With Bethesda hosting its first-ever E3 conference this year and the accompanying chatter of a Fallout 4 announcement, I find myself thinking about why I decided to invest so many hours of my life in the Fallout universe and the worlds of so many other games.
There are many (almost reactionary) responses people would give: “The story is amazing,” “The acting is great,” “The gameplay is really fun,” “I love the freedom of the world.” All are perfectly suitable answers, and I have used them many times myself, but a less common answer might be the game’s musical wonder. With such incredible effort given to video game soundtracks, it seems a shame not to recognize wonderfully talented composers alongside your front-facing lead designers and voice actors. Without great composers, many of our favorite games would never have been able to capture our hearts and imaginations in the way they have.
The goal of this three-part series is to spotlight three video game music giants who played vital roles breathing life into some of the greatest worlds in video games. In no way are the three composers discussed in this series the only ones deserving of attention for their tremendous contributions to games—I aim merely to start a conversation in territory oft-ignored. And since Fallout 4 seems to be a subject on the minds of many gamers (including my own), it only seems appropriate to start with the Fallout franchise’s music man: Inon Zur.
Part 1: Inon Zur
(Please enjoy some of the artist’s music as you read!)
The Israel-born Inon Zur became obsessed with music at a very early age and quickly gained the support of his parents. He spent his childhood studying piano and the French horn, attending numerous classes centered on classical music. However, his musical aspirations were delayed when he reached the age of 18 and was recruited into the Israeli army.
After serving for four years, Zur was released from the army and quickly reconnected with his musical pursuits. He continued his coursework at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and furthered his studies at the United States’ Dick Grove School of Music. His formal education concluded at UCLA.
In 1994, Zur began professionally composing music scores for films. Shortly thereafter, he signed a six-year contract with Fox Family to work on children’s television shows, including Digimon and Power Rangers. Zur’s video game career began in 1997 when he received a call from his agent about working in the industry, to which he originally replied, “No.” Thankfully, for all of whom his music has touched over the years, he changed his mind after hearing soundtracks of (at the time) current games, which, as he stated in an interview with IGN, “impressed the hell out of me.”
The first video game score composed by Zur came in 1997 with Star Trek: Klingon Academy, and he has since developed quite a powerful portfolio. Some of his most notable projects include compositions for:
the Prince of Persia franchise,
Crysis,
the Dragon Age franchise,
and the Fallout franchise, just to name a few.
When given the chance, Zur prefers working with full orchestras and always conducts them himself. His strong background in classical music is apparent throughout his work, and he often incorporates the uses of various ethnic instruments to create a meaningful impact. In his interview with IGN, he went into detail about how he approaches composing for games, saying:
“I will gear the music more toward what is the emotion that the player should feel when he is in this area…You could be in a very dark jungle but feel very happy because you just had a great victory or because you just fell in love… Or you could be in a dark jungle and you could be very scared because you are lost. So I have to take into consideration, ‘What do I want the gamer to feel at this point?’”
Zur also revealed that he found video games to offer up the most freedom for composing when compared to television or film. But they can also provide a huge challenge:
“Most of the stuff that you’re composing for video games is not something that has to be locked to a picture. And when you’re not locked to a picture you can just take a minute, a minute-and-a-half, two-minutes and really create a whole, full, beginning-to-end musical piece. And you cannot do this with a cue for movies because the scene dictates what you are going to do. So in this manner video games actually offer much more freedom and creativity as far as the actual composing. But it’s also harder because you don’t see any pictures. You say ‘Alright, here’s the description. I need to write music for a destroyed city and a dark jungle, or whatever.’ And then you just start writing the music. So it can be quite hard, but it definitely allows you more freedom.”
While much of his energy is now spent working towards creating masterful compositions for video games, Zur has continued to work in television and cinema. During the course of his career, Zur’s work has been nominated for 25 awards and has won 3 separate times. First, he won the 1997 Telly Award’s Best Score for Power Rangers: Turbo. Next, he won the 2004 Game Audio Network Guild’s Best Original Instrumental Song for Men of Valor’s “Main Theme.” Finally, Zur took home the Hollywood Music in Media Award’s Best Original Song for Dragon Age: Origins with “I Am the One.”
Receiving such critical claim has led to an ever-increasing demand for his talents, and meeting that demand is becoming more difficult as time goes on. In a prior interview with PSU, Zur explained that he is “engaged usually with at least three or four projects on a regular basis.” He also spoke of how the success of his work has even itself presented its own difficulties: “. . . when people see my name they have certain expectations, and I’m trying to live up to them and it’s not easy.”
While Zur might not feel like he’s living up to the expectations of others, it’s clear that he’s meeting, if not exceeding, them with each new piece he writes. News of Zur’s current projects is sparse, but it’s difficult to imagine Zur without a blockbuster video game on his plate. Whatever his current projects may be, I can only hope they include Fallout 4.
If you want to learn more about Inon Zur and experience more of his music, check out his website. Stay glued to PSU this week for more video game composer spotlights.