Game Title: Doom 3
Your name: Richard
Pretty or ugly: Pretty
Description: Although the game itself is not that great, I find the overall audio design of the game top notch. Things that stand out, in my opinion, are the amount of variety of sounds, the dynamic mix (the sounds don't clutter, even when there is a lot of sound, everything is pretty clear) and the coherence in sound design. What I like in the audio design is the role of the radio that the main character carries which communicates the activity elsewhere, making the environment larger and more alive than just what you see. Because of many dark environments, and the fact that you can't hold a weapon together with a flashlight, you need to rely on what you hear. What Doom III does well is it adds sound which meaning is unclear. Sometimes you hear something and you don't know whether or not it is part of the environment, another foe or simply a (non-diegetic) horror-sound effect.

Game Title: Ms. Pacman
Your name: Remi
Pretty or ugly: Ugly
Description: Today a short joke as a reminder to always keep the dogs in mind while designing your sounds…"Remi hates Ms. PacMan "end game" sound effect"

Game Title: Zuma Deluxe
Your name: Sander
Pretty or ugly: Ugly
Description: In this example of Zuma Deluxe (previously featured as "pretty example") you see that something unexpected happens what the designers did not foresee. The player manages to get a "combo x12″, which is quite extraordinary, and there are no new intervals for the combo sound. Sounds funny, the repetitive slam.

Not a 10 at the scale of ugly, but funny anyway!

Game Title: Battlefield 2
Your name: Ryan Jaeger
Pretty or ugly: Pretty
Description: Although I'm not a fan of BF2, it is however one of the most dynamic, realistic and pleasant games I've heard…

Guns and such are not overly compressed or limited compared to other games, but they are limited just enough for the "reality compensation aesthetic…" (a gun firing next to you is going to sound harsh and not like a snare drum with a perfect transient.) Explosions are well varied and never feel repetitive.

Vehicles sounds are top notch and the implementation is very smooth, especially with the buggy and jets.

The ambient loops are extremely well done, not sure if they are library material, custom or a mix… Either way they are mixed well, not repetitive and set the mood. Voice overs are top notch, no complaints in this department.

p.s. The video is not mine, It's the in engine intro to the game.

Game Title: Company of Heroes
Your name: student
Pretty or ugly: Pretty
Description: What I find amazing of CoH is that almost everything seems to have its own sound. You can hear GI's walk around, there body armour moving up and down. Weapons sound incredibly lifelike and you can even hear empy-shell sounds as well as the sound of the reloading of the guns. Tanks are detailed as well (squeeky).

The impacts of bullets and grenades sound different depending on the type of material they hit.

You can also hear the muffled sounds of battle takin place somewher else. The voice-acting of the units, screaming for help as well as for victory, is excellent and really make you get sucked into the game! Small funny detail is that during night missions your units whisper .

Of course this all is not really new to games, but not many RTS-games have such a high level of audio, in my opinion. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_JhHlUz0wc
Game Title: Grim Fandango
Your name: student
Pretty or ugly: Pretty
Description: Personally I find Grim Fandango a very fine example of a game with good audio. The game uses many layers of sound (like the typing on a typewriter with background music and a talking character), which makes it feel very rich and complete. (Read More…)

Game Title: Panzer Elite
Your name: student
Pretty or ugly: Ugly
Description: – No background sound! These tanks drive around on a planet that maybe resembles Earth, but where there are no other sound sources other than fighting tanks.

- Bad tank sound! These aren't really tanks, these are lawnmowers in disguise! When they speed up, they simply sound twice as loud!

- Bad voice acting. The first thing you hear when you start a mission is a voice, most likely from one of the developers. Then another voice starts yelling at you, which doesn't stop throughout the rest of the game!

- Bad sound mix! The sound of the loading of the cannon is very loud, as opposed to the actual firing of the cannon, which sounds more like a hit on a cardboard box!

- But the best sound (not) is when you drive over a tree, which sounds like stepping on a twig.

ps: the sound of the sequal is a lot better! .

Game Title: Revolution X
Your name: student
Pretty or ugly: Ugly
Description:
- The music (and Aerosmith) hasn't really got anything to do with this game
- The sound of the menu too loud
- Due to the volume of the music, you can hardly hear the sound effects.
- The music is monotonous because of the short loop(s).
- There's no sound when the player is hit by a rocket.
- The few sounds that are present don't really fit the actions. .

Game Title: Project Nomads
Your name: student
Pretty or ugly: Ugly
Description: This game features bad voice acting. The voice itsself is not that bad and probably even right for this character. However, the intonation and how the words are stressed is horrible: "When you pick-up an artifact, it is STORED in your … BELT!" .

Game Title: Zuma
Your name: student
Pretty or ugly: Pretty
Description: Good example of adaptive music in a game! The sound effects of the balls rolling and the shooting (which are really good too) have been disabled for this example. When the balls approach the hole, the music changes from more 'relaxed' to more 'dangerous'. The music doesn't get annoying and really suits this game because of the rhythm and instrumentation.