Favourite VGM of 2012

Tears is naturally the standout from Max Payne 3 because it's pretty much a HEALTH single, but the BGM tracks are excellent and can't be dismissed.

@Atwa: Thanks for reminding me of Krater's soundtrack. I had it on loop for a few days when the game came out.

Also,

I loved a lot of the stuff mentioned earlier (FEZ being my fave overall, probably), but a close second is FFXIII-2. I'm a big fan of Masashi Hamauzu and absolutely loved his FFXIII score (the game itself? not so much..). This one isn't quite as good, but he and the two other composers wrote a lot of great stuff for this game. The new theme is my fave song of the year:

Another Dustforce track, this time "Baryogenesis." I got stuck in one of the levels that uses this track and probably listened to it for +30 minutes. The level was damn hard to get an S grade, but I never got tired of the background music. The beat at around the 1:00 minute mark is particular entrancing.

Far ahead of anything else this year for me is the Hotline Miami soundtrack as a whole with Jasper Byrne's Miami being the highlight.

My runners-up for best soundtrack would be Dear Esther and Journey with an honorable mention to Max Payne 3.

Tears by HEALTH is a fine song but really comes into its own when it plays during the airport shootout.

Not enough Xenoblade in this thread! Gaur Plains music is probably my favorite track of the year. I could listen to this for hours, and have, in game and out. Wish the music from the second half of the game was as good as the first.

Dat bit wit da drum.

Also Paper Mario Sticker Star had some really incredible music. Was the best surprise about the game. This particular battle theme has been stuck in my head for days.

Lots of orchestral sounding stuff in Paper Mario as well. Real nice.

Need to show Double Dragon Neon some more love here: