Music Book Review: Ludomusicology: Approaches to Video Game Music edited by Michael Kamp, Tim Summers and Mark Sweeney

Ludomusicology: Approaches to Video Game Music
edited by Michael Kamp, Tim Summers and Mark Sweeney (Music 781.54 Lud)

 

Can you hum the theme music to Super Mario Bros from memory? Do you remember the short musical moments in old arcade games like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong? These simple melodies have proven to be incredibly memorable, and a wide age range has internalized this music as deeply as the biggest popular music hits in the modern era. As technology has advanced, allowing video games to become even more realistic and immersive, the music for these games has become just as integral to the video game experience, taking on a cinematic depth.

 

Now that music for video games has developed quite a history and methodology, a new branch of musicology has sprung up to study it, which is called ludomusicology. As this discipline is still in its infancy, much debate remains about how best to study, categorize, and otherwise endeavor to understand this musical field. The Polley Music Library has a few of the early books written on this subject, and a great book for starting your journey into video game music is Ludomusicology: Approaches to Video Game Music, edited by Michiel Kamp, Tim Summers, and Mark Sweeney.

 

The book is a collection of essays that explore the world of video game music from different perspectives. Some chapters address the formal challenges of analyzing the music: there are unique circumstances presented by video game music in context, such as functional repetition within gameplay being potentially different than what might be presented in a recorded soundtrack separate from the game. The kinds of gameplay triggers that can start, stop, or loop musical cues become part of the music. Much of video game musical repertoire is modular by design, and another essay compares these structures to those of the classical avant-garde movements of the 1950s and 60s. The final essay discusses how classical music has been incorporated into video game sound design, while perhaps the most interesting essay looks at pop musician Bjork’s Biophilia album, itself released as a sort of mobile device game, to analyze how it absorbed influences from video game play toward the creation of a new kind of experience.

 

It’s interesting to learn more about video game music, and it’s also important to note that if you’re a musician yourself, this is a growing professional field, and perhaps you could become a video game soundtrack composer yourself! We have a few books in the Polley Music Library to help you get started on that path, so if you read this one and you’re excited for more, we can help!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Understanding Video Game Music by Tim Summers, A Composer’s Guide to Game Music by Winifred Phillips, or Unlimited Replays: Video Games and Classical Music by William Gibbons.]

[ www.ludomusicology.org ]

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Polley Music Library

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!

Ristar in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection

Ristar in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection
[Video Game Sonic’s] 

This is a bright colorful game featuring a little guy in the shape of a star, named Ristar. This was originally on the Sega Genesis in 1995; however you can still play it without a Genesis on Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection available on PS3 and Xbox, which comes with a multitude of other games. Ristar is a 2D platform style game set on other planets, whose leaders have been mind controlled by an evil space pirate. What I found a bit weird about it was that Ristar has a grab ability and his arms are sort of stretchy so you can grab onto things and propel yourself in multiple directions or maybe forced to grab on to object above you to avoid spikes and other hazards. This took me a little getting used to but there is something like that in every game. This is also how he attacks; grab an enemy, pull it toward you and pretty much head-butt it, which is amusing. I had played Sega Genesis back in the 1990’s but did not know about this one till fairly recently, and because of this it had a nice old and new feel to it. Overall it’s a really fun game and I would suggest it to other players who enjoy 2D platformers.

[ Ristar on Wikipedia ] | [ Ristar on Sega gaming Wiki ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

Have you played this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Decap Attack on Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (videogame)

Decap Attack on Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection
[Video Game Sonic’s] 

Decap Attack is a retro game from the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive that is included in Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection on PS3 or Xbox 360. The character you play as is Chuck D. Head whose entire body is wrapped up in bandages, his eyes are peaking out of his torso and if you can find it and keep it, a skull to sit on his shoulders. This is a platforming game and I like that some levels require you navigate vertically rather than just horizontally. You don’t have to defeat enemies to progress through the stages, but you will need to defeat a boss at the end of each level. Your attack is normally extending your eyes out of your torso, but if you have the skull, you can throw it and any enemy it comes in contact with will be instantly defeated (unless it’s a boss).

I really liked this game after a while. At first I thought it was OK, and it took me a few sessions before I could get past level 2. Once I did get past the second level I really enjoyed it; the backgrounds and enemies changed and I got better at finding and keeping the skull, which makes things easier. I won’t spoil the ending for you but your Chuck D. Head character is rewarded for his efforts, which let’s face it, going through all seven levels with bandages for skin and no head – most of the time, he deserves a reward. I suggest you try this if you like platforming games, retro Sega games, or if the review here sounds interesting. If you don’t have a PS3 or Xbox 360 to try it out on, you can also get it on Steam for PC for about $3. For more information, including a walk-through for DeCap Attack, check out the GameFAQ page: www.gamefaqs.com/genesis/586135-decapattack.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to watch a longplay (someone playing the whole game start to finish): archive.org/details/Mega_Drive_Longplay_273_Decap_AttackR ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

Have you played this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!