10 PERFECT Sound Design Moments That Improved Video Games

5. Ape Out – The Zoo

Wait, weren't we giving music a rain-check on this list? Music doesn’t really come more ‘in-yer-face’ than Ape Out’s brash score of cascading drums and clashing cymbals. However, Ape Out incorporates its crazy soundtrack tightly with its sound design. Each beatdown and throw of a gun-toting guard is accompanied with a boom of percussion, as the ape evolves into an improvising jazz player.

Conversely, Ape Out does have its moments of quiet, as our brain-bashing ape frolics in a peaceful jungle before capture, yet the best sound design moment comes from the final zoo level. This stage gives the player the euphoria of breaking out of the ape’s enclosure, while also releasing other predatory animals from their glass cages.

Slowly but surely, your personal destructive soundtrack is accompanied by a crying commotion of tigers and bears as they join you in ripping apart your captors. A rag-tag choir of blood-thirsty animals explode into the craziest drum solo since Whiplash. It’s a perfect union of sound design and melody.

If you’re looking for a game to take out your frustrations by beating down a butt-ton of fleshy gunmen, Ape Out’s the way to go.