This time, I’m going to be giving you a run down of my top five video game soundtracks of all time. This is going to be from any era, from old school to modern. So hold onto your hats, kids.
So, naturally we will be starting off at the bottom of our list, with entry number five. Now when I say “bottom”, don’t take that choice of word too literally. This list was easy in terms of I knew what OST’s I wanted here, but the order… deciding which was better, what would be my number one choice… yeah, that was tough.
So, coming in at a respectable #5 is…
Some of you may be surprised to see such a modern title (as a PS4 launch title, this game is very young indeed), but Resogun’s soundtrack is literally amazing. Without it, the game would be fun, sure, but would it be as fun? I would think not, somehow. With the epic, pumping and intense music perfectly going along with the insanely bright, busy and hectic world of Resogun, the music carries the game out of the realms of “pretty good” to “fucking awesome”. As a game it’s a very simple concept, but it’s a concept pulled off brilliantly, with each and every aspect shining brightly in it’s own right.
To hear a sample of the soundtrack, simply watch the video below.
Next up, at #4….
The soundtrack for this classic survival horror title is incredible. Akira Yamaoka’s music is haunting, beautiful and often disturbing, just like the game itself. The main weakness of this soundtrack is that there are less tracks here that you would listen to on your MP3 player than on say, the Resogun soundtrack, but that’s not enough for me to put this at number five instead. Every single piece of music on this soundtrack is a breathing, living part of the game and is a huge part of what makes this game one of the greatest of the PS2 era. Every note seems to capture James’ black but sad tale perfectly, encompassing his journey through the nightmare town of Silent Hill.
To hear a sample of the soundtrack, simply watch the video below. I challenge you not to feel the goosebumps go over your skin.
Coming in at number three…
One of the main things this soundtrack has going for it, is it’s originality, it just has it’s own unique sound that I haven’t heard anywhere else. Now, you could probably argue that for Silent Hill 2’s soundtrack, and you’d be right, but this wins over in my view for a few reasons. Apart from a few duds on the OST (Swim This Way, anyone? *shudder*) almost every track is something you would happily have on your MP3 player. Not only that, but again there is a mastery at work here. Kingdom Hearts as a series can be both childish and simultaneously adult and rather dark, and this shines through pretty clear in the soundtrack. You have bright and bouncy tracks like Monochrome Dreams, but you also have dark and tense tracks like Dive Into The Heart -Destati-.
Not only that, but each individual world has it’s own themes, both for general exploration and for battle, and some very stand out tracks for boss battles. Again, we have a perfect marriage of visuals and audio working together to achieve a common theme and feeling among the audience.
To hear a sample of the soundtrack, simply watch the video below.
Aaaaaand our runner up, at #2….
I must admit, this was a really tough choice. The decision of which one of my top two to put in second place was not an easy one. Both Bastion and my number one pick both remain in my heart as two of my all time favorite soundtracks. Bastion’s audio is just so completely perfect, that it could have very easily earned my number one spot. This is not just the beautiful and memorable soundtrack though, oh no.
Bastion is very rightly remembered for the excellent audio narration provided by Logan Cunnigham. The smooth, soothing tones of his voice, telling your tale and reacting to what you do is just a big a part in this game’s excellence as the sharp and enjoyable combat, and the incredible soundtrack. Quite a few Bastion tracks have pride of place on my MP3, and each one has an interesting feel to them with what could have been a mess of instruments all from different cultures and with different sounds. Instead, it all comes together to create something wonderful and unique, just like the game itself.
To hear a sample of the soundtrack, simply watch the video below.
And finally, our #1 spot winner, my personal favourite soundtrack of all time…
Ah, Okami… a truly underappreciated game. It even earned itself an article pointing this out, way back at the dawn of time. This soundtrack, all five discs of it, is something of elegance and beauty. It brings with it a suitably traditional Japanese feel, with classic instruments plinking out both beautiful, sad themes and tense, original boss battle music. Again the music is perfectly partnered with the gameplay, story and even aesthetic style which has an almost sumi-e feel to it.
Okami’s OST can go from being calming, to tense, to imbuing a sense of mystery and mysticism, with each boss, area and sometimes even characters having their own themes. The music is even more important in this game, because in a sense, it is the characters’ voice. Although the characters within the game do speak, it is in a jumbled, nonsense language and is delivered to us entirely through text boxes. So it could have been very possible for the characters to lack personality. Now, obviously the soundtrack can’t achieve this all by itself, so credit is still due to how well they are characterised with movements, expression and so on. But without that particular piece of music with that ominous and mysterious tone, would Waka be so interesting?
To hear a sample of the soundtrack, simply watch the video below.
Well everyone, I hope you’ve enjoyed this run down of my top five soundtracks of all time. There will probably be more of these coming, just probably narrowed down to certain genres of games, or something like that. However I do it, I just want to share some awesome music with the world. You may have heard some of these already, you may have not, but in some way, I hope the music here as touched you as much as it has touched me.
