There’s been a long history of directors using hard rock and metal music in their films. Guns N’ Roses’ You Could Be Mine was a key part of the soundtrack for Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) and Metallica’s I Disappear helped make Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) the iconic action-packed thrill that it was.
The tempo, intensity, and energy of hard rock and metal match perfectly with fight sequences, car chases, and other action scenes. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that video game developers were quick to adopt the music of rock legends for their fast-paced blockbuster titles.
Video games, just like movies, tell their stories by evoking emotion, tantalising your senses through sight and sound and music plays a big part in this. Even before computers and consoles weren’t capable of playing actual recorded music, MIDI melodies were used to set the scene, express danger, and create a sense of urgency in players.
Today, with our advanced technology, developers can cram hit after hit into their games, including many of the best hard rock and metal tracks ever created.
Grand Theft Auto Vice City
Grand Theft Auto has always been a pioneering video game series in almost every area, and one of these innovations has been its soundtrack. Instead of simply playing songs in the background, like every game before, GTA’s developers created the illusion of radio stations by only playing music whilst in a vehicle.
Rockstar Games’ 2002 release, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, was no exception to this. Set in 1980s Florida, this game had an iconic soundtrack that complemented its beautiful bright neon visuals.
Vice City’s metal station, V-Rock, is packed with hits from several of the biggest and best bands and artists to ever pick up a guitar. Tune into V-Rock and its resident DJ, Lazlow, will serve up hits like Megadeth’s Peace Sells, I Wanna Rockfrom Twisted Sister, and Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark at the Moon.
There are fewer compilations of metal and hard rock as the V-Rock radio station playlist, even more than two decades on from the original release of Grand Theft Auto Vice City.
Guns N’ Roses Slot
While slot games have been a favourite among casino goers since the creation of the first machines in the late 19th century, they have exploded in popularity in more recent years following the development of video slots.
These games provide online casinos with a blank canvas on which they can paint anything they like and they’ve certainly risen to this challenge. Leading brands like PokerStars Casino have hundreds of different options for slot players to choose from, ranging from branded games like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Megaways to unique creations like Fugly Pets and Papa Paolo’s Pizzeria. Not quite metal, but we’re getting there.
A tie-in between one of the world’s most popular game formats and one of its biggest rock bands was only a matter of time. And when it happened, Guns N’ Roses Slot Game did not disappoint.
This 5-reel, 3-row slot is dripping with Guns N’ Roses imagery and features five of the band’s biggest hits. Its bonus features also fit the band perfectly, particularly the Crowd-Pleaser round where you get the chance to raise the roof.
Doom
Doom was another pioneering video game when it was released in 1993 as it became one of the first 3D first-person shooters ever made.
But it wasn’t just its graphics or mechanics that made it iconic; Doom’s soundtrack has also cemented its legendary status. While 1993’s hardware could handle playing real songs, the game’s developers didn’t have the budget to license a bunch of tracks from famous artists so they created their own compositions, many of which are believed to be inspired by bands like Metallica, Queen, and The Damned.
These aren’t just cheap knockoffs though, the Doom soundtrack continues to stand up today. The full set of tracks was re-released in 2016, alongside the launch of the Doom Eternal game, much to the delight of fans.
