Music occupies a special place in the hearts of many people, with certain songs capable of awakening powerful feelings in the listener. Music on its own is an incredibly powerful tool that can heavily influence a person’s emotions. However, music, when paired with other mediums, takes on the additional role of setting the tone for a scene. The most common example of this is a movie’s soundtrack. Movies, however, are a passive experience, so their soundtracks only serves to frame one’s outside look into the world of the movie. In contrast, when one takes an interactive experience, such as video games, and structures its music such that it further enmeshes the player in the world, then the music itself is part of the experience in a way that cannot be replicated. You are put further in sync with your avatar – you hear what your character hears, you feel the emotions of the protagonist you have been controlling, you slip into a new world and don’t even realize you’ve left your seat. While there are many games that have absolutely fantastic soundtracks, we’re going to take a look at a few games whose music has left an indelible mark on my memories of the game, long after I’ve put down the controller.

Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core was always going to have a powerful ending. As a prequel to Final Fantasy VII, one of gaming’s classics, the player knew from the start that the protagonist, Zack, was going to die. What no one could have expected was how delicately, and at the same time how powerfully, that death was going to be executed. The final part of the game has the protagonist walking up to a clearing full of enemy soldiers. He proclaims that “The Price of Freedom is Steep,” then charges into battle for a fight that he cannot win. At that moment, the player regains control, and the instrumental song “Price of Freedom” starts playing. Instead of a rousing battle theme, the song starts out on a soft, almost dirge-like, note. The player, knowing the futility of his battle, still fights. The soft violin and acoustic guitar give the player hope when there shouldn’t be any. At a certain point, a strong electric guitar, paradoxically, weaves itself into the song, and gives you an adrenalin rush; you can prolong the battle depending on how well you do, but inevitably the player does lose. And that’s it. The scene cuts to Zack, sword in hand, stumbling towards a few enemy soldiers. You still control Zack, but his movement is sluggish. He is clearly wounded, and the music has gone; now, only the wind blows softly and ominously in the background. That is how Zack dies.

– Scene
– Song

Mass Effect 3 was the eagerly awaited end to a sci-fi trilogy of games. The player takes control of a frustrated Commander Shepherd, who over the course of the two previous games has discovered the machinations of a genocidal race called the Reapers, and yet is not believed by the governing council of intergalactic society, who brush off the Reapers as a myth. Gamers were excited that the game started on Earth, an as-yet unvisited part of space in the trilogy. That joy was cut short when the Reaper invasion began. Shepherd makes his way to his ship, the Normandy, and starts to fly away, as Shepherd takes to the sky to marshal all the species that make up intergalactic society. It is at this point that “Leaving Earth” begins to play. It is soothing – the gentle piano perhaps a sign of hope for the human race – as Shepherd sees the evacuation ships landing to take the refugees. There, in front of one of the ships, is a boy that Shepherd attempted to bring along with him while making his way to the Normandy, but the boy refused help. He is going to be saved, and everything is going to be okay. Then, distorted mechanical notes play as the shot zooms upwards and shows a Reaper landing near the evac ships. The gentle piano fights back for dominance, but again the mechanical dissonance rears its ugly head, as we see the Reaper power up its guns. The piano returns as the boy scampers aboard the evac ship, and the piano is dominant for a few more seconds. As the doors close, though, and ships lift off, the booming distortion returns, and a Reaper shoots down the ship with the boy on it. Shepherd’s face fills with pain, as he turns his back and the bay doors close, the Normandy flying through space. The mechanical dissonance does not return for the rest of the scene; it does not need to. As the scene shifts to the orbit of earth, the fire of war raining down to scourge the land, the piano melody has taken on a much more somber meaning to the player. The ghostly image of that boy haunts Shepherd’s dreams for the remainder of the game.

– Scene
– Song

 

Dovhakiin, a word meaning ‘Dragonborn’ in the language of the dragons, is the title of the protagonist in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. He, or she, speaks the tongue of the dragons, learning various Words of Power throughout the game; he is able to shoot flames, freeze things, and more. Dragonborn is also the name of the theme song of Skyrim, sung in the language of the dragons. It plays on the title screen, before the player even enters the world of Skyrim. Dragonborn, with its stoic male choir, conjures images of Nordic culture, which mimics much of the art style and society found in the land of Skyrim. It is readily apparent to those who play Skyrim that Dragonborn is being sung in the dragon tongue. What they might not know, however, is that this song is actually a folk tale, relaying the tale of the Dragonborn, which you, as the player character, are about to live through. An English translation of the song shows that it speaks of the civil war raging across the land of Skyrim. Moreover, the song addresses the evil of the dragon Alduin, referencing the climactic battle the Dovhakiin must win to rid the world of the influence of the dragons. While you may not understand the words to Dragonborn, the player immediately recognizes the strength of the words being sung, and their importance in the world that he or she is about to inhabit.

– Song

Gaming music, in its many forms, can make or break a gaming experience. With these three examples, we have seen music that plays before the games even starts, like in Skyrim, with a hidden significance only understood once the player has become enmeshed in the world; music that will prime the player for the milieu to be felt throughout the game, a la Mass Effect 3; and music that completes a scene, resonating with the players as they end the experience that has drawn them in for the past dozen hours or so. Gaming music is nuanced, like music is in any medium. Whether or not you play video games, you would be doing yourself a tremendous disservice to write off the fantastic music that is found in many games.