作者：Steven Lauterwasser

《质量效应》三部曲中贯穿各种磅礴，悲壮以及最美好时刻的音乐始终萦绕在玩家耳边。任何玩过这系列游戏的玩家都不会忘记每一部游戏中所伴随着的激昂的弦音和尖锐的号声。

但是这却不是我在此讨论要讨论的内容，我想说说关于较短的音乐提示。

Mass Effect 2(from venturebeat)

《质量效应2》的“任务完成”画面因为破坏了游戏的沉浸感且太过于“原生态（简单）”而遭到了各种批评。从某种角度上看，这标志着《质量效应2》开始“降低难度”，逐渐转变成面向更广泛玩家的第三人称射击游戏，而不再是众多粉丝和批评者想看到的深层次角色扮演游戏。尽管如此我还是很喜欢它的“任务完成”画面及其背景音乐。

最重要的是所有的批评都不是针对于该画面本身——而是它在游戏中的位置或呈现方式。但是不管“任务完成”画面究竟如何或者应该如何，它都非常出色。它能够简洁且清晰地传达出所有重要信息。

尽管这种设置不具备沉浸感，但是依我看来这却不是件坏事。Illusive Man的背景及他对任务行动的评论是一种故事速记。就像“任务完成”画面是对于之前任务的总结，而屏幕本身则是一种事后情况说明。

但音乐的确是更有效地突显了“任务完成”画面的作用，答案很简单，就两个字：比例。也就是说所有的一切都缩小成最完美的比例。虽然音乐很短，但却足以传达出最有效的韵律。就像管弦乐虽然非常磅礴，但却不会显得浮夸（包含了喇叭和琴弦声，但却没有小号或钹声）。它们既能够击中听众的最佳听音点，创造出辉煌且激动人心之感，但也不会让人觉得过火且难以接受。

而最重要的是：游戏并不是想通过这种提示本身告诉玩家任何史诗般的内容。而是让玩家能够在游戏环境以及任务体验中获得感受。

这就避免了游戏和电影中常出现的一个问题：过度强调配乐，即设计师或导演使用音乐向观众强调“这是一部史诗！”或“这是一段辛酸史！”通过在此有效地缩小音乐比例，编曲者便能够避免这种问题的出现。“任务完成”画面的设定便具有这般功效；通过音乐调动了玩家的情感，但却不会让他们感到不知所措。

而音乐既未忽视之前的环境，并也添加了自己的环境——也许这正是“任务完成”画面最有效的一部分。当玩家第一次看到屏幕并听到音乐时，他们可能不会有太明显的感觉，但是当玩家继续完成第二个，第三个或者第四个任务时，他们便会跟音乐产生共鸣了。

当你理解了每次“任务完成”画面中的音乐提示，并再次去听音乐时，你便会拥有完整层面的情感。即你会想起之前的每次任务经历，并推动着自己更好地迎接即将而来的任务。这只是这种提示的部分内容，即刚好戳中了听者的最佳音乐点，并发挥了最有效的作用。

当然了，这种融入背景的作用不只出现在这一特殊的提示中（只是我觉得这是最纯粹且最犀利的例子）。这也是配乐所扮演的重要角色之一。虽然配乐只是以一种背景音乐形式呈现在玩家面前，但是它却能让我们意识到游戏中的各种关联性和共鸣，并因此让游戏变得更为强大。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Music, context, and Mass Effect’s Mission Complete screen

The music in the Mass Effect trilogy backs some of the most epic, poignant, and beautiful moments in recent gaming memory. Anyone whose played it will not soon forget the soaring strings and strident trumpets which helped make each game’s conclusion so powerful.

But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about a three-measure, ten-second-long cue.

The “Mission Complete” screen in Mass Effect 2 received a certain amount of criticism for being immersion breaking and too “gamey.” Seen in a certain light, it is emblematic of all of the ways Mass Effect 2 was “dumbed down,” pushed more towards a third-person shooter for a larger audience rather than the deep RPG many fans and critics might have wanted it to be. And that may all be true, but I love the “Mission Complete” screen and the music that goes with it.

The thing is, none of those criticisms are actually criticisms of the screen itself — just its place in the game or what it represents. But for what it is and what it’s supposed to be, the “Mission Complete” screen is excellent. It conveys all the relevant information clearly and concisely.

And although it certainly is not immersive (in the same way that walking yourself back to the Normandy is immersive), to my mind it doesn’t do a bad job. The background of the Illusive Man and his commentary on the mission act as a kind of narrative shorthand. Just as the “Mission Complete” screen is a summary of the previous mission, the screen itself is a summary of the narrative of the debriefing.

But really it’s the music which makes the “Mission Complete” screen truly effective, and the answer can be boiled down to one word: scale. That is to say, everything about it is scaled perfectly. It’s short, but just long enough to establish and deliver an effective cadence (musical resolution). The orchestration is broad and lush, but not overly so (horns and strings, but no trumpets or cymbals). Everything about it hits a sweet spot where it manages to be big, exciting, and conclusive without being overdone or overpowering.

And this is perhaps the most important thing: the cue doesn’t misguidedly aim for epic all by itself. Rather, it remains dependent on the context, the experience of the mission behind it.

This avoids a common problem in both games and movies: being “over-soundtracked,” when a designer or director uses music as a club to beat the viewer over the head with while shouting, “This is epic!” or “This is poignant!” By scaling the music here so well, the composer avoids this problem. The “Mission Complete” feels just as it ought; players’ emotions are aided and embellished, not overwhelmed, by the music.

But just as the music doesn’t forget the context of what preceded, it adds its own context, and this is perhaps the most effective part of the “Mission Complete” screen. The first time the player sees the screen and hears the music, it may not add a whole lot. But as the player continues and completes his second, third, and fourth missions, the music begins to resonate.

As soon as you understand that that musical cue accompanies every “Mission Complete,” then hearing it adds a whole layer of emotion. It brings you back to every previous mission and also orients you forwards to the missions to come. And it is partly the scale of the cue, resting right in that sweet spot, which allows it to do this so effectively.

And this contextualizing work doesn’t only happen with this one particular cue (although I think it is a sterling and pointed example). It’s one of the roles played by all soundtrack music. Just as the soundtrack music plays in the background, it opens up our awareness to a subtler level of associations and resonances, and it is this constellation which helps make a game powerful.（source：venturebeat）