What makes a video game great?: Sound

In case you haven't noticed, I really like music. I find that music in video games tends to be more exciting or more emotional (either way) than your typical pop song. Music is a vital element in video games. It adds an absurd amount of immersion to the overall atmosphere. Take the Nintendo 64 game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The wide open spaces of Hyrule Field are accompanied by a robust, adventurous tune, while dank dungeons echo soft, sometimes creepy, songs with atmospheric noises.

There isn't a genre that benefits more from a solid soundtrack than the rhythm genre. Duh! When deciding which of the many Guitar Hero games to get, the track list is the first thing to look at. When deciding whether to get Just Dance 2 or Just Dance 3, the track list was of utmost importance to me. Choosing to get the Wii game Samba de Amigo was largely helped by the promise of a robust soundtrack.

When considering "sound", however, music is not the only element. Sound effects also play a large part in video games, even if that part is easy to overlook. Can you imagine playing a Zelda game without the sound of Link's footsteps, or without the chink-chink, click-click, clank-clank, or BOOM! of his weapons? Yeah! That's what I thought!

Got any other examples of superior sound in video games? Mention it in a comment!