I'd forgotten DEFCON. One of the best gems i ever played. And, yes, it's sounds where incredible.
Dawn of War, I'll agree has some great music in it. rouble is, most of it is just background stuff your hear repetitiviely. Oh well
I would also suggest the Call of Duty games. They have some excellent music, although the "heroic last stand" motif kept coming up alot. Admittedly it was on missions where you're making a heroid last stand, but it was still all good
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-04 02:24pm
by Edi
Morrowind had a very good soundtrack overall.
I'm also partial to the music from the first Age of Wonders game, particularly Battle Macabre, Heartwood Forest and Mountain Song as well as the title tune, but overall the soundtrack in that was excellent in that it rarely intruded. The sequels didn't get anywhere near in my opinion and they had far fewer songs in the soundtrack.
Wing Commander had some music I absolutely loved and still do, such as the mission briefing score, never mind that it was midi.
The Heroes of Might and Magic series has had some pretty good music, particularly HoMM2. HoMM3 was a step backward in quite a few themes and HoMM4's music is mostly nothing to write home about.
Some of the songs in Witcher and Dragon Age have been good too.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-04 02:36pm
by Eleas
Edi wrote:Morrowind had a very good soundtrack overall.
I'm also partial to the music from the first Age of Wonders game, particularly Battle Macabre, Heartwood Forest and Mountain Song as well as the title tune, but overall the soundtrack in that was excellent in that it rarely intruded. The sequels didn't get anywhere near in my opinion and they had far fewer songs in the soundtrack.
Wing Commander had some music I absolutely loved and still do, such as the mission briefing score, never mind that it was midi.
Not entirely. There was the Amiga version, which was in mod format (16 bit, in other words, as compared to the original 8-bit tune).
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-04 04:17pm
by Nephtys
How has this thread not mentioned Star Control and Megaman series? Especially the latter, which is still highly regarded as some of the best NES Midi muzak.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-04 04:26pm
by Admiral Valdemar
Shadow of the Beast II had awesome scoring too, which made up for the graphical capability being less advanced than the first game.
Admiral Valdemar wrote:Shadow of the Beast II had awesome scoring too, which made up for the graphical capability being less advanced than the first game.
There's more, I just picked the ones that were noticeably better.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-05 03:06am
by General Zod
Regardless of what you think of the gameplay, the Tekkenserieshas always had awesome music.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-05 03:51am
by Qwerty 42
Super Smash Bros. Brawl's borderline obsessiveness when it came to music was nice to see. You really got to hear a lot of interesting takes on some pretty classic tunes.
I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere, so I'll throw out Golden Sun. This was the first portable game I'd ever played that really moved beyond beep-boop soundtrack, and man, but did it do it with aplomb.
Zelda: Wind Waker was, possibly, the most musically complete game I've ever played.
Dragon Roost Island
I used to really hate Molgera, but it works really well for the boss fight it's used for. The percussion gives it a very "single-combat" feel, if that makes any sense. Ganondorf is also great for its scene, since the sky is basically nearly literally falling down around you. It's a very tense moment. Title Screen Sailing theme Prologue- my favorite version of the iconic Zelda theme
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-05 05:47am
by wautd
A particular song for bosses in UN Squadron (SNES) is also one that'll never go out of my head. I don't know why, I just find it catchy and foreboding.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-05 06:07am
by Dooey Jo
Outrun seems to have pretty sweet music, but I have never played any of the games. Car games...
The only recent soundtrack that I think's great but haven't seen mentioned is Tropico 3.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-05 02:11pm
by Civil War Man
Lord Revan wrote:I probably sound like a heretic for not trashing WoW every chance I get, but Warcraft series has good music and it's generally used well too.
I was wondering if anyone else was going to bring up Blizzard.
Of course, due to the nature of WoW, music is mostly to add to the atmosphere of the zones, so there aren't as many character themes as you might hear in movies or some single-player games. Unless the character is big enough to require their own theme. Like Arthas.
Lord Revan wrote:I probably sound like a heretic for not trashing WoW every chance I get, but Warcraft series has good music and it's generally used well too.
Let us not forget possibly the greatest musical contribution the Warcraft series ever gave us:
For a bit of more old school, the FF7 Shinra Theme is damned awesome. The version used for Crisis Core is also good. A little less evil, though no less awesome.
If you want something more recent, I have Modern Warfare 2. Specifically, the opening of the level The Enemy of My Enemy (before you get on the airstrip) and the opening of Wolverines! are made of win. Played once more for when
Spoiler
Roach and Ghost die
in Loose Ends.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-05 10:23pm
by GuppyShark
The only game I've ever really enjoyed the music of was a little-known console port called Slave Zero. It is set in a typical dystopian future and you play a big stomping robot.
The music is some great, inspired techno-electro that perfectly evokes the setting and there are some great little touches like a DJ voice saying in one of the bridging pieces "You are calling up an old music file." As if this future techno music is actually really old-school in the future setting.
The soundtrack was available as a free download from the game's website (which IIRC is now defunct) and went straight into my MP3 playlist, the first and only game to earn that honour.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-06 01:07am
by The Grim Squeaker
GuppyShark wrote:The only game I've ever really enjoyed the music of was a little-known console port called Slave Zero. It is set in a typical dystopian future and you play a big stomping robot.
The music is some great, inspired techno-electro that perfectly evokes the setting and there are some great little touches like a DJ voice saying in one of the bridging pieces "You are calling up an old music file." As if this future techno music is actually really old-school in the future setting.
The soundtrack was available as a free download from the game's website (which IIRC is now defunct) and went straight into my MP3 playlist, the first and only game to earn that honour.
Man that was a fun game. Wish I could find a copy of it.
I'm very partial to MGS3's theme as well. In fact, when it came on during the final fight in MGS4 it was easily one of the most awesome gaming moments I've ever experienced.
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-07 11:53am
by Eternal_Freedom
Heavy Gear 2 had some pretty decent music. Especially the music in the background of the opening menu. Very martial
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-07 04:21pm
by Admiral Valdemar
Vympel wrote:
I'm very partial to MGS3's theme as well. In fact, when it came on during the final fight in MGS4 it was easily one of the most awesome gaming moments I've ever experienced.
I may have orgasmed a bit when "Metal Gear Saga" played during that fight with Liquid Ocelot. It's like the greatest hits of the series (which it was, since after that track, they play tracks from the MGS series).
Also, I can't help but feel solemn when listening to "Debriefing" from MGS3, or the rather chilling "BB Corps" from MGS4. LAUGH WITH ME!
Re: Outstanding videogame music
Posted: 2010-07-08 05:03pm
by Dooey Jo
I must say I'm liking some of the songs from Xenosaga III. Ohsnap! They seem to have a pretty nice classical-inspired style going there. I especially like the choirs.