by Xyzzy987 » Thu, 15Dec31 00:18
I remember watching those great old Warner Brothers cartoons when I was a kid. I'm talking about Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, et al. The animation of those cartoons was outstanding. A number of years later it became too expensive to produce cartoons of that quality, so production moved offshore, for much less money, and the quality of the animation suffered greatly. Think about chase scenes where the same background flashes past the screen again and again every two seconds. After two or three times it becomes boring and annoying. The same thing is true in these games. If I see the same visual over and over, 40 or 50 times in the same game, then the game is going to suffer. That's why you use different locations, different angles, different lighting, and so on, to keep the game visually interesting.
For sound, the same thing is true. First, sound effects must vary somewhat, and they must match the scene. Imagine a forest setting and hearing ocean sounds. No good, right? Also, if I hear the same woman moaning exactly the same way in every sex scene in a game, I'd really rather there weren't any sounds at all. It's boring, annoying, and unbelievable.
Voice acting is typically pretty bad, because in games like these, the producers are usually not using professional actors. Also, if you're going to voice one line in the game, then you have to voice absolutely every line in the game. And, you have to voice every character as well. Otherwise, I'm bringing up the next line of dialog, and waiting for the voice that's not coming. Now I'm thinking, did they forget? Were they just too cheap to voice the whole game? Again, not good.
Sound effects, voice acting, and music, like great visuals, can greatly enhance a game IF they are done well. And done really well usually means expensive, in one way or another. If done poorly, they can turn an otherwise good game into a miserable experience.
But -- all great games, like all great movies, always begin with a great story. I think that's why the absence of sound in a really good game is not missed.
By the way -- I did not vote in the survey. None of the choices matched the way I feel about this subject.