Although sound in games isn't visible, good sound design is the key to an immersive and successful game.
Personally, no games stand out to me that have memorably poor sound design, so I did some research to look into games which do have poor sound technology and in turn take away from the experience of playing the video game.
Due to quickly advancing technology and even separate departments dedicated to games audio production, the sound in games is often excellent nowadays with very few if any faults as its thoroughly checked and is a large focal point, to help make the game as immersive as possible. However, if there is an audio issue it’s usually found quickly or within the beta of the game so it can be changed and improved.
Far Cry 3
On an online Steam forum a new discussion was made about an audio bug in Far Cry 3, overall the sound effects and quality are pretty good for the game, however; there are multiple players commenting on how there was suddenly no sound for footsteps, to switch guns, for reloading and for doors closing when previously those noises were working. Understandably this would seem annoying if basic features which were previously there suddenly disappear. What's more this issue seems to be pretty common too as many other players on the forum commented on their struggles with this problem too. Suggested solutions recommended by players on the forum consisted of reinstalling the game, rebooting the computer, using certain items like the wingsuit in the game, verifying the local cache and making the problem more widespread and visible in hope that the game makers at Ubisoft would be able to patch the issue.
(found through secondary research)
Life Is Strange
Life is Strange is an incredibly immersive game, one in which the players can easily get sucked into and the main characters are relatable. Although there’s not an issue with the audio itself in Life Is Strange, the lip syncing in the game can be poor sometimes, which takes away from the realism art style and makes it so the speech and sound effects are less effective, this is a creative issue and could be improved with more money invested and the animators paying more attention to detail. The games soundtrack in Life Is Strange is beautiful with a good use of timbre.
(A video a recorded of bad lip-syncing in Life Is Strange)
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
I asked my friend and Nintendo Switch user, Amy whether she had ever came across audio issues within games she has played and she told me about The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and how before she got it she had heard of a few issues with its audio and showed me a YouTube video online featuring the problem. When you open up your inventory to equip and select new items a high pitched and high frequency noise played and glitched, making it play over and over again even when you leave the inventory. Some compared the noise to fingernails on a chalkboard. I think the game makers patched this issue now however another creative alternative would be to re-record a sound that’s of a lower pitch for switching items so easier on the ears and if an issue like that was to appear again it wouldn’t be so unbearable to listen to, Foley could be used to do this.
Reference: https://youtu.be/1cGXsp0HmFs
How To Further Improve Games Audio
A way to improve audio nowadays is to make it feel as if it is coming from different directions so it seems more realistic, this is known as 3D Audio, it helps immerse the player further and can even enhance gameplay accuracy, making it easier to track upcoming danger and enemies, examples of games which use 3D audio are Overwatch and Uncharted 4.
Video on 3D audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9wGomzrt44
Another feature which can make a games audio even better is by making the sound effects hyper-realistic, this means that the sounds in the game will be exaggerated to sound more effective, even more extreme than how it would sound in real life. For example if you broke your nose in person you may hear a small cracking sound however through the use of foley you could bite some uncooked macaroni or pasta to create a more dramatic and extreme sound. This would be hyper-realistic and can be applied to just about any action in games.
In conclusion there's a lot of attention to detail paid to audio and sound design nowadays as there's a separate department dedicated to producing and developing the sound so there are very few faults to pick and when there is a technical audio issue like a glitch or bug it is often found quickly and improved or patched.
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