quote:

Above all, Civ is the very best game because it is so immersive. Immersion comes from the addictive story line, the ability to see something worthwhile come from your troubles, and a medium that is appealing to the senses.

But graphics - even wonderful, rich, soul-wrenching graphics can only do part of the job. Probably the best example is Myst and Riven. Both games were primarily visual, and yet the designers felt the experience would be lacking without a soundtrack. For mnay, the music was so good that Cyan even sold the soundtrack on CD!

Here are some other reasons:
- Music is an excellent way to suggest theme. Think of movies like Crimson Tide, the Hunt for Red October, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. Consider how razing the Death Star would feel if there was no music in the background.
- Music can help a Civ player experience that civ's culture, by listening to special tracks "written" by admiring citizens or during a parade in his/her honour.
- A frantic score can emphasize the feeling that you're behind on the powergraph. If another player is fast approaching, the music can foreshadow the struggle to come.

Many themes are age-specific. For example:
- In the beginning, life is lonely .. haunting, dark .. ominous. Players are fighting for knowledge of techs and landscape. There is a lot of music that generates this sort of mood. Eg. celtic (Enya's song "Hymn" comes to mind, or Enya's sister, Marie Brennan's "Gra De")
- During the renaisance, there is are more cavalier themes, including a whole new way to look at exploitation: Imperialism.
- After Imperialism came great conflicts and war on a global scale. As I suggested, works like Gustav Holst's "Mars" is a fitting score.

But there can be problems. BAD music is worse than no music at all! Music is bad when:
- it is overly repititous, or it overstates a theme.
- it is played at the wrong time. Once in CTP I was pummeling the last Viking city after a Blitzkreig-style war. Then came the bzzzt! Hoy Ya! Bong bong Tribal Drum song... That sure killed the mood...