Judging a game by its music

I completely agree. Music is a large part of the emotional journey that you go through while playing a game. The interesting thing is that almost the same thing can be said for sound effects. If the sound effects aren't right, then the experience is not quite what it could be.

Audio is a big part of game development, and only a few developers realize it.

I enjoy music in two ways, either it's very good on its own, or it also compliments and enhances whatever activity I am doing. Driving and listening to music is a good example of this. Driving while listening to techno (Supermayer - Two of Us) is so good some times. I find myself dreaming up car chase sequences while I'm driving. It's a little fucked, but anyway, this is how music should function within games.

As was noted, music is not part of the game proper. It is true that the game experience would not be the same without the same music, but the music is separate from the game itself, and only compliments or enhances the game, or vice versa. The GTA games are an excellent example. I remember driving around Staunton in GTA3, at night listening to Fade Away on Head Radio and the interplay between scenery, speed, the city and the song really worked. The bright lights, the night, my shady character, the exquisite control I felt over the car, a Banshee I think: it all came together to form a beautiful experience. First of all, GTA is an awesome game. You need an awesome game before the music can mean anything. It would not be fair to judge a game on the music, but the entire product can be judged based on the relation between game and music.

Vice City was simply not as good a game.
San Andreas did it alright, and the music was pretty good I gotta say. It should be noted that in San Andreas the driving mechanics were much more refined in comparison to Vice City or GTA3, hence the interplay between the music and the game was much better. "Cult of Personality" + bombing around San Francisco-land = awesome.

But, with awesome multiplayer games you can usually come up with some of your own music from your collection, to compliment the experience.

You nailed it with your description of Fade Away in GTAIII Zaphod. For me, that was a defining moment of the game too. Feeling an emotional connection to music that existed as part of a fictional city made the city feel so real, the immersion so complete.

I'm not sure you can really recreate that feeling with familiar or custom soundtracks, and it's unfortunate that Vice City and San Andreas (although their radio stations were great fun) never cemented their identities with 'homegrown' music. I wonder if anyone will make the effort to do that kind of thing again now that licensed music appears to be where it's at.

"Of course, soundtrack customization is becoming increasingly common, making it possible to make a game's music as good as one wants."

Or as bad as the developer wants. I bet they are just waiting to establish micro-purchasable soundtracks on games that allow you to customise your own mix.

I'm being rather pessimistic here, of course. I find music an integral part of a game, and believe the choices a developer makes should be taken into account when evaluating a given title.

Music can be essential to immersing you into a game's environment in much the same way music can be used in movies to pull you in and make scenes more intense.

King Kong for the 360 comes to mind (as well as the film itself, obviously) - early on, a V-Rex attacks you. It's pretty easy to run from, but the music makes you think it's the most terrifying thing in the world and makes the part intense as hell. In fact, without that game's overall sound design I likely wouldn't have enjoyed it half as much.

Music is essential too creating a mood in a scene. If you watch a clip of an alligator exiting a swamp with some ominous music playing, the alligator can look pretty intimidating. However, play that same video clip with some goofy circus music and the alligator is now something almost laughable.

When you mentioned that DMC had such a horrible soundtrack, I was reminded of playing Armored Core 4, which also had an exceptionally repetitive and boring soundtrack. I really, REALLY liked the game play, but ultimately, I couldn't bear to listen to the music playing in the background as I designed my AC. (Yes, I know I could have used custom soundtracks, but thats a moot point.)

On the flip side, I recall playing Katamari Damacy over and over. Not even so much to roll up the Katamari, but to listen to the Japanese pop music. I got such a kick out of it.