Peter Silk of Nukezilla (formerly known as Negative Gamer) has a very interesting column about dynamic soundtracks, highlighting LucasArts’ Monkey Island 2. He explains in very nice detail how the iMUSE system worked, shows interesting video examples, and laments its abandonment. I could not agree more! So many of the old Sierra and LucasArts adventure games experimented with soundtrack implementation and it’s a shame that many of these ideas have been thrown to the wayside over the years in exchange for bigger, hulking soundtracks (that we all love, too!).
One of the more recent games which attempted a somewhat similar idea as far as dynamic soundtrack is the Shadow of the Colossus. I touched on this idea when I highlighted it in a previous Soundtrack of the Month.
Check out Peter’s column HERE and then see how a similar concept was implemented in the Shadow of the Colossus in my previous piece!
Tags: Monkey Island 2, Nukezilla, Peter Silk, Shadow of the Colossus
Interactive audio is a big buzz word even though everyone does it in some sense. Get into a fight, cross-fade to the battle theme, maybe enemies nearby, cross-fade to the “tension” theme, etc. It was done really well in Shadow of the Colossus with the progression of the battles with the colossi.
I remember playing MI2 last year and being amazed by the dynamic soundtrack. However, most people felt it was less catchy than the MI1 soundtrack… quite a shame.
Some parts of Super Mario Galaxy feature probably the best dynamic soundtrack I’ve heard.