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I’m a big fan of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s level up sound. Here, just take a listen to it:
Once isn’t enough. Give it another go, now with the added effect of a flashbang:
It’s ridiculous really, an over-the-top 4 second mash-up of dubstep and heavy metal that assaults your eardrums through both your TV speakers and DualShock 4 controller. Sadly, you can’t hear the dubstep in the above clips. That’s split out separately to the controller, but trust me, when combined with the heavy metal, it’s great.
Which got me thinking: How much thought goes into composing a level up sound? Is it a minor throwaway task merely overseen by the audio director, or a major factor in the game’s audio design? Because when you have the controller in front of you, levelling up in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare feels cool, exactly as it should do.
But Infinite Warfare isn’t the only game that gets levelling up sounds right. There have been plenty of great ones in the past, and here are some of my favourites:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:
It’s an obvious first choice, but Skyrim’s orchestral roar makes levelling up suitably epic. Five years on and this is still one of the best.
Battlefield 3:
My personal favourite of them all, condensing Battefield 3’s iconic theme into a 6 second jingle proves to be surprisingly effective.
Fallout 3:
You can’t argue with Bethesda: what with this and Skyrim, it’s clear they know how to make a great level up sound.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2:
The electronic thwump swelling to a crescendo of guitar riffs and drums almost feels like two completely different sound effects pushed together. Somehow, it works.Â
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Every time I hear this I picture Treyarch’s design director David Vonderhaar rocking out on an air guitar. There’s some stiff competition, but this just about earns the title of being my favourite Call of Duty level up sound.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn:
It couldn’t be anything else, really: Final Fantasy’s Victory Fanfare makes for the perfect level up sound.
Fallout 4 John Cena Mod
Okay, so this may not be entirely official, but I couldn’t highlight gaming’s greatest level up sounds without including this. Vault Boy’s walking animation being perfectly in time with the music in this particular video just puts the icing on the top of a very sweet cake.
Have I missed any of your favourite level up sounds? Send us a tweet to let me know.
