Game of the Year 2004 Awards: Best Sound
Myrthos, 2005-02-21

The last couple of weeks you could vote for the best RPGs and MMORPGs that have been released in 2004. Not us but you the player decide who receives the RPGDot 2004 Awards in the various categories. We thank all those who entered their votes and helped us in making it possible to select the best games of 2004.

Best Sound and Music in an MMORPG
The sound and music in a game can make a big difference. When not done correctly sound and music in games tend to get annoying, yet when done properly it adds to the gameplay experience while playing and can draw you deeper into the game.

The winner: World of Warcraft
Much of the credit for World of Warcraft's win must go to Jason Hayes' superb symphonic score, which creates a subtle but evocative feeling for each zone across Azeroth. In addition to the theme in each zone, special music pieces are seamlessly triggered when special areas such as cities are found. Like many things Blizzard does, the delicate use of music and music changes underscore the level of polish in a Blizzard game. There are also the excellent audio cues from gaining a level to a friend coming online, wonderful ambient sounds and powerful effects in battle.

(Dhruin)

Runner Up: Everquest 2
Like the graphics category, EverQuest II sets out from the beginning to raise the bar with the most technically proficient sound to be found in a MMO. The most obvious innovation is the 130 hours of voice-overs for NPCs. And what a cast - names like Heather Graham and Christopher Lee headline 1700 voice actors. Beyond the voice-acting, EverQuest II has solid sound effects and an epic score worthy of a major MMORPG contender.

(Dhruin)

Second Runner Up: City of Heroes
Cryptic Studios brought to CoH all the batch of sounds which make a good comic, in addition to the urban sounds of Paragon City they've improved the immersion by bringing all the "pweep" "skra-kang" "whoom" to life the way in which you imagined it. The only downside is that some of them can become irritating over a while.

(JRM)

The Numbers
To make it complete we now give you the top 7 as voted by our visitors:

And 14% of the voters didn't have a clue about what to select.

The team members voted slightly different:

List of the awards
Awards on RPGDot:
Best graphics
Best Sound and Music
Biggest Surprise
Biggest Disappointment
Most Anticipated
Dream Game
Best Console RPG
Best Non-RPG
Best RPG

Awards on MMORPGDot:
Best graphics
Best Sound and Music
Biggest Surprise
Biggest Disappointment
Most Anticipated
Dream Game
Best Expansion MMORPG
Best MMORPG

Note that percentages are rounded to the nearest number.