WIP | Game Music of 2013
By DJJoeJoe 0 Comments
WORK IN PROGRESS
I mostly want to start thinking more about game music as I usually forget the incredibly rare gems I hear each turn of the year, and while as a whole game music becomes intensely forgettable or down right non existent there are most definitely some notable exceptions this year. These few exceptions are thankfully and surprisingly some of the best stand out sounds of recent years, which makes sense as the overall attention to production of games seems to rise.
Great game soundtracks take some inspired directions and chances of their own outside the game and become something more, the luck involved in what ultimately became the soundscape for Last of Us is remarkable.
Noisia does some bombastic and technically impressive electronic beats outside of games and their often ambient thrumbings in the latest remake are juicy and dripping with crunch.
Outside of being incredibly tense there's this pretty great soundtrack underneath the dreary landscape in front of you in this game.
This DLC is a complete tone shift and bold direction that more developers should inspire to create for their own games, sometimes you don't want 'more' of a game, sometimes you want some fuckin' radical late 70s early 80s Synth to get all up in it and coat it all HOT RED!
The songs within this minimalist, atmospheric adventure are equally sparse in almost every way except when it comes to the few folk songs covered for it. For Act II there is a slight shift in tone and instead most of the sounds fall backwards into a wall of sound esthetic.
- You've Got to Walk (the Bedquilt Ramblers) Act I
- Ghosts in the Static (Marquez Farm) Act I
- Bureau of Reclaimed Spaces Act II
Killer late title card intros in films and games are always radical when pulled off, and it's lovely when they come packing such atmospheric gusto.
The way each track is crafted to loop and switch into itself and the other tracks is ingenious. The game has both ambient sounds that loop and play while you explore the house along with custom underplayed pieces for each and every one of Sam's journal entries that are read out. I can practically hear Sam's voice when I hear these, and it kills me.
Fusion of core game story, mechanics and music is what makes these sounds so interesting. Taking direct inspiration from the game itself and remixing it's own sound multiple times over until it's a pumping, dynamically slashed up Neo-Electro Orchestral feast. This is epic, bold and easily the best part of this game. I really love this and I'm having a hard time picking just a few tracks... ah fuck it.
- Nilin the Hunter
- Still Human
- Fragments
- Neo Paris
- The Enforcers
- Memorize
- The Ego Room
- Remember your Childhood
I'm not sure if these stand on their own outside of the context of the game, as they are so integral to the game itself. As you venture through so many dynamic Nordic locations the music is really the key to guiding you emotionally through it, and boy does it demand every single one from you.
Splinter Cell Blacklist - Mike Zarin
Nothing remarkable but there's something interesting about this Splinter Cell soundtrack, especially if you look back on the lackluster ones of the past game entries (excluding Chaos Theory's funky jazz beats of course, those rocked).
Payday 2 - Simon Viklund
This is just some cool, mean electro.
No Man's Sky - 65daysofstatic
Does music from a trailer for a game not released yet count? Of course it does!