Finally two good things happened to me - To the Moon finally released on Steam and two, scored me a sweet pair of Sennheiser headphones with a microphone. Why I am so ecstatic about this is because sounds or more importantly, listening to music plays a very important role in my life. It's kinda like saying music is my best friend (well almost).

Music (and sounds) for me is like the subliminal message for gaming...you don't realise its wholly there however somehow, you will remember it; or uncontrollably humming a tune where you don't know where you originally heard it.

Coming back to the game To the Moon, I was so excited that besides the rave reviews, it was also praised by its musical scores. Its like the music and story are one fused together in perfect harmony.

When I booted it up and listened to the opening tune with my spanking new headphones, the opening score immediately captured my imagination of the game. Heck all I have to do is press start to begin however (and strangely so) I didn't. All I did was listening to conjure images. And one of the imagines I created was imagine there was no opening score - what will I do? Press start and move on? I feel it will lose the spirit of this game if this had happened.

To the Moon is not in isolation of this marvelous piece of sound as I can remember many, many scenarios of warping through ones mind.

To those who played the first Unreal (not Unreal Tournament) where you play the prisoner escaping the crash space craft. Now I bet you remembered quite vividly when you exit the claustrophobic ship to gaze upon the vast world for the very first time. It was like someone smashed you with a hammer and then stars spinning around your head! Well I bet you didn't realise in full details the score that was playing however it was there, playing its subliminal message, hooking you in whilst you scanned the area. Now imagine the same scene without the music; I bet the impact wouldn't be the same.

Quake 2 also done this remarkably well yet the musical scores were more of the in your face than just atmospheric sounds. I remember reading a youtube comment when playing the song Operation Overlord describing the song as tank montage or 8 stroggs died listening to this song (referring to the amount of dislikes). Again music plays an important role as people not only associate with the game but even quote the monsters, attributes and so forth. Other words: total immersion.

You can also apply this to Halo (how can you not forgot the opening score with those Gregorian chants and those drum beats), No One Lives Forever (and singing evil never dies...love that sixties tunes), the Unreal Tournament Series, XIII (man those are groovy beats to boot), Alan Wake and many more.

Well one can say music touches the soul; now add that to gaming you'll have more than you bargain for. Its not to say its the be all and end all however when it envelopes my soul in a subliminal way, I'm not going to say no to that!

(Coming back to Earth)...let me finally press start to play To the Moon...and yes I fear those tears running down my face...thank you for the music.

(Note: The picture taken was from Ship Sim Extreme rockin in da cruise ship)