[Sweets2TheSweet]

Modern - Metal Gear Solid 4
 
Throwback - Castlevania 1 through SotN

 

[jlaseter]

Castlevania Lords of Shadow's soundtrack really stood out, but Skyrim FLOORED me when it came to listening on headphones through my Yamaha surround sound receiver!
 
What I wanna know is whether the new Playstation/Xbox will support the absurdly high-bitrates of DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD.

 

[MorbidToaster]

While I haven't heard it first hand I can say from owning the OST and just watching YouTube clips (and reading tons of reviews) that Halo 4 is definitely on this list. Every halfway decent review has mentioned the sound design being fantastic and I've loved the OST for it (both the remix disc and the OST).
 
My copy is in my house waiting for me to get home after work and I'll be able to confirm first hand.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

Castlevania Lords of Shadow's soundtrack really stood out, but Skyrim FLOORED me when it came to listening on headphones through my Yamaha surround sound receiver!
 
What I wanna know is whether the new Playstation/Xbox will support the absurdly high-bitrates of DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD.

 
I'm sure the current consoles can handle the bitrates, but that storage is the issue at hand to hold the music recordings. (Well, maybe not the PS3 and Wii U, but the X360 just uses standard DVDs...)
 
I get the impression that most game developers aren't audiophiles anyway and see sound as something to just get done and out of the way while they put more effort into fancy visual shader effects. It's hard enough to get downloadable FLAC soundtracks for video games, for starters...
 
Also, now that I think about it, I wouldn't be pushing for either Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA, but ambisonic B-format in their place. No channel limitations that way, just a 3D soundfield.

 

[seb UK]

Quote:

Worked with my Yamaha! But I haven't heard it in over a month, my little recon3D is serving till I don't have to have most of my fun stuff packed in the basement. Should be starting a new job though next week, hopefully I can move soon!
Adding to games others have mentioned, on the Xbox360, I also loved the sound for Bioshock, Halo: Reach (IMO better sound than CoD games, unless you hate energy weapons), Metro 2033 (freaked me out in an awesome way!), Dead Space 1&2, Alan Wake, and Mass Effect (each one got a little better IMO). Just off the top of my head. For PC, I also want to say Starcraft II is awesome. Positional cues are only in the gorgeous cutscenes, but the sound design overall is well done (and cool, imho).

Agree that Bioshock is up there. There are several moments in that game where the sound design is just brilliant - mainly in a creepy, shivers down your spine, kind of way. The scene I'm thinking of is in the room with white paint everywhere and (I think from memory) corpses at a dining room table. There is also a section of the game where the antagonist is talking to you over a loud speaker with this eerie kind of reverb. The attention to detail on his voice (as well as the top notch voice acting) totally immersed me in the game.
 
The game with the best sound design I've ever heard is Battlefield Bad Company 2. Yep even better than Battlefield 3 (although they are pretty close). Tanks sound like heavy metal war machines, rifles crack in the air, and explosions create that deep sub bass that bottom out your sub, like they were designed for! If you watch interviews with the Swedish dude who led the sound development - it becomes pretty clear why it is so good. The guy knows his stuff.

 

[s1rrah]

I second the Skyrim reference ... damn good 5.1 design ... there's also quite a few good extra "mods" you can apply which improve the sound greatly ... specifically ambient/environmental sounds in outdoor areas ... 
 
Also, Borderlands 2 is a joy regarding sound design (and just about every other game design discipline) ... it's truly a stellar bit of craftsmanship and game play ... most fun I've had in about 10 years. I'm sure the awards will flow for years; it's a truly outstanding bit of production (sound/game mechanics/combat system and especially the art direction and visual design...just a gorgeous bit of work) ... 
 
I game quite regularly ... generally about an hour or two a day and way too many hours on the weekends ... my preferred means of play is my dedicated, desktop 5.1 speaker system ... a now aging but still PHENOMENALLY good sounding kit that at one time shipped with higher end Dell turn-key systems, the ADA995 surround system ... I bought this *RIDICULOUSLY* good sounding kit from a local computer wholesaler for a measly **$80.00** ... LOL ... about six years ago and it's still rocking like a CHAMP ... a super good sounding (separate mid/tweets in the satellites) and really throaty bit of kit ...
 
But I also share a house with two other  humans and so I can't always use my speakers (differing schedules and what  not) ... and during those rather frequent times when speakers won't fly ... I instead use this rather impressive bit of headphone gear released by Cooler Master a bit back ... the Storm Sirius 5.1 headphones .. 
 
Seriously, there's a reason I turn a simple reply into a veritable infomercial on the merits of the Sirius 5.1 cans ... and that's cause they kick serious arse., Seriously ... if you spend some time in game tweaking the various settings in the Sirius control panel ... you can get some really freakish and good 5.1 surround sound out of these things ... mind you, they are *true* 5.1 cans with dedicated front/back/sub speakers in each cup ... at default settings they are quite fun and good but after you spend some time tweaking the various settings (mostly regarding bass response) then they  become insanely good. This is definitely no software trickery or otherwise "Dolby" sort of trickery (which I find effective too and quite fun but no where near the true physical sense of space I get from the Sirius cans) ...
 
They are clunky, rich in plastic content, have lights that light up and what not, but they seriously work:
 
...
 

 
 
...
 
Sorry.
 
PSA over ... nobody asked for all that but I've been so impressed with these things over the past six months or so that I figured I'd pontificate a bit. Cause I'm *real* picky when it comes to my computer gear and *especially* sound ,.. and pontificating aside? They are really worth checking out ... 
 
ROCK!

 

[Greed]

+1 for Skyrim
 
I also enjoyed both Bioshock 1 & 2, they both had a great soundtrack, ambiance, and FXs. Other games that I really appreciated their sounds and FXs are Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dishonored, Grand Theft Auto 4, Mass Effect 2, and Batman: Arkham City.

 

[ninjapirate9901]

A bit late to the thread but the best sound design I have heard in a game in recent memory would be NFS Shift II. I don't think there has been a more visceral approach to sound in a racing game, everything else just sounds quiet and tame in comparison. Bloody fantastic.

 

[MistrDave]

I haven't seen it mentioned, but Uncharted 3 has fantastic sound design throughout. Enjoyable on headphones, but even more so on a home setup for the sense of impact.

 

[benbenkr]

Can't belive no one mentioned Dead Space and Dead Space 2... the amount of sound effects going through in these games are just jaw dropping (and bone chilling).
MGS4 has one of the best design in audio this generation, no doubt about that.
 
Heavy Rain is pretty good too, realistic in the sense that if a paper ruffles then IT IS a paper that ruffles, not a plastic bag. Rain tapping on the window IS rain tapping on the window, not on plastic. Something which many games just fail to replicate.

 

[catspaw]

I personally have been impressed by the sound in Just Cause 2 (especially the water effects) on my HE-400.
I enjoy most of the need for speed games, mass effect and my old time favorite summoner 1 (if you played summoner 1 single player, you know tis some quality soundtrack)

 

[thecourier]

Far Cry 3 and Skyrim, both have astounding sound effects. 

 

[Pudu]

...

The game with the best sound design I've ever heard is Battlefield Bad Company 2. Yep even better than Battlefield 3 (although they are pretty close). Tanks sound like heavy metal war machines, rifles crack in the air, and explosions create that deep sub bass that bottom out your sub, like they were designed for! If you watch interviews with the Swedish dude who led the sound development - it becomes pretty clear why it is so good. The guy knows his stuff.

BC2 sound was excellent. The positional aspect of it was better than any game I've heard, and the sound was in some cases better than the visual for locating players. BF3 is several steps down. The sound effects are exciting but all smear together in a great mishmash cacophony that isn't very useful.

 

[NamelessPFG]

Quote:

BC2 sound was excellent. The positional aspect of it was better than any game I've heard, and the sound was in some cases better than the visual for locating players. BF3 is several steps down. The sound effects are exciting but all smear together in a great mishmash cacophony that isn't very useful.

 
I still don't quite get it. Some people are impressed with the positional audio mixing in the Frostbite engine Battlefield games, but I think it's just not good. Explosion effects seem pre-panned, and there's no real distinction in direction regardless of what headphone surround tech you use. Mad Lust Envy agrees, so it seems to affect the PC and console versions alike.
 
BF1942 through BF2142 had excellent positional audio thanks to the DirectSound3D and OpenAL APIs, and even more modern games that use software audio mixing, like Dead Island and PlanetSide 2, do positional audio far better than BF:BC2 to my ears.
 
I wouldn't mind a mod to bring the BF:BC2 sound effect samples to the earlier games, though. They do sound cinematic and meaty. Problem is, knowing how the Refractor engine tends to be with mods, you'd probably have to not only make it server-side, but require that all connecting clients have it. Or it might set off PunkBuster because the client has modified files...

 

[Pudu]

That's funny, because, for me, what you describe sounds like BF3. For whatever reason I loved the sounds in BC2. We spent a LOT of time trying to take each others' tags and I was completely dependant on the directional sounds on congested maps like Oasis. I knew what kits my friends favoured and could identify the different types of guns and practically which window they were firing from. I ended up with 3x more of their tags and I attribute much of that to paying attention to the sounds. (I was using STX + 880s.)

BF3 is a cinematic but muddy mess of canned sound.