Quick impressions! Had to travel this week so I haven't had much time to listen to stuff.
Es-cop-pay - Nice mood! Production values are good and the voice sounds super clear. If I'm getting the source usage right it's pretty creative. Arrangement feels very repetitive though.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Maverick - Nice intro, some of the samples seem of slightly low quality but I dig the vibe. Neon Tiger with the wah lead sounds cool. I like that you used most of the X8 theme in different parts of the arrangement. A tad short though. With more development I'd have definitely voted for this one.
Subtle Haystack Tibulation - What the hell is this title haha. I like the use of guitars to give the source a rocking style. I think they could sound more powerful though. The rhytm in 1:21 is weird, seems like the drums and guitars are in different time measures and it sounds odd. In the 2:14 section I feel it gets way too crowded and notes start clashing way too much... Overall it has creative ideas but it seems you tried to cram way too much stuff in here. The moody Never Gonna Give You Up in the ending is amazing haha.
Straight Outta RAGE - Not feeling the RAGE in the intro haha, but I dig the relaxing mood. E. Piano sounds sweet. Very creative use of the sources and definitely one of my faves so far. One thing I didn't enjoy that much were the crushing or whatever effects in the drums. They were nice at first but they get tiring fast. Awesome change to the piano break. Second half drags on a bit but the song is very good overall.
Palace of the Beast - Nice! Feels like I'm playing a PS1 RPG here haha. Guitar kind of breaks that feeling a bit but the menacing mood is cool. Great use of Slash Beast with the brass, I like that you actually changed the melody to fit the chords (something that many people forget to do and end up with clashing notes). The song then continues with similar but awesome ideas. My favourite of the round probably, very creative use of both sources and great production. If forced to nitpick I feel the drums have too much reverb for the style you aimed for.
Chiral - As usual, bringing the funk! The leads sound awesome. Production is clean and the arrangement is fun. However, and as much as I dig the song, I felt other entries used the sources better (maybe just by being longer songs haha), so this isn't getting one of my votes.
Beached Whale in Miami - Nice staccato synths. Sadly, this is ridiculously short... I guess it could be a pretty cool song if finished.
Requiem for a Reploid - Someone had to make a dramatic song eventually! At 0:23 I almost thought you were going to use Metal Gear Solid's theme haha. Orchestra sounds very nice and chords are very interesting. Mixing Shield Sheldon into such a dramatic mood is a bit hard though since that song is so happy sounding. It fits sometimes but other times it doesn't fit that much sadly. I really like how this sounds, production is clean and instrument selection is great. The usage of Sheldon's theme around 2:20 is very very nice. It reminds me of the PS1 Rayman game (the first one). For the outro I thought you'd go with a super crescendo using that last Sheldon melody so I was a bit disappointed with the calm finish haha.
Victory at the Palace of Rejects - For some reasons all your songs sound very similar haha. Production is clean but the arrangement lacks some exciting. To put it bluntly I feel the percussion is very lacking and even boring. Actually I believe this is what usually puts me off about your songs. Leads are fine and have some interesting ideas but drums and bass tend to be slow and without much variation. You should experiment more with that to give your songs a more exciting edge.
Leap of Faith - Bass is surprisingly low for your songs Brostock! Awesome rocking mood as always. Your lead playing has been getting better and better lately, especially your vibrattos. The intro riff and it's repetitions are very cool, maybe my favourite riff of the round haha. Overall this is classic Hakstock, nice guitars, cool bass, rocking mood and fun leads! I have to say production seems worse than in your other entry haha. The drums, to be specific, sound less powerful than I'd expect.
Rise of the Sigma - Another dramatic song! Some nice chords here. Probably my fault but I barely hear Spark Mandrill. which is weird since it has some pretty recognizable melodies. I like how this sounds but I feel it's lacking in the source usage area.
As usual, voting was rough.