Name the #1 Contributing Factor to a Video Game's Success

by Andrew Coutermarsh 

Some people would respond things such as game play, or graphics, or even character development or storyline (and let's face it, there have been some pretty successful games out there with absolutely no storyline). But I offer you a different take on it: Music.

Now, obviously some of you are saying "But everybody knows music is important in a game!" And some of you are saying "Well, duh, I've said that music was the most important all along!" But let me explain here.

Music is the most important thing in any game. It's the same reason it's important in movies. Look at a perfect example of a movie that would never have made it had it not been for the music in it: Star Wars. Face it, if it weren't for John Williams that movie would have sat on the cutting room floor or at best it would have been a cult classic for the next twenty years. But because of John Williams's stunning depiction of emotion and adventure, it was turned into one of the epics of our time.

Another example, though not a movie, is the Adventure game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which I was very lucky to get a hold of last week. I had been lucky enough, as well, to get a hold of the Soundtrack in MP3 format a couple of days before finding the game. When I listened to the music, I thought "I could listen to this soundtrack for months and not get bored!" The game, by the way, cannot compete in areas such as graphics or storyline: It's an Adventure game. It's not supposed to be 3D-rendered (which is the #1 complaint I hear about this game). It's not supposed to have three dozen different endings, nor is it supposed to take five dozen hours to complete. However, when a person plays it, it is extraordinarily easy to get so engrossed in it that you actually feel like you're in the game.

And it's all because of the music. It's stirring, dark, brooding -- Everything that a game about vampires should have as a soundtrack. In other words, it fits. Just as the music for Final Fantasy 7 fit (I didn't find the score to FF7 monotonous, btw) in a technologically advanced world. Hence, techno-music. It fits, plain and simple.

So the next time you pop in your favorite cart, CD, or other (remember the cards used by TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Master System?), take a listen to the music that's playing in the background. I would bet that a very large part of why that game is your favorite has to do with what's going on in your ears.