunch of audio tracks on it.
It's fairly jarring to go back to some of these old disc based games and hear the music/ voice samples compressed down to 1980's long distance phone call quality. I don't remember them being so bad- but there "real" voice was also a novelty.
System Shock (CD version) is also really impressive for the AI voice and electronica.
Shenmue games - Sure, there's some cheesy voice acting but I can't think of any other games as ambitious from a music standpoint. There are a huge number of tracks tailor-made to trigger emotional responses for every situation, big or small. And as a bonus they include classic arcade games with iconic soundtracks and effects.
Even sort of recently they had Dark Escape 4D. Having speakers behind you and wind blowing on you can be pretty freaky.
Last edited by NeoZeedeater; 10 Jun 2016 at 10:30 AM.
You should have acted
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault had amazing sound design.
Cuckoo Daddy Long-legs
As does the Battlefield series.
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