Develop Awards 2011: The finalists for Audio Accomplishment

The ninth annual Develop Industry Excellence Awards is just around the corner, with more than 90 studios competing for top honours at the July 20th event in Brighton.

In the run up to the big night, Develop is running a series of profiles of all the nominees in each category.

We continue here with the finalists for Audio Accomplishment. To be eligible a studio will need to be based in Europe and have built a new game, since July 2010, that excels in audio sophistication, use of music, intelligent sound design, or preferably all of the above.

The final choices, chosen by Develop’s editorial team, are found below. The ultimate winner will be decided by a 100-person-strong judging panel of industry pros, and announced at the awards show on July 20th.

To watch the event live, email Kathryn.humprey@intentmedia.co.uk to book your seat.

AUDIO ACCOMPLISHMENT

Enslaved (Ninja Theory)

When a game is as pretty as Enslaved, it can be difficult to pay attention to its audio. Ninja Theory excelled on this front however, and the voice acting, sound effects and Nitin Sawhney’s brilliant score create a living audio world in Enslaved that fires the imagination.

Crysis 2 (Crytek)

As video game New York continues to crumble, Crytek create a truly memorable score to accompany the Manhattan armageddon. Crumbling skyscrapers, screeching aliens and terrified humans have never sounded quite so disconcertingly real. Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu’s intense score, overseen by Hans Zimmer, rounds out the package perfectly.

DJ Hero 2 (FreeStyleGames)

FreeStyleGames has a consistent creative flair when it comes to testing the boundaries of what a music game can be. DJ Hero 2 takes outstanding licensed entertainment and mashes it all up for its own brilliantly fun ends.

Fable III (Lionhead)

Lionhead has spent a long time crafting Albion into a complete, self-contained world. The effortless way in which the Fable series’ heightened historical ‘reality’ is compounded by its first-rate music, voice and sound effects need to be experienced to be properly appreciated.

Kinect Sports (Rare)

Real time crowd reactions, bespoke music sections, outstanding voiceover and commentary and collaboration with top VO artist Peter Dickson and Fatboy Slim collaborator Simon Thornton mean Kinect Sports presents some of the most excellently realised audio work of the year.

Limbo (Playdead)

The spare world of Playdead’s creepy platforming epic Limbo is appropriately accompanied by some of the most sparse and yet memorable audio work in recent gaming history. Nobody, but nobody, who has played it will forget the sound the giant spider’s last moments.

Papa Sangre (Somethin’ Else)

An original in the very traditional sense of the word, Papa Sangre is just about as inventive an iOS experience as will ever be created. Travelling the Land of the Dead in the game’s entirely sound-composed levels is a thrilling and wonderfully strange experience.