Four Music-Infused Games That Really Kept the Beat

Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games, PS4, Xbox One)

Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok — gunfighters were the rock stars of the Wild West, notorious for their oversized personas, unhealthy habits, and penchant for shooting a man for snoring too loudly. Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 delivers on the outlaw lifestyle like no other game. It’s a mash-up of historical fact and spaghetti western set in 1899 frontier country. Players strap on the six-shooters of fictional rabble-rouser Arthur Morgan. He’s the leader of one of the last remaining gangs in a Wild West about to be tamed. After a robbery goes awry, Morgan must lead his motley crew across the American heartland with bounty hunters and federal marshals in pursuit. Morgan’s base of operations is a mobile bandit camp from which you can stage misdeeds in nearby one-horse towns.

Like the previous game (which you don’t need to play to follow the story here), Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t dodge comparisons to Rockstar’s other classic crime series, Grand Theft Auto. You can giddy-up and go wherever you want in an open world and take on a dozen dirty side activities, from hunting wolves to robbing stagecoaches, while progressing through the type of cinematic story that Rockstar is famous for. The scenery is no less epic, shifting from desert mesas to alpine forests to gator-infested bayous as you push across the country. Each town has its own lively characters — card players, Civil War vets, saloon keepers, brothel professionals — who go about their daily duties and react to your presence and notoriety. Pistol play is more Django Unchained than Unforgiven, letting you quick-draw and deal devastating bodily injuries. But just because you’re an outlaw doesn’t mean you have to be the bad guy. An honor system tracks how you treat bystanders. If you sling lead indiscriminately, they’ll run you out of town. Gun down the town’s local thugs at high noon and you’ll become a folk hero — at least until the law catches up with you.

Brütal Legend (Electronic Arts, PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

A pantheon of rock gods from Rob Halford to Ozzy Osbourne joins Jack Black in this hilarious 2009 homage to arena rock. Black plays a roadie whose enchanted belt buckle transports him to a world ripped from heavy-metal album covers. Wield an ax — and an ax guitar — to rock the faces of demonic adversaries while banging your head to a soundtrack of more than a hundred metal standards.

PaRappa the Rapper (Sony Computer Entertainment, PS One)

A game about a rapping spaniel looking for interspecies romance might not sound like the greatest thing to groove on, but PaRappa the Rapper popularized a genre that until 1997 had been a mere Japanese novelty. Any fan of the game can still quote the motivational lyrics of its catchy rap-alongs (“Kick! Punch! It’s all in the mind!”).

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar Games, PS2, Xbox, PC)

Gaming’s most notorious interactive crime spree might seem out of place in a list of revolutionary music games, but 2002’s sun-soaked Vice City pioneered the use of a soundtrack as a tool to pull players into the world. The game featured more than 100 acid-washed 1980s hits that players cranked on their stolen car’s radio as they cruised a stylized Miami’s neon streets.

Rocksmith 2014 (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC)

Unlike the Guitar Hero games that shipped with a plastic instrument, Rocksmith requires a real electric guitar to play — and it actually teaches you to play it using the same scrolling-note interface used in similar titles. The software adjusts its difficulty based on your fretwork. The better you get, the more notes it’ll throw at you, until eventually you’re handling your ax like a rock deity.