Game Design Blog 4: Audio Analysis of Bioshock (part 2)

Bioshock can be a pretty intense game. There is plenty of killing, blood, gore and unethical experimentation going on inside the crazy underwater metropolis of Rapture. But the music in this game is a different story.

The music featured in Bioshock is old-timey 40's and 50's music and can set the mood in a variety of different ways. Personally I think that the music comes off a bit creepy mixed with the dark environment of Rapture. Some may take it a bit comical, but opinions aside there's no arguing that the choice for music in the game is perfect. One really interesting choice for sound design in Bioshock is that it doesn't rely on a musical score to evoke emotions while playing the game. Bioshock relies entirely on atmospheric sounds of the ocean to immerse the player. The music that is heard in the game is in the game itself. There is no score composed for this game. For example: The player is walking through the city and he hears a faint sound of music playing. As the player gets closer to the sound the music gets louder. The player then discovers that the music had been playing on an old time jukebox or record player. This is a great sound design choice and makes the player fully immersed into the world of Bioshock and the city of Rapture.