Best Original Music in a Game - 2015 (Tentative)
Going to keep updating this list until the end of the year because I'm indecisive like that, and I keep listening to new soundtracks.
List items
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This year, one game's soundtrack blasted out of my speakers and slapped me in my face, and that game is Rocket League. There were countless time that I would leave menu/title screen to idle on my PS4 while browsing on my computer. Although the OST features just two different producers (Mike Ault and Hollywood Principle), the songs cover multiple styles, and several include talented vocals of various singers. The OST might not resonate with listeners who don't enjoy electronic music but there's no denying that the songs easily stand on their own legs outside of the game. This soundtrack is far and away my top of the year. One of my only compaints with the music relates to the usage within the game: it is only played during the menu/title screen with no option to play during matches. The OST sits saved in my Spotify app and is played very very often. It's not often that songs of this caliber are produced originally for a video game.
Firework - Hollywood Principle [Not sure why this is not in the OST]
Flying Forever (feat. Morgan Perry) [My personal favorite with some great vocals; I can confidently say this is my favorite original song from a game this year.]
Lacuna [This one builds up for a while but really gets going soon after the 2:00 mark]
Love Thru The Night (feat. Morgan Perry)
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Full Disclosure, I haven't played this game, but this soundtrack is BALLER. A lot of variation with the pieces. I've watched the quick look and some gameplay videos and the incorporation of the music into the game is great, obviously; the mechanics of the game make you feel very connected to the music. My favorite aspect about the OST itself is that it includes the shopkeeper versions of the songs possible along with the sans-shopkeeper versions as well. My partner and I listened to this soundtrack a lot in the ambulance this past rotation and he couldn't get enough of it. It's nice to see a new take on music/rhythm games.
Stand Outs:
Crypteque (1-2 with Shopkeeper)
Mausoleum Mash (1-3 with Shopkeeper)
Igneous Rock (3-1 Hot feat. Shopkeeper, FamilyJules7x)
For Whom the Knell Tolls (Dead Ringer)
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The only other game I can say really stood out for me in terms of music was another surprise hit: Undertale. The game features looping bits of music, all influenced by the chiptune style to match the aesthetic of the game. Although most loops are very short, the boss encounters' tend to be longer. What Undertale does well is make each section of music feel very personalized to the situation at hand; every encounter and change of settings is accompanied by the perfect music and ambiance. No two loops are alike and this makes each one feel special, which, not surprisingly, I could say the same for the games enemies. As I click through the various time stamps (found in the description on the YouTube page), I feel as if I'm playing through the game again in my head by recalling each setting and enemy matched to the music. It's not easy to produce looping music that is also enjoyable, but Toby Fox does so throughout the whole game; Unfortunately, the short looping nature is also what keeps it from being near my top spot. I'm including more standouts here because they're each short.
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Listened to a lot of this one and am just not feeling it.
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Master Spy has a style of music that it goes for and hits with force. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much past that. The album has a mix of trance and house inspiration that sets a good atmosphere for the game but does not include much variety. When I listen to this album, I'm always left with a feeling of wanting just something more. The bass-kick is what really lacks creativity from song to song and makes them feel like different versions of themselves. Between the main songs found throughout most of the OST there are interlude-like short pieces of about two minutes each. These mostly take from the upcoming songs which doesn't do much to draw a listening. In the end though, Master Spy OST still has something to offer, and I enjoy it. The music sets the tone well in the games and hits exactly what it's aiming for; this is a true video game soundtrack and an okay listening soundtrack, just not a great listening one. I'm putting this one right under Read Only Memories for now, but that could change because I've only given Read Only Memories a short look.
Stand Outs:
Mission 1 (Tower)
Mission 2 (Mansion)
Mission 3 (HK)
Cutscene 4 /Cutscene 5 (I wish these were more fleshed out and made into a mission song.)
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Still assessing this one. So far:
Great pieces that work well within the game to set the ambiance, but don't hold up too well outside of it. Maybe I just haven't heard enough; maybe the game has enough songs that hold up stand-alone but I'm just hearing too much of the ambiance pieces between the good songs.
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