Music in video games/ Why I LOVED Red Dead Redemption (gaming moment of the year #2).

Any game that pays attention to the way that it uses music to improve the overall experience always gets a thumbs up from me. In fact, my absolute favourite moment this year in video games is down to the use of music, and the overall use of music in the game is highly influential in it being my favourite game of the year. That game is Red Dead Redemption.

A big part of my Starlings design was based on how the music would reflect the progression of the player through the game. The music was used to compliment the growing visual experience, allowing each to benefit the other. I often feel that video game music, whilst I’m sure a lot of talented people were involved, doesn’t have enough attention paid to it.

It’s possible that in the gold rush to improve video game graphics, music was forgotten. After all, it’s the pictures on the back of the box that often sell the game, right? Music is mostly still used just as a way to sonically contribute to the graphical themes of the game, which is fine, but it needs to also react to the actions of the player in a way that feels natural. We’re still using the ‘soundtrack’ formula of cinema, where the action/romantic/horror moments are pre-determined. It’s no longer good enough to have one piece of music for ‘okay’ and a completely different piece of music for ‘danger’.

Red Dead Redemption is one of the few games that has managed to combine a soundtrack with a dynamic music score that is achieved with such finesse that you don’t know where one ends and the other begins.

At the risk of sounding smug, Red Dead Redemption uses it’s audio soundtrack in a very similar way to which I implemented the music for Starlings. Instead of naturally progressing on a linear timeline, the music was composed as a series of loops that can be introduced when required. This means that it’s possible to manage what is the best possible combination of tracks to match the current situation on screen. When idly trotting through the frontier of New Austin the soundtrack’s mellow ambience is a perfect fit, but the dynamic nature of the environment means that anything can happen at any time. So what happens if you come across some lawmen chasing some bandits? A deep, brooding, rhythmic bass-line is introduced, highlighting the change in pace and encouraging the player to get involved. It’s the first stage of transitioning between the ‘idle’ soundtrack and the ‘action’ soundtrack. It’s this identification that a careful, layered transition between two vastly different game play styles that keeps the player immersed, not noticing the switch between the two.

Despite how beautiful I thought Red Dead Redemption used it’s dynamic score, I thought that the use of licensed tracks at pre-defined moments were incredible. There are 2 moments in the game that stood out above all other moments.

If you’ve not played Red Dead Redemption, then the following section is spoiler-iffic…

The first moment is when you get stranded in Mexico, alone, with only a marker showing a nearby town to help you. So as you jump on your (stolen) horse and begin to make your way through a foreign land, a distinctly different sound begins to play. That sound is the sound of Jose Gonzales’s Far Away. It perfectly highlights the change in environment, as well your current progress through the game. The next 5 minutes of gameplay were my favourite of the year…(The video is NOT mine)

The other moment comes at a moment that is too important to spoil for anyone that has not played it, but it once again uses licensed music… If you want to experience it yourself, then I guess you’ll just have to play it.

Actually, I think I’m going to do that now…