(Title in reference to Wolfgang Mozart)
As you sit uptight and the console light begins to blink, even before the images kick in, you hear the music being piped in and you know what is in store for you.
The early 1980’s saw the dawn of a new era for the gaming industry with major developments taking place. The most noticeable amongst them was the addition of soundtracks to video games. This was soon to turn into a staple feature in the gaming industry. An arcade game, Dragon’s Lair (now considered a classic) was the first to come out with a complete soundtrack.
Soon after, soundtracks became as inseparable from games as they were from movies. By 1992, game soundtracks were for the first time ever shipped internationally to music stores in audio CDs (though the Japanese, as always, had this going on from much earlier on). Developers with budget increments would soon add whole symphony orchestras to the soundtracks to add to the grandeur of the epic tales that were to be told.
Things would not be the same without musical themes and soundtracks accompanying games to mark the highs, lows, climaxes and anti-climaxes. A soundtrack is not just a pretty feature that’s shipped in with the games. People subconsciously classify games based on its music.
Here is a list of some contemporary and some not so contemporary games with amazing soundtracks that totally kick ass.
The game was released on the original PlayStation in somewhere around 1997 and was accompanied soon after by its very own soundtrack CD available separately, competing with the movie soundtrack. Orchestrated by “Northwest Sinfonia”, the score brought the characters, including the dinosaurs to life even under those medieval gaming conditions. The same symphony orchestra went on to play the soundtrack for “Medal of Honor” two years later and also performed soundtracks for numerous motion pictures.
Remember hearing the dark, mellow title theme snaking its way out from the haunting cellos as you prepared to step into the myriad life of Max Payne once again? It was not only reminiscent of the original Max Payne game but secretly whispered the film noir love story that was to unfold. But the real musical treat was at the end of the game when the credits roll and you get to hear “Late Goodbye” a fabulous single from an unheard of Finnish rock band called “Poets of the Fall”. Max Payne 2 turned me on to the band, which soon grew onto me as one of my favorite rock acts.
Deus Ex is not only one of my favorite games of all time; it also has an amazing soundtrack. The game in itself is what one would consider a masterpiece. Deus Ex redefined plot flexibility. You had the freedom to discover and choose among numerous methods of completing any mission with subsequent plot developments intermixed with postmodern conspiracy theories. The game music was not only ambient but was a great standalone too.
Covering various genres, the sometimes techno sometimes melodious and melancholy soundtrack vividly complimented the dismal world of 2020, where mankind had plunged into its darkest hours struggling through turmoil. JC Denton sets out to save the world in a single night hoping from one continent to another. Too bad audio CD’s weren’t released separately.
As I watched the announcement trailer for Halo 3 sometime around summer 2006, the return of Master Chief had a bone chilling effect, more so because of the score that began playing along. On doing some research I found out that the music for the trailer was recorded with a 60-piece orchestra along with a 24-piece choir and also that a separate audio disc of the original soundtrack was to be released.
This audio disc (now available) by far surpassed all previous Halo soundtrack releases. Not only has the sound quality gone up but also the music has grown a lot more multidimensional with proper orchestras in use this time around.
I know Metal Gear Solid 2 as a game was a letdown to the community in certain ways, Ssssnake lost out his charismatic role to someone who had just hit puberty with espionage. The mature mumbo jumbo took too much out of gameplay time and so on, but what remained competent and solid was the sound track which was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, Norihiko Hibino, TAPPY, and Rika Muranaka.
The OST to the game rivals any melody to this very day, images of Snake running through the Manhattan bridge and jumping off and landing on the ill fated tanker was in perfect sync to the sound, the drum roll salute at the end which actually takes the cover off Sanke leaves me frothing each time I hear it to this very day, it was the sound that made him my hero for the day I switched on to play through MGS2.
–Shriram Srinath