Basic Trope: The music in a video game changes if something urgent, like low health or running out of time, happens.
- Straight: In Alien Attack, if your Life Meter is low, the music speeds up.
- Exaggerated:
- Even getting shot by an alien once changes the music completely.
- The game doesn't usually even have music, but loud music plays if the life meter is low.
- Downplayed: The music only changes very slightly.
- Justified: The background music is being composed in-universe by another character, who is warning the player.
- Inverted: Low health makes the music stop.
- Subverted:
- Double Subverted:
- Parodied:
- Enforced: People were complaining that it was too hard to tell if one's health was low, so this was added as a patch.
- Lampshaded: "Uh-oh! The ominous music is playing!"
- Invoked: A character sees that the life meter is low and starts playing music as a warning.
- Exploited: The aliens hear the music, realise that their enemy is weakening, and become more aggressive.
- Defied:
- Discussed:
- Conversed: "It's a good game, but the 'low health' theme is kinda scary!"
- Implied:
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs:
- Played for Drama:
- Played for Horror: The music plays to let you know the Zombie Apocalypse is approaching.
Back to Songs in the Key of Panic.
