I often get made fun of for saying that music is one of the most important aspects of video games. My friends jest and mock me saying "I only play this game because of the music." Music drives you, fills you with emotion, and bring you in. In many cases you can feel how your character is feeling.

I'm hoping many of you have played Mass Effect. When you first put in ME1 and got to the main menu, the tune "Vigil" starts playing. At this moment, before any of the game, I got sucked into the ME universe. At that time I knew this game was going to be amazing. I was just filled with emotion. When talking to Vigil (the Protheon hologram), you hear the tune "Vigil" again. With Vigil speaking and "Vigil" playing you got a feeling that you were there, listening and imagining. That was by far the most powerful experience I have had in a video game. The tune "Suicide Mission" which nicely goes with the suicide mission in ME2 gets your heart pounding and you can just tell how important this mission is. All of the ME games are filled with great music.

Another example of great music in video games is the AC series. In Brotherhood, when running across the rooftops of Rome, you'll hear a tune called "City of Rome". I felt as if I was in Rome, standing on the rooftops admiring the city below. The music playing during the last Cristina mission is enough to make your heart swell.

My last example is in Fable II when you first leave the camp. You'll head into Bower Lake and the tune that starts up is "Bower Lake". Instantly I became hooked. I was drawn into the game and admiring the environment.

Now I am not saying that music is everything. Music needs to work with many other aspects of video games such as good story, character depth, environment, etc, to be perfect.

So how would you rate the music in video games? Is it pretty high or is it at the low end of importance?