Can you hear The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” without seeing skyscrapers crumble? Or “Tiny Dancer” without thinking about that scene on the bus in Almost Famous? Well, I can because I never saw it, but you see what I mean. So many films, and more importantly scenes, are so closely tied with a popular song that you just can’t help thinking of one without the other. So, why do we never see this in games? Sure, there are epic scores that accompany games, but how often do you find yourself humming the soundtrack of Gears of War? A popular song can have a great impact on a scene, and I believe that it can have the same impact in a video game. So, why don’t we see it?
Before we jump into the meat of the article, I’d like to take you back to a simpler time. A time when video game characters didn’t actually speak, but whose words were put up on screen. Back in those glory days of gaming, many of us would throw in a cassette, or CD if you were lucky enough, and turn up the volume while playing our favorite game. Sure, some games had great soundtracks, but after the first three hours, a change of pace is nice. I bring up this period in gaming because it’s something that I miss. Don’t get me wrong, I love fully acted scenes and great, subtle sound effects in games. However, I have built great memories from playing games while listening to music. For example, I can’t listen to Nirvana Unplugged without thinking of Star Fox. It may seem odd, but hearing a track from that CD instantly takes me back to that game, and it feels nice.
Okay, fast-forward to today. As I said in the intro, we get tons of great songs in almost every movie. Look at Juno. While some people, like Aaron, will be annoyed by it’s hipster soundtrack, it’s undeniable that the songs in that film help define what it is. Whether it is a song that reinforces a theme or one that is just plain cool, a la Pulp Fiction, songs are almost always a welcome addition.
So, back to the question. Why doesn’t this happen in games? There are a couple of reasons that I see as the roadblocks. The first is something that we have talked about before on Pixelosophy, and that is the idea of dynamic music. It’s hard to put in a song at a specific point to have the biggest punch when the developer doesn’t know if the player will go through the scene at the pace they want them to. For example, the player may turn a corner with a character just before they go into a big battle. A bit of Johnny Cash could kick in. Now, the developer may want the player to just walk to the end of the room and engage in the battle. However, the player may search the entire room for items, thereby defeating the entire purpose of the music.
There are fixes to this problem, however it requires more work on the part of the developer. Given my example, the developer could simply not have space for the player to explore. If we want to see directed music, we need to be given a more directed experience. I know that we’ve discussed this many times, and this is an example of another plus that can come from developers taking some freedom away from players in the name of telling a story.
The other problem is something else that we’ve discussed numerous times on Pixelosophy, and that is the simple fact that there isn’t a lot of story variety as far as genre goes. In movies, we don’t get a whole lot of popular songs in action movies, except for maybe a popular heavy metal song during an action sequence. We get these great moments in dramas, comedies, and dramadies. Video games may have trouble inserting these moments because, for the most part, you’re just going around shooting things. Doesn’t seem the most appropriate time to put in a Bob Dylan song.
Again, the fix for this is kind of simple. Make games in other genres! If we want to start seeing, and hearing, more interesting things in video games, we’re going to have to start getting a variety of stories. Heavy Rain would have been a great game to include some sequences that were backed by some killer songs, but the culture barrier may have been at work there, I can’t say for sure though. Music is the soundtrack to our lives, and most people’s lives don’t involve shooting roughly 20 to 30 people on a daily basis, so give us something that we can relate to.
It’s really a shame that we haven’t seen developers throw known music into games yet because I would argue that we have already seen proof that it would work well. In the commercials for Gears of War and Lost Odyssey, great songs are played, Mad World for Gears and White Rabbit for Odyssey. I know that I personally think of these two trailers whenever I hear these songs. If I can get this feeling from just a 30 second spot, I can’t imagine how I would feel playing a full game that incorporates this technique. I’d even be willing to say to developers to start off by doing it in cut scenes, just to get your feet wet, but I don’t want to see you relying on this forever. Music is a powerful weapon in an artist’s arsenal, and I think that it’s time for developers to start discovering the joys of licensed music.