Defective Pixel

5 Years After Liberty City: The Streets

Fri, 17 May 2013 23:52:22 -0400

When we think about Grand Theft Auto as a series, we tend to focus on the violence, the drugs, the prostitutes, and generally its “adult” content. We tend to forget that, despite its more angsty qualities, Grand Theft Auto is, as its name indicates, really a game series about driving. As I’ve replayed Grand Theft Auto IV over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself fairly shocked at how much time you spend controlling Niko Bellic’s hands on the wheel versus his finger on the trigger. I had forgotten that the emphasis of the series has always been primary centered around around traversal. There is certainly a complicated formula involved in defining exactly what constitutes the GTA experience, but the driving surely is at the heart of it. In this first part of my Grand Theft Auto IV retrospective, I’m going to examine the role of the vehicle in GTA, its strengths and shortcomings, and what aspects of the driving I look forward to seeing changed for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V.

Firstly, it’s worth noting that I found the way vehicles handled in Grand Theft Auto IV to be one of the driving’s best qualities. There’s a bit of built-in clunkiness to the driving controls, but that, along with the unpredictable quality of the driving physics, lent itself well to the chaotic nature of GTA’s sandbox. Fishtailing, flipping, and launching Niko through the front windshield of a vehicle are all part of what makes navigating Liberty City’s streets so engaging throughout the span of the story. It can occasionally prove frustrating as you lose traction and have to fight for control of the wheel, but that feedback you get from the car’s tires on the pavement is what kept the driving so interesting. The physics of the game constantly reminded you that you were handling something heavy and mechanical, rather than something as predictable and binary as the typical depiction of vehicles used in most games. You’ll never feel like you’ve truly mastered GTA IV’s driving, but that’s part of the point.

Few urban driving games can compare with the sheer excitement of blazing down the long straights of Algonquin in a Ferrari equivalent sports car, weaving between lines of nervous traffic. And a lot of that excitement has to do with the knowledge that, at any second, you could lose control, or misjudge the timing as you blaze through a major intersection, and send yourself sailing over the car’s dash and out onto the pavement. The fact that GTA IV’s driving is always surprising you is why it’s still, to this day, my favorite open world game to drive in.

That said, GTA IV leverages a lot of its content around its driving mechanics (perhaps too much, but I’ll get to that in a second). Given the fairly weak and often times frustrating gunplay, it makes sense to give favor to Niko as a wheelman. The most exciting and memorable parts of GTA IV weren’t chucking molotovs out the windows of SUVs or peppering fat Italian gangsters in track suits with AK fire, it was the chase missions which had you perilously weaving lane to lane as scripted obstacles and open world randomness combined to impede your progress.

However, toward the latter half of the game (specifically once Alderny opens up), the game’s “drive here/take this guy back here/haul this fucker across the span of the city while he talks about pussy” mission objectives grate at the nerves. Fun and refined as the driving mechanics are, there’s nothing enjoyable about starting and ending nearly every mission with a road trip. This is made especially intolerable as the game’s lack of a checkpoint system rears its ugly head. Toward the end of the game, I found myself traversing the city exclusively by taxi fast travel, a travesty, given the excellent driving mechanics. GTA IV proves that even with game mechanics, too much reliance on a good thing can still end up being bad.

The long stretches of driving while on missions isn’t a complete waste - Rockstar uses these pre and post mission scenes as space to fit their dialog and expand on their characters - but their constant usage detracts from the quality and enjoyment of a game as a whole. The taxiing that the player does for nearly every character in the game come across as simply being there for the sake of artificially lengthening the game, and that’s never a good thing for a player to become conscious of.

This leads me to my expectations from the driving in GTA V. Firstly, GTA V’s setting of Los Santos is said to be in excess of three times the size of Liberty City. That’s exciting news for fans of the environmental variety and aircrafts of San Andreas. However, that also means that the structure of missions needs to be that much more varied and driving point to point needs to be made that much more interesting.

“Saints Row: The Third” features some brilliant game design in this regard. Its respect system, along with various Saint’s Book challenges, give incentive for players to do everything from drive into oncoming traffic to powerslide through turns or catch big air off jumps. These RPG mechanics are very small differences (they’re just ascribing numbers to things you already do), but they make all the difference. Suddenly, driving just isn’t simply about getting from point A to point B; it’s about constantly working toward completing a set of goals.

I don’t expect (or necessarily want) GTA V to implement an RPG system as involved as Saints Row. Frankly, that wouldn’t quite fit in with the series’ increasingly realistic direction. But there certainly is a middle ground that could help shake up the monotony of cruising the same city blocks for dozens of hours. Even a set of challenges with cash payouts would be better than nothing at all.

Another possibility for spicing up the moment to moment gameplay (and the most likely one, given Rockstar’s pedigree) would be to insert more emergent encounters in the city. Rockstar already used this to great effect in Red Dead Redemption, where it helped make riding a horse over miles of arid expanse far more engaging than it had any right to be. Los Santos could benefit greatly from more engagement with NPCs in this way. GTA IV already featured fleeting hints of this, but imagine a car ride over a bridge that is interrupted by a high speed police pursuit whirring by you, or a bar fight suddenly spilling out onto the sidewalk, or maybe even a turf war between two gangs breaking out. Players could choose to stop and participate and/or interact with these encounters, or completely avoid them altogether. It would solve two problems: a) it would give an added level of depth to the interactivity of the city, and b) it would give players more to engage with on their way to the next all-important story mission.

GTA IV pulled away from the overabundance of content in San Andreas in order to refine and polish the experience. While I appreciated the emphasis on creating a much more thoughtfully designed Grand Theft Auto game, its minimalism did perhaps go a bit far. Too much faith was placed in the driving mechanics, and, fantastic as I feel they are, they are crushed under the weight of trying to support 70-80% of a 40 hour experience. When GTA V invites us back to Los Santos, I would like to retain the fun I had cruising the streets of Liberty City, but with game design that distracts me from it just a bit more.

Two Sides of the Same Coin: A Bioshock Infinite Review

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:57:00 -0400

Bioshock Infinite
Developer: Irrational Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Author: Aaron Jenkins

There’s an eerie familiarity about “Bioshock Infinite,” right from its opening moments. It’s not a sequel to the 2007 dystopian FPS “Bioshock,” at least not in the traditional sense. There’s no continuation of the story or characters of Rapture, the failed objectivist metropolis at the bottom of the Atlantic. Rather, “Infinite” turns back the clock to 1912 and turns its setting heavenward to Columbia, a massive city in the clouds. The city of Columbia is a brilliant, floating monoculture as seen through the eyes of the religious and nationalistic extremism at the turn of the 20th century, and it makes for one of the most unlikely settings for a video game.

All the things that made “Bioshock” so evocative and memorable are present in Columbia, albeit again in slightly altered forms. What once were the mutagenic Plasmids are now the snake-oil-esque Vigors. The iconic Big Daddies are now Handymen, hulking fusions of mechanical automata and human organs. Columbia even has its own radical, visionary leader, a self proclaimed prophet and not-so-secret racist named Zachary Comstock.

A large part of the narrative in “Infinite” has to do with taking this familiarity, and the false sense of security that comes with it, and twisting it until the fictional universe becomes something else altogether. The game’s sense of mystery, and the calculated way in which it unspools it, is unbelievably compelling, making “Infinite” near impossible to put down until the player has seen it through.

The player takes control of Booker DeWitt, a war veteran-turned-detective who ventures to Columbia to rescue a girl and wipe away his heaping gambling debts. It is with this girl that Irrational continues their penchant for creating unique and lifelike AIs. The girl, Elizabeth, is a bright eyed, Rapunzel-esque character with the strange ability to open interdimensional rifts called “tears”. Throughout the game, she is a surprising delight as a companion, which speaks to the complexity of her programming. She runs out in front of the player rather than lagging behind, and though she never actually fires a weapon herself, she is an asset even in mid-combat, as she will gather money, collect ammo, and bring in helpful objects through tears for the player to use.

“Infinite’s” Vigors also give the player a slew of options for combat, keeping encounters feeling fresh even hours into the game. So whether it’s levitating enemies, electrocuting them, or setting nest traps of flesh eating crows for them to stumble into, there’s always an new playstyle to experiment with.

And in the occasions where the game’s various mechanics all come together - the roller coaster-like Sky-lines, Elizabeth’s tears, the vigors - the results compose a beautiful, frenetic chaos with an emphasis on moment to moment improvisation. The gunplay is perhaps not as perfectly polished as other FPS games, but it’s so unique in what it offers that the mild clunkiness is easily forgiven.

The real triumph of “Infinite” is in the elaborate and fantastical world it paints. Few developers handle environmental storytelling with quite the level of detail and sophistication as Irrational, and the difference shows in spades. Not only does every square inch of Columbia feel painstakingly crafted, but the gameplay mechanics are organically connected to the story in ways that make them feel meaningful. And despite all its mystical qualities, Columbia is smartly inspired by a laundry list of real world pioneers. Fans of Walt Disney’s Imagineering or Erwin Schrödinger’s theory of quantum physics will find “Infinite’s” world endlessly fascinating.

Living up to a predecessor as titanous as “Bioshock” would seem an impossible task, and that’s likely why “Infinite” was in development for four and a half years. “Bioshock Infinite” doesn’t simply try to upstage the original game, rather it serves as a fascinating compliment to it; they represent different sides of the same coin. The original “Bioshock” put the player in the position of an archeologist of sorts, unearthing the remains of civilization from the Art Deco graveyard that Rapture had become. “Infinite,” by contrast, allows players to become an active participant in the slow downward spiral of Columbia during the revolt of the Vox Populi, a rebel group composed of the city’s overworked laborers and oppressed minorities.

But when all of that falls away, and the game’s true nature shows its face, the result is a mind blowing series of revelations that both shock and yet fit together perfectly. The game becomes a meditation on religion, redemption, and video games themselves, all tied together in a human tragedy about how our choices not only shape us, but our world as well. “Bioshock Infinite” is not just an amazing game, but an important one. As a certain pair of physicist characters might say: it is talked about, was talked about, and will be talked about for years to come.

Top 10 Games of 2012

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:25:00 -0500

10. Halo 4 - 343 Industries

Handing one of the most successful and influential shooter franchises of all time off to a developer other than Bungie Studios just felt…wrong. But 343 Industries proved with Master Chief’s reawakening in “Halo 4” that they know exactly what makes the series tick, gameplay wise. Sadly, the game’s story, despite its ambitions, ends up being a bit clunky, and while the Prometheans are an interesting addition to the list of “Halo” enemies (certainly a welcome alternative to the Flood or Brutes), they are no replacement for the classic Elites. But, nitpicks aside, “Halo 4” manages to tweak the series’ combat in some clever ways and push the universe in some interesting new directions. Plus, it’s the most stunning visual experience you can have on a console right now. Play it with headphones and the biggest HD screen you can get your hands on.

9. Mark of the Ninja - Klei Entertainment

Don’t let its 2D nature fool you, “Mark of the Ninja” gets right to the core of what makes stealth games so satisfying. And it does this while also managing to intuitively communicate the situational feedback which is so key to the genre. When hidden in shadows, the ninja simply changes color. When making noise, sound waves pulse visually out from their source. These are subtle cues, but they are indicative of the design of the entire game. It doesn’t over complicate itself the way a lot of stealth games manage to do. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and strives to be the best possible version of that. As a result, “Mark of the Ninja” features pitch perfect controls, a great visual style, and a toolset which is seriously satisfying.

8. Sleeping Dogs - United Front Games

“Sleeping Dogs” borrows smartly from “Grand Theft Auto’s” open world design, “Batman: Arkham Asylum’s” melee combat mechanics, and the stylistic elements of Hong Kong cinema. And yet, for all its borrowing, it is surprisingly unique. After so many urban crime games have featured American cities being blown up with all sorts of firearms, it is refreshing to play one set in Asia, with combat primarily focused on martial arts. The fact that the fistfighting is so satisfying, the movement is so fluid, and Hong Kong is so gorgeously rendered (especially in the rain) make “Sleeping Dogs” absolutely worth playing.

7. Fez - Polytron Corporation

“Fez” is about a small sprite character named Gomez who lives in 2D world. All is well until one day he discovers the third dimension. Suddenly, he finds himself with the ability to rotate the cubic world he lives in, realizing that he can exist on four separate planes. It is with this clever and quirky gameplay premise that this “2.5D” platformer begins. But where “Fez” goes from there is unbelievable. As it progresses, “Fez” becomes increasingly nonlinear, complex, and esoteric. Eventually, it becomes apparent that the nature of “Fez” as a cute platformer is, in fact, a deceit. The game slowly but surely transforms into a whole other type of game entirely, bringing in elements of cryptography (of all things) and meta gameplay so outrageous that it must have made Hideo Kojima proud. “Fez” is unlike any game you will ever play. Even once you think you’ve seen everything its eccentricities have to offer, it will astound you yet again with the depths it is willing to venture down its own rabbit hole. It is completely and utterly insane. And that’s a compliment, to be sure.

6. Dishonored - Arkane Studios

Forget its bland narrative and shallow fictional universe; what sets “Dishonored” apart is its immaculate level design. A spiritual successor to the design philosophy of Warren Spector’s “Deus Ex,” “Dishonored” offers so many options for how to approach any given scenario that it occasionally boggles the mind. Its stealth action is fast paced and streamlined efficiently, with supernatural powers which serve as workarounds for the most dull aspects of sneaking. Rather than waiting in total motionlessness for a guard to turn his back, “Dishonored” allows players to see them through walls and teleport directly past their line of sight. The game never forces the player down a single path. Despite playing as an assassin, even killing is entirely optional. It’s a unique take on an oldschool design, one which rewards creative thinking and is highly replayable.

5. Journey - Thatgamecompany

“Journey” is almost like a spiritual successor to Team Ico’s works for the PS2, and as such, every aspect of it feels meticulously crafted, from its sweeping orchestral score to its gorgeous sand tech. But what really stands out is how the game integrates online interaction into its story. Other players will briefly inhabit your journey as you progress, though they cannot interfere or speak. And that is the brilliant irony behind the game. Because players’ means of communication is limited to the nonverbal, the result is a social interaction which feels surprisingly more intimate. Maybe the people you meet in “Journey” are people you’d never normally have any kind of meaningful social interaction with. But you’d never know. Instead, you’re leaping across sand dunes and following in tow with some anonymous stranger, sharing in a joyous experience of exploration and weathering brutal hardships together. It’s a profound moment when you meet someone, as it happens so organically that they might simply saunter up behind you. And when they disconnect, there is a true sense of loss, as your character’s songbird calls suddenly receive no response.“Journey” manages to take the internet, of all things, and transform it a magical, emotional experience. That alone is an achievement worth celebrating.

4. Spec Ops: The Line - Yager Development

“Spec Ops: The Line” is a surrealistic journey to the epicenter of a sand-flooded Dubai, inspired by Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Yet, even given that well known inspiration, the game is anything but predictable. It’s ending is a bone chilling reveal; an almost-nihilistic anti-climax that deconstructs the shooter genre and thrusts its inherent ugliness back into the player’s face. It’s depressing, it’s haunting, it’s everything that a game about a bunch of marines never is. Echoes of “Bioshock” run through the game, as most of the moral “decisions” it forces the player to make are, in fact, illusions. Here, player agency is intentionally squandered to prove a point. “The Line” is a brilliant art experiment disguising itself as a generic war shooter, and it’s an experience that will stick with you, whether you like it or not.

3. Far Cry 3 - Ubisoft Montreal

“Far Cry 3” features a gorgeously rendered open world which offers a lot of freedom to the player, and plenty of the emergent gameplay randomness that goes great with it, while simultaneously balancing that with enough carefully thought out structure to give it focus. Combine that with an excellent sense of progression and stealth mechanics which are just forgiving enough so that players feel empowered yet challenged, and the result is some of the most raw fun you can have in an open world shooter. It’s a shame that it doesn’t conclude nearly as strongly as it began, but there are moments in “Far Cry 3” that are just too good to be undone. All the threatening monologues delivered by Vaas, the game’s mentally unstable antagonist. Soaring over the game’s tropical expanse in a hang glider for the first time. Or that stretch of quests where the game essentially becomes Tomb Raider for a time. Or that crazy moment where that tiger got loose (you know the one). And let’s not forget spraying napalm on gigantic fields of marijuana and panic-stricken pirates all whilst a Skrillex dubstep/reggae crossover track scores the incendiary absurdity. Not enjoying every wild moment “Far Cry 3” has to offer would be the definition of insanity.

2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Firaxis Games

Turn based strategy games typically have a reputation for steep learning curves, making them difficult to get into. “XCOM,” however, strikes a perfect balance between accessibility and depth. Though it is easy to comprehend its mechanics, the game ramps up its difficulty in ways that require constant patience, planning, and rethinking once said plan enevitably goes to hell. It is it a brilliant balance of tense, white knuckle micro strategy and political-based macro strategy, which end up interlocking in incredibly meaningful ways. In a generation full of so many games designed to make the player feel unstoppable, “XCOM” is refreshing in that it beats the player deep into the ground and says, “now deal with it.” No game this year made me swear at it more, and yet no game this year made me feel more elated when I managed to make a comeback by the skin of my teeth. The fact that “XCOM” can evoke so many feelings of tension and horror by means of nothing other than its perfectly designed gameplay is a testament to the interactive medium as a whole.

1. The Walking Dead - Telltale Games

If you get right down to analyzing the plot threads and structure of “The Walking Dead” you’ll realize that most of the player agency is smoke and mirrors. A lot of dialog options lead to the same end result, and player actions don’t really alter the plot as much as you might expect. But “The Walking Dead” is made to be felt, not deconstructed. And in that regard, it is probably the most emotionally gripping game ever made. Throughout this episodic adventure game, players are forced to make unbelievably difficult decisions involving the game’s ragtag cast of tragically flawed characters. The weight of many of these choices bare down on the entire experience, and the consequences of said choices are oftentimes unexpected. Though the game mechanics are simple, the result of the interactivity is that it draws the player deep into the story and closer to the characters. When someone dies in this game, it hits like a gut punch with brass knuckles. Not only is it upsetting or horrifying, you’ll feel a sense of personal responsibility for their demise. You’ll feel like you screwed up. You’ll feel genuine regret for your actions.

It’s fascinating how the game chooses to regard player choices. It introduces players to an amoral world, and forces them to determine which of their morals they deem important enough to preserve. The game doesn’t reward compassion above detached logic, as so many games mistakenly do. Everything is shades of grey, and decisions are much more personal and difficult to make because of that. You’ll never simply be on your “evil” playthrough or anything like that.

“The Walking Dead” also manages to do what so very, very few video games can; it has an ending that works. The final moments of the game are completely devastating, and will leave you squinting at your screen through a glaze of tears. The fact of the matter is, while other games this year may have had stronger mechanics or more innovative technology, none of them made me care as much as “The Walking Dead” did.

Wait, did you wash your hands?

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:43:11 -0500

Wait, did you wash your hands?

I dunno, but he talks too much.

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:38:26 -0500

I dunno, but he talks too much.

Photo

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 04:36:43 -0500

Realistic Pokemon redesigns. Looks incredible. If Pokemon X and...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:23:29 -0500

Eevee (and evolutions)

Venusaur

Blastoise

Charizard

Ghastly/Haunter/Gengar

Scyther

Arcanine

Reshiram

Realistic Pokemon redesigns. Looks incredible. If Pokemon X and Y looked like this, I’d actually play them.

New music video for one of my favorite How to Destroy Angels...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:19:45 -0500

New music video for one of my favorite How to Destroy Angels tracks, “The Loop Closes.” And the full length LP, Welcome Oblivion, will be out on March 5th. Really excited.

On the ending(s?) of Mass Effect 3

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:44:00 -0400

*This is a breakdown of how I feel about the ending of Mass Effect 3. I also give my opinion on the debate currently raging online about it. I wrote this piece with the expectation that anyone reading it has finished Mass Effect 3, so I don’t spend any time summarizing the ending. I am assuming you know what I am talking about. So, yeah, spoiler alert or whatever.

On one side of the heated debate about the ending of Mass Effect 3, there are numerous people infuriated with the series departure with the design philosophy that was, in part, promised to them. Bioware, across its development of the Mass Effect series (and hell, in the telltale name of the series itself), has sworn that by the end of the trilogy, each player’s choices would have serious repercussions for the final state of the galaxy. They told people that what you do will matter in the end.

I can understand that frustration. People had expectations (and perfectly understandable ones at that) which were not met. But in this regard, I’m okay with having an ending without a precious little bow on everything. Practically the entirety of the 35 hours I spent with Mass Effect 3 had me resolving galactic issues, and (insofar as I could tell) my choices did have an impact on how things played out. Mordin Solus managed to survive the suicide mission at the end of ME2 with me, and was there to complete his character arc in curing the genophage, the reproduction-crippling mutagen that he had, earlier in life, helped to perfect. I spared the Rachni Queen on Noveria in the first Mass Effect, and was rewarded with a mission to rescue her from Reaper control and enlist her help for the war effort. I gave the Quarians back their homeworld of Rannoch, all the while being helped by Tali and Legion, surviving members of my Mass Effect 2 crew. Mass Effect 3 does more than enough to resolve the galactic issues that had been present since the very beginning. Tensions come to a head, and are, almost always, resolved. Sometimes even to the storytelling’s detriment, but that is another issue altogether.

My point is, at the end of this series, I didn’t need some galaxy-spanning, tear-jerking, ham-fisted cutscene depicting Krogan and Turians shaking hands, Geth and Quarians working side by side, or some emotional reflecting on the heroics of Commander Shepard. In fact, by the end of the game, I was growing a bit weary of all the blatant emotional manipulation. A lot of it was starting to come off like fan fiction anyway. I was tired of speeches and forced closure with every being (human, asari, salarian, or otherwise) that I had ever met. I was tired of seeing everything work out so perfectly. I wanted to see something shocking. And that’s what I (and everyone else, for that matter) got when making the final push toward the Reaper conduit on Earth.

In part, I found the idea for the ending fascinating. I loved the interpersonal dynamic between Shepard, Admiral Anderson, and the indoctrinated Illusive Man inside the Citadel (a callback to the ending of the original Mass Effect). I got what they were going for with the final choice, where Shepard became the sense of order to total chaos (as evidenced by the violent, yet silent, skybox filled with the desperate climax of the Reaper war). There is a sense of a lonely quiet amid an all-consuming storm. The decisions Shepard is forced to make, they are his (and thus, ours) alone. There are no crew members present to debate the player’s decisions with him/her, nor will anyone ever know that Shepard decided anything at all. As the Reapers are established to be these hyper-advanced synthetic lifeforms whose decisions are beyond the grasp of ordinary organic beings, so too is Shepard raised to this place of omniscience for the game’s finale.

Only, I have no idea what I’m deciding.

True, I’m just a lowly human being myself, but is that really any reason not to explain the nature of the Reapers to me? What I found most frustrating about the final decision in the game wasn’t that my prior decisions in the series had no bearing on it (deciding the fate of all organic life seems to be a little above that anyway, does it not?), but rather that I didn’t understand what I was deciding. Given the choice of what to do about the threat of the Reapers (and given Bioware’s track record of never offering the easy way out of a monumental moral quandary), I expected to be in many emotional places. I was expecting to be conflicted, choosing whether to sacrifice myself (or others) for the greater good, or being able to coldly and selfishly handpick the races that would be permitted to live in the new galaxy I was about to (in essence) create. To some extent, I got that. But for the most part, I was just so damn confused.

Why is the strange astral projection/ghost/whatever of a child the voice of the galaxy’s need for order? Did he create the Reapers? Does he speak for them? Why is there a need for order, other than it serves as a convenient buzzword for why everyone has to die? Why does the Catalyst (or ghost child) offer me these choices?

And as for the choices themselves: they are incredibly arbitrary and not presented in any sort of organic way. They barely draw from the fiction that was set up prior to that moment. They are presented as rule sets, each with pros and cons that feel dreamed up to make them ambiguous for the sake of being such. In fact, there are so many rules that I forgot a few of them by the time the child was done talking. It wasn’t an overwhelming decision in the sense that it seemed too grandiose, but rather because it was set up all in a matter of a minute.

You meet ghost child. He barely explains anything new about the Reapers, only restating what you already know. He gives you three options along with their respective rules, which have not been established at any prior point. Then, already, you are sent forth, stumbling, to decide the fate of the galaxy.

The other enormous issue is that the moral quandary at the game’s end has little thematic value in terms of the series. It’s climactic moment of choosing an ending is quite similar (at least in terms of structure) to last year’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution. In that game, the player has three computer monitors presented to them, and depending on which one they press a button on, it plays a different ending cutscene. Pretty boring, right? Yes, except for the fact that the endings of that game tied back into what the conflict of the story had been all along, namely, whether humanity was exceeding its grasp in experimenting with “transhumanism.” The endings may be overly simplistic in that game, but the nature of the decision which is being made demands philosophical and political thought be engaged. It’s certainly not gaming’s most mature decision making on any level, but it made me think nonetheless. It made me question my own feelings on government regulation, technological progress, and socioeconomic inequality. Mass Effect 3’s ending, by contrast, made me think about…well, not much of anything, really. There was no reveal with the Reapers to help me see them through a lens of reality. They are simply fantasy, and I am left with weird fantasy decisions to make. Fusing organic and synthetic beings? Umm, I don’t care because that doesn’t mean anything to me.

Now, some people would argue that you don’t need to have some sort of overarching thematic through line to make a great story. Maybe so, but good sci-fi is supposed to be relatable in some capacity. There needs to be some sort of real world parallel to the major events in a science fiction story. If there aren’t, it ceases to have meaning.

Mass Effect as a series is no stranger to these things. Sometimes they are incredibly subtle, but they’ve always been there. Of course, the galactic politics between the game’s various races are meant to mirror real world class and race relations. But then there are more subtle points of comparison. In Mass Effect 2, the way the Citadel deals with the Reaper wreckage of Sovereign is that they point the finger on the geth, a race which we later learn is split into various factions (i.e. the “heretics” and the rest), not all of which is the guilty party. This political misinformation and reactionary xenophobia isn’t too far off from how things played out in America during the aftermath of September 11th. Then there’s something like the genophage, the ethical dilemma of which is only a few steps removed from the real life hot topic of abortion. There may have been a crew of mostly badass aliens in Mass Effect 2, but the emotions of anger, pain, guilt, regret, and rigorous drive that were present in their pasts and motivations helped me to understand them, despite however different their culture was from that of humans.

By the ending choices of Mass Effect 3, I don’t know any more about the Reapers than I ever did. I don’t know what motivates them, so I don’t understand them. As such, I have no place in this decision. I am removed and distanced from it. Therefore, the most damning thing about this end choice (that I have yet to hear from just about anyone) is that I’m not really making the decision. Shepard is. Sure, I’m selecting the one I think he would do, or perhaps want to do. But the decision doesn’t speak back to me. What I chose doesn’t say something about myself as a person. It is artificial and detached from reality, and so is not a decision which demands anything from me. I don’t live in the fictional universe of Mass Effect, so if the ramifications of my choices don’t effect specific characters I care about directly or relate to something in my own world, I have no attachment to what I pick.

The decision on Virmire in the first Mass Effect is memorable and effective because it requires the player to condemn one character or another to death. These are people that the player has had time to learn about and (possibly) connect with. It’s a very human and personal moment, and it asks something of the player in making this choice.

By contrast, the final decision involving the Reapers in ME3 is so grandiose in scale that I am required to think long and hard in order to give it my own meaning. I have to do the work in order to care. What I mean is that I have to reflect on every character I know of, and how my decision might effect their lives. In other words, since I know Shepard is going to be sacrificing himself, I decide that I might as well improve the lives of the characters left alive that I care about. I have to jump through various mental hoops in order to give the decision weight. And considering the game offers practically no epilogue for the surviving cast members, the consequences of the decision is left up to my imagination as well.

For example, there’s the creative decision at the game’s end to destroy the galaxy’s various mass relays. It wasn’t until after the game’s credits rolled that I realized what an enormous impact that has on the entirety of the galaxy. The game doesn’t show you (or even tell you, with a text box or something) the ramifications of doing this, and likely for the better. Essentially, by destroying the mass relays, you are effectively cutting off all galactic space travel and communication, meaning that none of the game’s races will ever need to meet again. All the political unrest and decisions you’ve made as the player cease to mean anything, as the Krogan will never again meet the Salarians or Turians, humans will never mate with asari again, etc.

This may sound like a huge ramification for the player’s actions, but given how little a role prior player choice takes in determining the ending, the decision to isolate every race in the galaxy simply comes off as cheap and borderline insulting.

I have still yet to mention the various plot holes that I experienced. So, why exactly does Joker take the Normandy and her crew and make a run for the Sol mass relay, effectively leaving Shepard behind before he even knows what happened? That seems incredibly out of character for him. Also, why is it that during the final push to the conduit in my playthrough, Liara and Garrus were killed, and yet Liara appears prominently in the final cutscene? Since she was my love interest, why wasn’t her death given more weight? This leads me to my final point, which is me playing devil’s advocate to all those that defend Bioware’s authorial independence.

That is to say that Bioware told the story they wanted to tell, with the ending they wanted.

But did they really? A part of me doesn’t think they did.

Everything I experience in the ending hinted that Bioware ran out of time to fill in those blanks, consider the full extent of what their endings meant, and to expand upon the much-too-quick cutscene that wraps up their entire series.

Bioware just announced that they are planning on doing just that: expanding upon the ending of the game to answer questions left lingering, while simultaneously attempting to preserve the artistic intent of the original ending. This is possibly the best response that Bioware can take, in my opinion (so long as they don’t charge players money for the alternate ending). Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for authorial independence and preserving artistic intent. I think the players getting pissed off and demanding a changed ending are self-righteous and entitled fools. They don’t get to demand anything of the creators of the game.

Don’t like the ending? Sorry. Return the game. Boycott Bioware games. Blame EA’s influence. Whatever. But don’t pretend you are owed an ending tailor-made for you simply because you “played 80 hours of game waiting for the end.” Don’t think that just because Bioware crafts various artificial “choices” for you in their games, that you own part of the story. You don’t. You didn’t write it. You merely experienced what was written. Therefore, you don’t have creative ownership of any part of the game.

I don’t like the ending of Mass Effect 3. I was just as disappointed as everyone else. I’d like to see it improved. But not because I’m “owed” a better ending, but because I feel that Mass Effect deserves a better ending. And I don’t expect it to be altered. Were it to remain how it is currently until the end of time, I would not continue to whine. I will critique it, but I don’t (and cannot) expect a change. The only thing that keeps me wanting it altered at all is just that, yes, I don’t think Bioware had time left in development to present the ending that they wanted to. It seemed rushed, and I wished they had been given more time.

But they weren’t. And you know what? I’ll get over it.

But since they’re fixing it up now anyway, here’s hoping they manage to do what they likely wanted to originally.

But despite all this complaining (from myself, as well as countless others), what strikes me most about this whole controversy is that, for perhaps the first time in the history of the video game industry, a large quantity of people actually give a damn about the conclusion to a game. It’s not surprising that I care (hell, I could write equally long rants about why the endings of Bioshock, Fallout 3, or the Halo series are so regrettably disappointing as well), but that such a large scale, passionate, and occasionally vitriolic response has ensued has been an incredible thing to see. Sometimes, that sense of criticism has bordered on the insane (filing FTC reports over the game or planning protests outside Bioware’s studios), but oftentimes I have been truly impressed with the criticism that this ending has inspired. It seems that the time when gamers would take any halfway decent video game narrative they could get and latch onto it as some perfect creation of beauty is coming to an end. The people coming out about critiquing the ending (the ones who aren’t just following the rage-filled crowd, anyway) actually seem to have taste.

People give a shit about Mass Effect. People learned to love the fiction, the characters, and the events that they experienced. But above all, they learned to not simply descend into fanboyish feelings about every story beat. There has been legitimate criticism about not just the game’s ending, but the entirety of the game’s pacing, character arcs, and gameplay all over the internet. And Mass Effect 3 has only been out for about 2 1/2 weeks so far. It’s something that, as someone who has strong feelings about the possibilities of video game storytelling and the importance of true game criticism, has made me feel quite proud, despite my disappointment in where my favorite series in gaming left off.

powderedhand: complication with optimistic outcome // trent...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:11:19 -0500

powderedhand:

complication with optimistic outcome // trent reznor / atticus ross
the social network (the null corporation, 2010)

The best track not used in the film. :)

rickitarrs: This is a casual reminder that Rango has more Oscars than Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:01:59 -0500

rickitarrs:

This is a casual reminder that Rango has more Oscars than Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Moneyball and The Tree of Life combined.

I liked Rango quite a bit, but that is pretty jarring.

Hi there, I am currently writing a paper for a writing course and I need quotes from 2 film reviews. I plan on incorporating the music used in the Social Network as my main topic. I agree with much of your essay on the film and I was hoping that I could use a quote from your page. However, since your name is titled "Defective Pixel" it may be hard for me to use it. Is there any way you could provide me with your name? Thanks a lot, Kyle.

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:26:15 -0500

Absolutely. My real name is Aaron Jenkins. I have to say that it’s pretty flattering that you’d like to cite my essay as a source for your own. The only thing that I’d ask is that, if you do quote my paper, you let me know what part you’re quoting and/or send me copy of the finished essay (as I would be interested to read it). This is mainly for curiosity’s sake more than anything. Anyway, I hope that helps, and good luck on your essay, Kyle!

Top 10 Game Scores of 2011 (Honorable Mentions)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:59:00 -0500

This is a list of video game soundtracks from 2011 that didn’t quite make my top 10 list. They’re all seriously great, and with these ten soundtracks, I could have easily made a top 20 list. This list is much more quick-and-dirty, with much less writing by me, but the music itself is still absolutely worth hearing. For this list, I have placed an asterisk (*) next to my favorite track from each score, just to make the list easier to skim over.

Note: These are in no particular order whatsoever.

SOCOM 4 (Bear McCreary)

Frankly, some of the most bombastic and exciting music a modern military shooter has seen in quite some time. I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t play SOCOM 4, but I know an awesome soundtrack when I hear it. Lots of terrific Asian influence mixed in with strong orchestra. Enough said.

Standout tracks:

Theme from SOCOM 4*

Countdown

Clawhammer

Minecraft (C418)

Well, this is awkward…sorry, ummm, hey Minecraft. Look, I don’t know how to tell you this, but umm, I don’t think you’re a 2011 game, you know? I mean, you’ve been out for a while now. I know it wasn’t official until this year, but you’re messing my list up here by having been in beta for so long. Well, whatever. It’s not like you’re invading the top 10. Anyway, my point is, you have some really pretty music, Minecraft. I really mean that. I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s me.

But seriously, official release date discrepancy aside, Minecraft has one of the most soothing and inspiring piano/synthesizer scores of 2011. It was very close to making my list, and I don’t even play Minecraft.

Standout tracks:

Door

Subwoofer Lullaby*

Moog City

Minecraft

Mice on Venus

Wet Hands

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Greg Edmonson, Clint Bajakian, Azam Ali, and JD Mayer)

As far as Hollywood inspired orchestral scores, it doesn’t get much better than Greg Edmonson’s work on Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The series has always had excellent compositions, and the third game is, to me, the best work that’s been done for an Uncharted game. Also, some co-composers jump in to add some tracks which give the score as a whole a more ethnically diverse feel.

Standout tracks:

Atlantis of the Sands (Greg Edmonson)

Bazaar Brawl (Azam Ali and JD Mayer)

Drake’s Return (Greg Edmonson)

The Caravan (Azam Ali and JD Mayer)*

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (Jesper Kyd and Lorne Balfe)

Jesper Kyd’s score for Assassin’s Creed II is one of my favorites of all time. The way it combined sweeping orchestra and grandiose choir, which one would typically associate with the Renaissance, with electric guitar and modern synthesized sounds not only gave the series a totally unique sound, but also mirrored the fact that the game was set in the past by means of the future. Just as the game’s HUD was of a sleek, digital design, and played contrast to the cities of Florence and Venice in the 15th century, so too do the synthetic elements of that score creep up around in inside the edges of what otherwise sounded totally period appropriate. It served as a continual reminder of how the player was perceiving the game world.Brotherhood featured a good score from Kyd, but it lacked the level of expertise of the prior game (likely due to a rushed development cycle). In order to compensate for that rush, Ubisoft decided to hire on a co-composer, Lorne Balfe, to work with Kyd on the score for Revelations. It’s a massive score, and it certainly has more great moments than Brotherhood’s score did (though likely through shear volume), however I feel that Balfe’s contributions seem to water down the sound of the series that used to be so special. The score for Revelations is certainly well done, but it simply fails to live up to what Kyd has already done. But hell, I’m only complaining because I love the prior game’s music so much. Revelations still has really good stuff.

Standout tracks:

The Road to Masyaf (Lorne Balfe)

The Wounded Eagle (Jesper Kyd)

Welcome to Kostantiniyye (Jesper Kyd)*

No Mistakes (Jesper Kyd)

Ambush (Jesper Kyd)

On the Attack (Jesper Kyd)

Battlefield 3 (Johan Skugge and Jukka Rintamaki)

I don’t have much to say about the score for Battlefield 3 (as I haven’t played the game), except that I really like the choice of electronic sounds that the composers have chosen for it. Definitely worth listening to. Especially the title track.

Standout tracks:

Battlefield 3 Main Theme*

Solomon’s Theme

Operation Metro

Crysis 2 (Hans Zimmer, Borislav Slavov, and Tilman Sillescu)

I can appreciate some balls-out blockbuster orchestra, even when the score itself isn’t really adding a whole lot to a shallow narrative and uninteresting fictional universe. And when Hans Zimmer dips his fingers in something, even for just a track or two, I prick up my ears to listen, and am always glad I did. “Insertion” sets more atmosphere for the game than its entire visual department managed, in spite of all that CryEngine3 tech. It’s also one of my favorite tracks of the year in spite of the game. Again, Hans Zimmer does wonders. Too bad he didn’t compose the whole score, but what’s there is still definitely well done.

Standout tracks:

Crysis 2 Intro (Hans Zimmer)

Insertion (Hans Zimmer)*

SOS New York (Borislav Slavov)

Chase (Borislav Slavov)

Saints Row: The Third (Malcolm Kirby Jr.)

Saints Row: The Third is a total power fantasy, all wrapped in a thick layer of “ultra postmodernist” (as the game so blatantly points out in its first mission) insanity. As such, the score has to strike a fairly perfect balance between being over-the-top without sounding so silly as to come off as cheesy or overdone. There’s no arguing with the results: Malcolm Kirby Jr. nailed it. The music of Saints Row: The Thirdisn’t quite hip hop (despite that drum machine and the occasional record scratching), it’s too beat-oriented to be considered rock music, and still not quite urban electronica. It’s somewhere in between all of these, drawing influence form all over. And hell, it works. Somehow, Malcolm Kirby Jr. found the right sound for a world containing autotuned pimps, outrageously oversized sex toys, and a gang full of Luchadors. This score just did miss my list, and if I had to cite a number 11, this would be it.

Standout tracks:

Saints Row The Third*

When Good Heists Go Bad

The Mission Part 1

The Mission Part 2

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Hajime Wakai, Mahito Yokota, and Koji Kondo)

On the whole, I’m pretty down on this score. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great soundtrack, complete with plenty of tracks that both suit the game and that I could listen to on repeat a couple dozen times. However, this is a ZELDA score, which means it has to live up to decades of some of the most unique, imaginative, and emotionally powerful video game tracks ever composed. Frankly, this score doesn’t live up to any prior score for a Zelda game (at least the console ones). It simply lacks the creativity and catchy-ness that Koji Kondo’s earlier work thrived on. But hey, there’s some great use of orchestra here, so it’s totally work a listen.

Standout tracks:

Ballad of the Goddess*

Fi’s Theme

Loftwing Theme

Romance Theme

Frozen Synapse (Paul Taylor)

The score for the indie PC title Frozen Synapse contains some seriously great electronica. It sounds to me a bit like trip-hop at times, and it is one of the easiest to listen to scores of 2011. Here’s another one that just missed my list. Give it a listen. You’ll be glad you did.

Standout tracks:

A Functioning God*

Switch

Schism

Child of Eden (Genki Rockets)

This isn’t exactly a fair contestant, seeing as its “score” is made up of remixes of songs performed by the design director’s band, Genki Rockets, and there is no actual release of the soundtrack available. However, if I’m going to make any kind of list of video game music from the past year, I have to grace it with Child of Eden’s gorgeous 21st century trance/techno music. Just listen to any one of the game’s five gorgeous level themes and try not to crack a smile. I dare you. I double dare you, you soulless nerds. Child of Eden’s music is so infectious that it convinced me to play through this game at least a dozen times this year. And I don’t even really like trance and techno stuff. Well, I didn’t think I did, anyway…

Standout tracks:

Matrix

Evolution

Journey*

robsheridan: Lest you should doubt its influence, here’s...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:11:23 -0500

robsheridan:

Lest you should doubt its influence, here’s (generally) what mobile phone designs looked like before and after the iPhone.

Top 10 Game Scores of 2011

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:40:00 -0500

2011 was a fantastic year for video game soundtracks, with dozens of differing styles and approaches to game scoring. I am, of course, a total soundtrack aficionado, and as such, have compiled a list of my favorites of the year. The results are enormous, and I don’t expect anyone to read this entire thing. But please check out what catches your eyes (or ears, as I have embedded dozens of tracks into this post). And now, here are my favorite game soundtracks of 2011:

10. The Binding of Isaac (Danny Baranowsky)

This weird little indie game doesn’t really have a whole lot going for it in terms of gameplay. It’s not bad, it’s just simple. It’s a fairly straightforward Zelda dungeon tribute (albeit dungeons which are randomly generated) with combat being handled like as a four-way shooter in the vein of of Robotron. But the music for The Binding of Isaac single-handedly elevates this game an absolute gem of 2011. Danny Baranowsky, best known for his score for the masochistic 2D platformer Super Meat Boy, expertly blends modern drum machine loops, synthesizers, and dramatic orchestra with little remnants of chip tunes and the sensibility of video game scoring used in games in the SNES era. It’s an excellent combination of new and old - melodic and ambient as well - that has a sound all to its own.

Standout tracks:

The Binding of Isaac

The title track for the game is oddly childlike (what with that soft synthesizer melody) and yet the strings give it a sense of tragedy (the game is, after all, dealing with the theme of child abuse). It sets the stage for the game as an isolated journey into the dark recesses of the unknown, and it conveys the desire to explore those places, but it informs the listener that this isn’t the story of a little elf boy with a green cap. Rather, it’s the story of child torn from the safety of his own home by a mother whose religious fanaticism has her hunting for his blood.

Sacrificial

This serves as the main dungeon theme in the game, and starts exactly as you’d expect it to: sounding mysterious and almost lonely. However, it quickly makes a sharp turn, becoming a darkly bombastic theme with haunting vocal chanting and heavy drums. It takes inspiration from classic choral music, and appropriately so, given the themes of religion (and the twisting of its principles) at the game’s core. It plays with asymmetric time signatures (it’s part 9/8, part 6/8, according to Baranowsky), and this unexpected song structure works to mirror the unexpectedness of the game itself (given that its environments are randomly generated).

Divine Combat

God damn. This is a boss theme which could go toe-to-toe with any of the best from the Final Fantasy series. And that’s saying a whole hell of a lot. A lightning fast tempo caries the tension and conflict at the core of the song, as the entire thing threatens to come apart at the seams, what with that spastic synthesizer atop frantic clanging percussion. And then, at about 0:33, that finger blistering piano melody comes in for what seems like the blink of an eye, bringing the pace of the song to practically absurd levels, and then transitions straight back into the original melody. An incredible and complex composition that thematically summarizes the insanity of The Binding of Isaac while just sounding really, really awesome. It stands out to me as one of the strongest singular tracks from any video game score of 2011.

Repentant

With “Repentant,” again we hear some of that inspiration from classic choir music. It goes between a fast paced, almost militaristic-sounding, drum loop supporting a set of piano melodies that are undeniably eerie, yet they contain a sense of purpose and momentum behind them. That then transitions into a great quiet moment of slower keyboard and drums, with some soft orchestra and choir in the hind layers.

9. Rayman: Origins (Christophe Héral and Billy Martin)

Christophe Héral’s music for Rayman: Origins is one of the most blissful soundtracks I’ve heard from a video game in recent years. It’s simply and undeniably joyful, with its prominent flutes, saxophones, kazoos, and, oh yes, even didgeridoos. Drawing influence from everything from mariachi music to big band jazz, the score keeps the listener one his/her toes and works in tandem with the game’s wonderfully vibrant world and meticulously animated 2D sprites to create its distinctly comedic personality. With each of the dramatic transitions in location that the game takes, the music goes through equally staggering transitions. In strict terms of variety, this would probably be the best soundtrack of the year.

Standout tracks:

The Lum King

This song plays in Rayman: Origins’ title screen, and if its funky, island-sounding opening doesn’t sell you, then then the cutesy, oh-so-very-wonderfully-silly gibberish chanting will surely do so. What’s great about this track (and the whole score for that matter) is that it doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard. It just simply channels happiness. It embodies it. You can’t really argue with it. You just have to smile and press start.

Shooting Me Softly

This track is hilarious to me. It begins as one would think a theme for flight in a game or movie would, and that triumphant orchestra continues throughout. But then comes that ridiculous kazoo playing a melody which sounds…well, it’s a really funny combination. Plus the men chanting with the kazoo and shouting “Hey!” every so often. It’s just brilliant. And exactly what you need to score a bunch of characters riding atop giant mosquitoes and shooting enemies (the kazoo sounds like a mosquito buzzing, get it?).

A Slap-Happy Start

There are qualities of unexpectedness and beauty about this track that make it one of my favorites of the entire year. It opens with these ethnic drums that quickly set up the game’s opening jungle environment, then follow that up with beautiful mallet and chime melodies. Then, at about 1:20, you get - of all things - a 1,500 year old instrument from Australia popping up and stealing the show: a didgeridoo. Then the song shifts yet again, to a different (and more elaborate) melody. It’s simply an amazing composition, and it embodies everything I love about this game, from the beauty of the 2D art to the “anything goes” vibe it emanates.

Advancement

Yet another fantastic “jungle” song. The didgeridoo is still here, albeit taking a backseat to the drums and twangy strings, and there’s a really playful driving melody at the track’s end. Just more good stuff.

Glacier Cocktail

Here we get some fantastic, big band jazz (of which I am a huge sucker for). It’s grand and over-the-top (like most of the game), and the fact that it sounds to me like something Henry Mancini might have composed (a la Breakfast at Tiffany’s) makes it all the more awesome. Also, listen for the cork popping sound at 0:26. Yep, it’s like I’m partying with Audrey Hepburn, and I love it.

Frozen Paradise

Ooooh, more champagne. At least that’s how the song starts. Then there’s some really gorgeous flute playing atop a jazzy beat. Short and sweet, but still shows off Christophe Héral’s range as a composer.

Breaking the Ice

Okay, let’s take that big band jazz and blow it wide open. This is logical conclusion to this section of the game’s style of composition. Frantic jazz which unexpectedly takes a turn into something like mariachi music after the 0:50 mark or so. That goofy chanting returns and trumpets join in to give things a more southwestern sound.

First Staffs

An infectious mallet melody kicks this track off, which is then layered atop by another set of mallets and what sounds like someone drumming on the neck of a stringed instrument. I include this track, again, to demonstrate the incredible range of this score.

The Lum’s Dream

Who would have thought that you could take that Pig Latin-ish gibberish and make it sound beautiful? Here, Héral achieves just that, and amid some soft music, it is given a calming effect. Just like with the weird nonsense language he used in his soundtrack for Beyond Good and Evil, he is able to demonstrate the power and effect of vocals simply as a sound. Sometimes the value in singing is all in its tone and rhythm. You don’t actually have to say anything at all to garner an emotional response.

8. Shadows of the Damned (Akira Yamaoka)

The moody, atmospheric, and unique sounds of Japanese composer Akira Yamaoka have been dedicated to the misty and ethereal town of Silent Hill for over a decade now. And although his first soundtrack outside Konami is a very brief one, Yamaoka really offers a lot to the endearing madness of Suda51’s Shadows of the Damned. Though the tone of the game’s narrative is positively batshit insanity dipped in nonsense and sprinkled with comedic self-awareness, Yamaoka’s music is deathly serious. It lends a deeper atmosphere to the game’s macabre depiction of hell (what with its streams of blood, mounds of bones, and demonic corpses). There’s a sense of isolation and introspection within the score that works wonderfully for the game’s quieter moments. And the way Yamaoka’s score plays against Suda51’s eccentricities makes both stand out as stronger for it.

Standout tracks:

Last stop, windows up

Certainly the best loading screen theme of the year, this track is an excellent example of Yamaoka’s “ethnic” sound for this score. And the piano lying atop the drum layer brings that gorgeous mix of peaceful melancholy that he was so well known for in his Silent Hill music. The drums play up the foreign and absurd setting while the piano grounds the story in the Garcia’s sense of anguish at the loss of his girlfriend. Again, the music plays things straight in spite of the game itself.

Fathomer

This track shows Yamaoka treading familiar waters from his Silent Hill days, but proving that his mix of industrial and dark trance music is still really unique. He does wonders with just a drum machine and a synthesizer in this track.

Cold Turkey

Yamaoka also has a very great knack for taking dark and moody textures and applying them to otherwise funky song structures. Here’s an example of him doing what he does best: having you groove to something eerie.

Broken Bones, Broken Promises

One of the more beautiful tracks Yamaoka has done in quite some time. Really haunting stuff, and again we hear the more “ethnic” drums.

Dropped Off Between Stops

A companion piece to “Last stop, windows up,” this track serves as the load screen theme in the latter half of the game. There’s an eerie funkiness to this track, and the synthesizer gives it a feeling of being a kind of out-of-body experience, or something that ghosts would dance to, or…well, I can’t describe it too well…

7. L.A. Noire (Andrew Hale and Simon Hale)

A soundtrack like that of L.A. Noire is a rarity. In it, we get some beautifully composed big band jazz and small scale orchestra working hand-in-hand. The effect is gorgeous, and the sound perfectly captures the sound of Hollywood’s noir films from the 40s and 50s. What almost seems like a mistake is also part of what makes the score all the more brilliant. The big band jazz that the game features didn’t become prominent until the 1950s (specifically the later half) and yet the game takes place in 1947. So essentially, what the score is doing is literally treating the game’s story as though it was a noir film made in the late 1950s that takes place in the late 1940s. That’s certainly one way of conveying a game’s inspirational roots, eh?

Standout tracks:

Main Theme

This quiet, moody jazz, which plays at the stylish black and white title screen for L.A. Noire is absolutely gorgeous. The lonely trumpet takes the lead in a mournful melody that embodies the urban setting and brooding nature of film noir, which is them echoed by a saxophone. The quiet, jazzy drums and slow piano give a calming effect to the piece, in spite of how depressing it can sometimes sound. It’s hard to imagine a better noir track for this game’s title theme. Certainly one of my favorites of the entire year.

New Beginning, Pt. 3

There’s something about this track that I can’t quite place. Perhaps its the cyclical nature of the string melody at its opening, or the triumphant horns that play along with it, but I certainly love this track. There’s mystery to the track in its latter half that goes perfectly with the noir themes of the narrative. And the fact that it starts so optimistically reflects Cole Phelp’s idealistic worldview at the game’s onset.

Temptation, Pt. 2

Another gorgeous use of horns to drive home that sense of urban malaise and depression so central to the game’s depiction of 1940s Los Angeles. This track effortlessly transitions in and out of quiet, almost meditative moments, and sweeping jazz. It’s a great track for setting up location, but is certainly not deprived of a human element because of it.

Redemption, Pt. 2

There is, of course, the moody aspect of L.A. Noire, but then there are those moments when the ever tightening dramatic tension approaches the breaking point, and that’s exactly where this track comes in. This track uses a jazzy (albeit somewhat choppy) beat as a means to instill uneasiness in the listener, as the the strings play a dissonant and barely-there melody. By the time that brass comes in, there’s no questioning that time is running short. This track is an exercise in utilizing the often overlooked dramatic capabilities of jazz music fused with minimal orchestra. The tension here is palpable, which serves the game’s highest dramatic moments at the finale of a case very well.

6. Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Jim Guthrie)

I’m not surprised to have an indie game this high on my list, as many indie games place a huge emphasis on their music as a means to distinguish themselves from the crowded gaming market. However, I admit, I am a bit surprised to find an iOS game this high on my list, as mobile games in general are oftentimes difficult to distinguish from throwaway Flash/browser game experiences. But there’s no denying it, Jim Guthrie has crafted a score for the snidely self-aware Sword and Sworcery that is rife with somber emotions and contains just the right amount of old-school synthesized sounds to compliment the unique pixel art which comprises the game’s visuals.

Standout tracks:

Dark Flute

In spite of the track name, that’s not, of course, a flute you’re hearing in this song. Rather, this song is a series of synth loops, with one triumphant one played atop it, along with distorted guitar chords. When the drums finally join in, the song attains a odd feeling about it. Almost like its celebrating something holy, but laughing at it all the same.

Lone Star

Maybe it’s the drum machine, playing out everything in repetition as if by someone going through a seizure. Maybe it’s that bass groove, just a bit too funky for its own good. Or maybe it’s that keyboard melody, which just screams “old school fantasy game” at me. I’m not sure what, but this song sounds to me exactly like the personality of Sword of Sworcery. That is to say, it seems filled with snarkiness, to the point where I feel like it is comical. This song seems to be a parody to me. Maybe not, but even still, I like it a lot.

The Prettiest Weed

This is a fantastic track, with a strong driving beat and a lead synthesizer whose wailing melody halfway through the track reminds me of Vangelis in the best possible way. It lends to the game that sort of triumphant nature which seems sarcastic in its use, given that the game primarily consists of walking and tapping on objects to examine them.

The Cloud

The title track to Sword and Sworcery is a mashup of several instruments that seem as if they were all doing their own thing and accidentally fell into the same song. Some parts of it sound almost amelodic, others like the echo of an instrument more than the thing itself. What results, strangely enough, is a thing of beauty that soothes me one moment and saddens me the next. The percussion in this song sounds militaristic in nature (something akin to playing taps) and seems to be a call to adventure in that sense. But the instruments sound frail and defeated. The journey seems ominous, melancholic even.

Under A Tree

A joyfully over-the-top use of synthesizers to create a surreal soundscape featuring long, sustained notes and fluttering melodies that sound as silly as they do gorgeous. Just a great mixture of layers and moods here. Jim Guthrie knows how to create tracks that grab you and don’t let go.

The Maelstrom

The repetitive guitar loop that serves as the core of this song really grabs me. Without it, this track would sound incredibly depressing, what with the light drumming, long synth notes, and depressed piano notes that have such a large distance between each other. The guitar provides the track with purpose, and gives it a sense of hope. To me, this track conveys the idea of carrying on in spite of everything. Trudging onward and forward, and not looking back for too long.

The Ballad of Space Babies

Of all the excellent tracks that comprise Sword and Sworcery’s score, this may be, in spite of its goofy name, one of the most personal and remarkably beautiful. It’s a very slow build, but the little twinkles of synth and soft ambiance found in the track’s middle make it worth it. It’s not the most complicated track, but it serves as a very human moment among so many hyper-active and quick moving tracks that are a part of this soundtrack.

The Prettiest Remix

This track starts off just as the name implies: soft and pretty. However, even within its brief runtime (less than a minute) it attains quite a grandeur about itself. Certainly worth pointing out.

5. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Jeremy Soule)

I’ll be the first to admit that this score took me by surprise. Oblivion had a score which had numerous high points, but overall it just seemed to lack a clear personality to give it cohesiveness (which is exactly what I feel Oblivion lacked as a game, in retrospect). Skyrim’s soundscapes, by contrast, are much more consistent and fitting, given the icy setting. I will admit that it isn’t this high on my list for being consistently amazing (as I find some of its tracks to be fairly boring), but the score remains well crafted throughout its massive three hour run, and when it hits the highs that I’m about to highlight, nothing else can touch it. This is video game orchestra at its finest.

Standout tracks:

Dragonborn

A decade ago, composer Martin O’ Donnell created a title track for Halo: Combat Evolved that taught us that chanting space monks are pretty damn awesome. Today, we have composer Jeremy Soule doing the same, but now with a choir of 90+ Nordic barbarians shouting The Elder Scrolls’ dragon tongue in unison. And guess what? It sounds pretty damn awesome. This is actually the same classic Elder Scrolls theme song you’ve heard at the title screens for Morrowind and Oblivion; it’s just remixed into a new track. That shouldn’t come across as an insult to the creativity of this track, however. Quite the contrary. The fact that Soule has gotten so much out of the same theme after all these years is something to be marveled at. It’s the reason some people credit him as the closest person gaming has to a John Williams.

Dawn

As great as those masculine, overpowering shouts from a choir of barbarians are, there’s still certainly room for a bit more traditional choir. This track begins with soft strings and a chant that sounds almost religious. The track celebrates the rising of the sun and dawn of the new day, and as it progresses, the song transitions between scoring the beauty of the sunrise to scoring (with brass and drumrolls) the vastness of Skyrim’s landscape as it is slowly illuminated.

Far Horizons

Exciting and empowering as “Dragonborn” is as a title track, it scores the highest points of action in Skyrim, namely epic dragon slaying. But frankly, it is not these moments that I feel such a powerful love with The Elder Scrolls games for. It is those moments of exploration, discovery, and awe-inspiring (oftentimes peaceful) gazing at fantastical landscapes and vistas that give me such a powerful longing to play Skyrim again and again and again. While “Dragonborn” provides a cathartic rush of adrenaline that only true geeks can understand, “Far Horizons” gives rise to an overwhelming level in emotion in me that reminds me why I love exploring virtual worlds in video games. The distant horns that sound as though they are echoing down from one of Skyrim’s many snow-capped peaks, the soft chanting that sounds more like a dream than reality, and those beautiful violins all come together to create what I would call the theme to the land of Skyrim. It encapsulates everything I love about this game, and does so handily.

The Bannered Mare

The issue I take with orchestral scores is that even when they are played softly, they still sound too grand. They’re larger than life in a lot of regards. So, unfortunately, they don’t typically give you a sense of intimacy or quiet emotion. And so I feature this little, easy-to-miss track from Skyrim’s score. Here, we hear a couple of lutes playing together. In it, I hear the people and culture of Skyrim, and the first time I heard it, in one of Skyrim’s many sleazy pubs, I found myself enraptured and fully immersed in the world that Bethesda had crafted. This score needs moments like this, both for their individual effect and so that epic tracks like “Dragonborn” have something to play off of.

The Streets of Whiterun

One of the most beautiful tracks Jeremy Soule has ever composed, “The Streets of Whiterun” does something which, musically, is very difficult to achieve: it immediately provides me with an emotional connection to a specific place. I cared about the city of Whiterun while playing through Skyrim. I didn’t want to see it succumb to the fiery breath of dragons. I wanted its people to live their lives in peace. Part of that is due to some fantastic writing and art direction which gave the city a very strong personality, but mostly I cared for the city itself because it was the source of such moving music.

Journey’s End

As the track title will tell you, there’s a sense of peace and accomplishment about this song. Its orchestra is grand and moments of it even sound as though they are morning some sort of loss. This is another one of the great overworld tracks of Skyrim, the kind that play just as you cross over another mountain and gaze down upon some new, fantastical domain.

Watch the Skies

Dragon battles. Jeremy Soule knows how to score em’.

Sovngarde

Something akin to a slowed down “Dragonborn”. Again, a very masculine track that really sells the grandiosity and religious significance of Skyrim’s equivalent of the Norse Valhalla.

4. inFamous 2 (James Dooley, JD Mayer, Bryan “Brain” Mantia, Galactic)

The original Infamous soundtrack remains one of my favorite game soundtracks in recent years. The aural experimentation present within it was immediately compelling, and actually managed to lend to Empire City a unique personality, in spite of its bland art direction and ghettoized buildings painted drab and grey. Electronica guru Amon Tobin brought to the score a wild series of sounds that took the thin bit of intrigue of Infamous’ setting and crafted it into makeshift instruments. The score was comprised of everything from banging on trash can lids, to placing beads atop drum surfaces, to playing the neck of a cello like a percussive instrument. Sadly, Amon Tobin was not able to return for the score toInfamous 2. However, developer Sucker Punch had great replacements lined up for their sequel’s New Orleans inspired setting: Stanton Moore and Bryan “Brain” Mantia from the New Orleans band Galactic. The second game’s score might not throw caution to the wind quite as much as the original in terms of sound, however, there is no denying that the combination of deep south funk (brought to the score by Galactic) and superhero orchestra in the vein of Hans Zimmer (brought by JD Mayer, who also worked on the original Infamous’ score) creates something that sounds truly unique and utterly exciting.

Standout tracks:

Get Bertrand (JD Mayer)

To kick things off and set the stage for the rest of the soundtrack, this early piece takes a nice, easy-to-dive-into bassline that sounds right out of New Orleans and merges it with tension-filled orchestra. As the score for a superhero story, this track establishes the unique choice in setting, and adds some excellent. The best part? Listen to where the orchestral strings start mimicking the funk music. Great stuff.

7th Ward (Galactic)

This track strikes a very strange tone. It starts with shrill, distorted strings and some heavy echoes of drums, then takes a sharp turn and drops (at about 0:25) into an unexpected groove. The orchestra comes back in, adding tension to the hand drums and trumpets and such, and giving a dark edge to what is otherwise a strangely danceable song. The best part comes in at 1:33, when the layers fall out to give way to that simple drum, being played by hand. It then builds back up in tension and shrillness, until, at 2:23, the orchestral sounds break out into a wicked groove and we get some electric guitar chords out of nowhere. It’s a song that keeps my interest and keeps me on my toes throughout.

Swamp Blockade (Brain)

I’m guessing this is what the theme song to an evil bayou sounds like. The first half minute serves to set up a physical space, with squeaking door sounds and echoed strings under some modification leading the way to the dirty beak that picks up the track. There’s some surprising complexity to the layering in this song (which largely works as a soundscape for the game’s opening swamp levels), all of which build up to a nice little funk at around 1:46. There’s even something that sounds like a didgeridoo that comes in in the final half of the song (and played in a much more sinister manner than the slap-happy Rayman: Origins score). I’m not entirely sure how a lot of these sounds were achieved really, which is perfect, given how this track is the first the player hears upon arriving in New Marais. The departure from the previous game’s setting is scored with ominous and alien sounds. This is an excellent example of the brilliant and constantly surprising instrumentation on this soundtrack.

The Freaks Are Everywhere (Galactic)

An exercise in tension building, this track is composed of numerous drumrolls, dissonant moments of string instruments playing notes which descend straight down the scale, and a crisp, dark synthesizer melody. Works wonders for the large scale battle involving dozens of Freaks in the game.

Rescue Wolfe (Brain)

The bassline that starts this track is just so damn dirty. This serves to aid in building tension in a similar way that “The Freaks Are Everywhere” does, albeit with more focus on the orchestra and a larger sense of scale. And that sense of scale plays wonderfully off of the minimalist bassline that the track occasionally drops back out to. Again, the layering in this score is expertly done.

Meet Nix (Galactic)

This track alone makes me glad Nix is the character she is in Infamous 2. Yes, I continue to use the adjective “dirty” to describe some of the sounds on this score, however, up until now that was mostly meant to speak to the level of urban grit and chaos present in the game’s setting and how the music was communicating that sense via sound. With this track, there’s definitely some of that. But when I call this track dirty, I mean it’s damn sexy. It’s creepy at its onset, it sounds a bit disturbed (just like Nix herself), but that smoky saxophone is red hot with some New Orleans spice. This track is great at setting up Nix’s sexualized, borderline psychopathic character. And I love it.

Pushing and Shoving (JD Mayer)

Ah, and here we come to my favorite track of the score. JD Mayer really outdid himself with this little gem. This track is almost entirely composed of various string instruments, all building on top of one another, and continually moving from one sonic concept to another. This track really captures the lightning pace of the action and movement in Infamous 2 (if you’ll excuse the pun) and elevates it to a whole other level. Once it gets going, there’s no stopping it. The best part and what solidifies it as one of my favorite tracks of 2011 is that sudden moment at 1:27 where all but two of the layers drop off. Perfect.

Unfinished Business (JD Mayer)

Now here’s JD Mayer with some funk infusion. Lots of his signature descending strings and bite-size chunks of dissonance all layered atop one another. Another great track which demonstrates how this score effortlessly provides heavy drama on top of deep south bass and drums.

La Roux (Galactic)

The craziest, most unsettling sounds of the score come from this track. It brings back memories of the best stuff Amon Tobin offered to the original Infamous’ score, before everything hits an infectious beat at 0:48 that completely sells me on it. There’s a lot going on in this track. Try to keep up.

3. Bastion (Darren Korb)

Part wild west, part Middle East. Part hard rock, and part beat-focused electronica. The score for Bastion is comprised of numerous elements of the familiar, yet crafts with them a musical subgenre (as well as a fictional culture) that is completely alien. So much of what made this indie isometric RPG such a memorable experience was the astoundingly unique music which accompanied its gorgeous 2D art and strong storytelling. Darren Korb has made a staggering debut onto the stage of the video game industry, and is certain to be the kind of composer the industry keeps its collective eyes on for years to come. He’s not just composing great music. He’s composing music I’ve never heard the likes of before. Bastion has its own, distinctive sound because of him, and it’s an immensely impressive one.

Standout tracks:

In Case of Trouble

This is Bastion’s acoustic guitar-driven title track, and also serves as the theme song for the Bastion itself in the game. That guitar has a warmth and intimacy about it (you can still hear the fingers sliding over its neck), and even when the orchestral strings and cracking drum machine beats come in over it the track stays grounded in a hopefulness and humanity that serves as the core of what the Bastion represents for the survivors of Caelondia.

Bynn the Breaker

Here’s where Bastion really shows the true nature of its score. The instrumentation here is crazy: there is a harp, and oud (a Middle Eastern string instrument), electric guitar, some heavy, plunky sounding drum machines, and some deep, bass-y synth. There’s not really a genre here that fits. There’s not really an obvious mood either. But there is a rich sense of culture and a perpetual driving force that marches unyielding forward, much as the game pushes the player on at an unquestionable pace.

Terminal March

And speaking of pace, the track on this score with highest pace and intensity, in my opinion, has to be “Terminal March.” The way the Middle Eastern strings drive what sounds like an industrial drumbeat is fully genius. This track accompanies some of the most intense battle sequences in the game, and as frantic and chaotic as Bastion’s combat can become, this track manages to keep up. And that dichotomy between the drum machine and strings sets this really interesting atmosphere that the world of the game shares; Caelondia doesn’t really have a clear time period. It’s technological progress as a society is very ambiguous, and the instrumentation of tracks like this only further that level of intrigue.

Faith of Jevel

“Faith of Jevel” is gorgeous. Its blend of mysterious guitar melody, piano, and heavy beats give off the vibe of mystery that Bastion lives off of. The game’s narrative is continually dishing out information bit by precious bit, and as the player collects these little fragments of story, a much grander story emerges from the ashes of what was Caelondia. This track provides that sense of mystery and intrigue that the game wants the player to feel, and the driving beat encourages players to continue onward to discover the answers.

Spike in a Rail

The word that I want to use to describe this track is “neo-western.” The pairing of electric guitars with something that sounds like a saloon theme works wonders, giving this track just a bit of dirty edge.

Brusher Patrol

“Brusher Patrol” utilizes electric guitar better than any other track in the score. It’s heavy, but still has bits of that western twang. The little bits of bass synth and “jungle” sounds give the track texture. It’s a fantastic combat track, and has some seriously badass guitar.

The Bottom Feeders

My favorite beat-driven track from the score. Some pretty wild instrumentation on here and an incredible use of drum machines. Hand drums and some sort of horn that I can’t place really sold me on this track as one of the best of the score.

Setting Sail, Coming Home

Ah, and finally we arrive at Bastion’s amazing end credits theme, which is my favorite ending song to a game this year, by far. It’s got those heavy beats and acoustic guitar that make up Bastion’s sound, and then it combines the vocals of two prior songs on the score (that I chose not to feature). This track is simply beautiful, and perfectly suits the bittersweet ending to the game, whichever of the two the player choses.

2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Michael McCann)

At the risk of sounding like a hipster, I have to say I could have told you that the soundtrack for Deus Ex: Human Revolution was going to be magnificent as soon as I saw Michael McCann’s name attached to it. Though this marks only his sophomore effort in video game scoring, his debut with the soundtrack to Splinter Cell: Double Agent (a game which is, frankly, quite mediocre, music aside) made such a strong impression on me that I will now closely follow anything he lays his hands on. What makes this score as a whole fantastic is that McCann understands the pieces that make up his music so incredibly well. He understands the atmospheric potential of synthesizers (and how some can sound energetic, some worn and beaten, and some even menacing). He understands the grandiosity and raw emotion that choirs can bring to a piece. He understands the sense of action and purpose that rock guitar and drums can offer. He understands all this, and he knows when to use what, how to mix and match the various pieces, and above all, how to use every part of his compositions such that they are essential to the effect of each piece.

Standout tracks:

Icarus

This is the title track which sets up the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and it couldn’t really do a better job of it. We are immediately given the vocal chanting (which is heard throughout the score) and it grounds us in the fiction. As the synthesizers and swelling orchestra come in, the vocals continue to play off of them, perhaps mirroring the conflict between technology’s rapid progression (represented by the triumphant violins and mechanical sound of the synth) and those in favor of human purity (represented by the vocals). Maybe the track should be interpreted as a theme for the inevitable. Maybe those vocals are morning the loss of humanity as the instrumentation is celebrating its very progress.

The vocals also serve another purpose, however, in that they set up the scale of the conflict in Deus Ex. Vocal chanting almost always implies scale, and this title track asserts that this grapple with technological advancement and moral authorities is truly a global conflict. Perhaps even, as the song title suggests, one which is divine in nature and was never meant for humanity to ever deal with. The melody even reflects the story of Icarus himself, as the three ascending notes are followed up by a fourth, lower one (foreshadowing ever-rising toward the sun and the eventual downfall from doing so). Just listen to the violins. This is one of my favorite tracks of the year, without a doubt.

Detroit City Ambient (Part 1)

In its own right, this is a fairly simple atmospheric track used to score the streets of Detroit in the game. However, it is noteworthy for its use of low synthesizer to set-dress the grittiness of Detroit’s streets while the more prominent synthesizer melody scores the futuristic progress visible above its ground level. Also, not just in this track, but throughout almost the whole score, you can note that the synthesizers used all have a sort of “retro” sound to them. Part of this is just in keeping with the old school cyberpunk aesthetic that the game uses (black trench coats and shades, at all times), but it is also a way of mirroring the state of the world. In the original Deus Ex, augmentations were done on the nano-level, and they functioned surreptitiously under the skin of their hosts. Human Revolution’s augmentations (being over two decades the younger) appear as much more haphazard and inelegant in design. Robotic arms seem simply soldered onto nerve and bone. In this way, the retro synth, which sometimes sounds distorted and broken at various places in the score, reflects the game’s time period as a prequel.

After the Crash

What starts as two minutes of Asian sci-fi atmosphere - in the vein of the other Hengsha music in the game - is suddenly transformed into one of the most organic-sounding, ass kicking rock breakdowns in the entire score. This song is Michael McCann’s best qualities divided right down the middle. Half the track sets a scene, and the later half injects a syringe full of adrenalin directly into it. Be patient with listening to this one. You will be rewarded.

Everybody Lies

There’s a calm before every proper storm, and for this track that would be the first 1 minute and 17 seconds of it. “Everybody Lies” starts off with dark atmosphere which sounds absolutely haunting, as if something irreplaceable has been lost or some horrible revelation has been made. Then, in a sudden and spine-chilling moment, that powerful synthesizer chord crashes down, as if thunder from the heavens. It’s almost scary (if you listen to the track loud enough), and it shows a whole side of the synthesizer as an instrument which is not explored nearly often enough (in music, not just in scores). Shortly after these thunderclaps of crunchy synth comes a masterful display of layering different keyboards atop each other along with some fast and heavy drums. Like “After the Crash” in structure (though not in instrumentation), this is a track filled with both set-dressing and powerful momentum. It’s probably the most complex and dense track in the score, and as such, it stands out as my favorite.

LIMB Clinic

There are a lot of ambient tracks tied to specific settings in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but I point out this one specifically for its placement. This track is heard in the game’s various LIMB Clinics, which are places where the denizens of the game’s fictional world go to receive new augmentations to their bodies. Many of those people hold up “transhumanism” to be the way to future progress and possibilities, yet the score seems to suggest otherwise. These medical centers don’t sound like like they purveyors of evolution according to the music. Suddenly those white lab coats and sterile labs with robotic surgical arms don’t seem quite so reassuring. I love the ambiguity in the moral conflict in Human Revolution, and how this track is used in the game only deepens that sense of uncertainty.

Namir

Another high octane boss theme. Not much else to say. Just enjoy.

1. Portal 2 (Mike Morasky)

I’ve always appreciated the scores in past Valve games, be it Half-Life 2’s dark and brooding technological ambiance or Team Fortress 2’s slapstick bombast. But there’s something about Mike Morasky’s score for Portal 2 that really sets it apart as not only the best soundtrack to any of Valve’s games, but also as the best score of 2011. Morasky doesn’t just cherry pick around the themes of Portal 2 that are easiest to create music for, he actually manages to find experimental ways of dealing with its complex tonal balance between dark humor, isolation, and mind bending puzzle gameplay. The score manages to reflect the world with its aural textures as well. The sterilized (and occasionally breaking apart) rooms of Aperture - with their harsh, fluorescent lighting - are given a sense of inducing insanity by the odd sound sources and off-kilter melodies of buzzing synthesizers which dig deep into the brain. Portal 2’s massive, 3 hour long score tops my list for its vast array of moods, unique textures, complex arrangements, and its significance to the themes present in the game itself. There are scores this year that may be a bit more appealing to listen to, but Portal 2’s is thought-provoking and masterful. Mike Morasky truly outdid himself, and deserves every commendation for this score that he gets.

Standout tracks:

The Courtesy Call

“The Courtesy Call” is the first track players hear in Portal 2, and it certainly sets up the tonal balance the game attempts to strike. It starts with ominous echoes of an alarm sound, followed by slow, brooding strings, which all set up the vastness of Aperture Science and how isolated the player is within it. As the hibernation chamber the player finds themselves in begins to crumble around them, the music picks up, adding high speed, almost amelodic syth, as well as dramatic brass to the orchestra. That sense of vastness and isolation are expanded upon as the track adds distant vocals and builds to a crescendo of booming brass. By the track’s finale, it launches into a frantic synthesizer loop, accompanied by static noise and disjointed drum machine beats. Here, and as the score progresses throughout the game, these synthetic sounds - oftentimes broken and hyperactive in nature - represent the clockwork of absurd science experiments and ironic tone present in the many sterilized chambers of Aperture Science.

Overgrowth

A very quiet ambient track that’s twinkling notes echo out in such a way as to set the tone of Portal 2’s early stages, which are full of vacated, dilapidated test chambers devoid of life or sometimes even proper functionality. It isn’t exactly ominous. Rather, it is lonely and empty.

Ghost of Rattman

More simple ambiance, this track adds in some haunting vocals and distorted synth to create an eerie texture over which we are given the rantings of a madman. It deepens the atmosphere of the Aperture Science, and it shows off the great range in this score.

The Friendly Faith Plate

This entire track is made up of various syth tones - some of which barely sound like they came from usable machines - layered atop one another. As it progresses, the melody has various effects thrown over it and is tinkered with as if it were being remixed in real time by a DJ. The song sounds like it was composed of machines with a life of their own (much as how the turrets and other pieces of robotic equipment inside Aperture behave) and its harsh buzzing and distorted bass reflect the brute force nature of the “faith plate” itself, which is really just a glorified catapult.

I Saw A Deer Today

Where do I even start with this song? I guess I should begin by admitting that I have absolutely no idea where half the sounds that comprise this track came from. “I Saw A Deer Today” begins immediately with a sound that has proved endlessly fascinating to me ever since I first heard it. Perhaps, and very likely, it is more than one sound, but even still, the twangy, echoed noise that this track begins with this demands attention. Whether this is some ultra-distorted string instrument or sudden bursts of air being blown down a PVC pipe, I have no earthly idea. As the track progresses, a cacophony of disjointed drum machines, screeching syth tones, and odd textural samples all mix together in one of the most experimental and unique sounding video game songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing. Were Aperture Science itself to manufacture sonic creations, this is likely the kind of thing they would produce. It’s weird, harsh, complex, intriguing, and overall one of my favorite songs from a game score of 2011.

I Made It All Up

After “The Friendly Faith Plate” and “I Saw A Deer Today,” one would think that Mike Morasky’s score is comprised of only wild experimentation that is deprived of any real emotion or feeling. “I Made it All Up” is the wonderful antithesis of that, and shows off the unexpected range that this score has. This track is made up of distant echoes of bleeping sythesizers (some amelodic in nature, and others which sustain driving bass) that work together to create a soothing effect on the listener. Once those steady strings come in at 1:21, the track attains a sort of floaty, ethereal tone that sets it apart from just about everything else in the score. It’s a fairly minimalist track (especially when compared to other works on the score), but I’m certainly glad it exists. It reminds me a bit of the musical style of John Hopkins.

You Will Be Perfect

Synth melodies driven at a blistering pace are what define this track, which serves as a theme song for the game’s co-op mode and was featured in its trailer. The Portal 2 score contains quite a few tracks like this, actually. What I love about all of them (and this one in particular) is how they manage to convey the overexcited attitude the game takes toward doing “science” experiments as well as the shenanigans that result from placing two portal gun armed players in a room together. And I particularly like the idea of scoring a game as methodically paced and tightly controlled as Portal 2 with such an fast and chaotic track.

Halls of Science 4

Quite a minimalist track with only light layering. However, the results are surprisingly effective.

Don’t Do It

This track starts of heavy and dramatic and slowly works its way up until it arrives at a synth melody which continues to rise in tempo. There’s some great riffing on established themes here, as well as some perfect blending of mild orchestra and synthesizer loops to build the tension up, up, up all the way until it threatens to explode.

PotatOS Lament

Really dark and deep ambiance accompanied by sad vocals sung by GLaDOS in her potato form. The voice sounds distant and less comical than it does in her normal speech. There’s legitimate pain behind this track, which either makes its use all the more funny, or actually lends the game a poignant moment, depending on how you view the character of GLaDOS.

Reconstructing More Science

This track was used in Portal 2’s first trailer, and along with the aforementioned songs “The Courtesy Call” and “You Will Be Perfect,” it sets the tone for the game fantastically.

The Part Where He Kills You

Starts off sounding like it is scoring a wide open room and then turns sharply into ominous orchestra and buzzing synth. That synth brilliantly mimics that of “The Courtesy Call,” during the part when Wheatly takes control of the hibernation chamber to free you. However, here that synth is slower and more menacing. Now Wheatly again has control, but this time his ignorance is more threatening than adorable. And once the track fully ramps up, there is some great use of drum machine on synthesizer action.

Want You Gone

It’s not as good or as clever as “Still Alive” from the original Portal, but hey, how many games have a cool end credits song anyway?

Robots FTW

A totally slapstick song which plays over the credits to Portal 2’s co-op campaign. I won’t spoil anything, but if you’ve seen the end of that campaign, you’ll recognize the dark irony in using this song at that moment.

SictransitGlen: If people shouldn't need a significant other to be happy, then there would be no reason to be in a relationship...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:56:06 -0500

SictransitGlen: If people shouldn't need a significant other to be happy, then there would be no reason to be in a relationship...:

sictransitglen:

I’m tired of the same old argument from people who aren’t even dealing with the problem. They always say, “Oh, well you shouldn’t need to be with someone to be ok. You don’t need them to validate you. Yadayadayada.” Well, first off, it has absolutely nothing to do with self validation. I’m fine…

Yeah. And no one who says this is ever single themselves. I know what you mean. It’s annoying.

"you better lawyer up assholes because i’m not just coming back for megaupload, i’m coming back for..."

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:45:22 -0500

“you better lawyer up assholes because i’m not just coming back for megaupload, i’m coming back for everything”

- FBI (via christophernolans)
Snicker, snicker.

"Guys, did we beat SOPA? I was too busy pirating music to pay attention to the news yesterday."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:26:05 -0500

“Guys, did we beat SOPA? I was too busy pirating music to pay attention to the news yesterday.”

robsheridan: Yup, that’s the right answer. I don’t know...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:24:21 -0500

robsheridan:

Yup, that’s the right answer.

I don’t know if this makes me laugh or makes me furious.

"Since Silent Hill 2 came out and went on sale, there really hasn’t been anything like it… There is..."

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:21:54 -0500

“Since Silent Hill 2 came out and went on sale, there really hasn’t been anything like it… There is nothing that’s come out than can be compared against it. And the truth is, I want more. I want more games like Silent Hill 2 to come out, but they just haven’t.”

- Akira Yamaoka (Original composer for the Silent Hill franchise)
Amen to that.