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Recent games with great soundtracks


Mykah
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The other day I was thinking about how game music has changed over the years, and I realised I can't think of that many games I have played recently with great soundtracks.

I know there must be recent games out there with amazing soundtracks so I thought I'd create a thread about it.

If you've played a game with an amazing soundtrack lately share it here!

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  • Austin Wintory's Journey soundtrack is pretty great, and Flower before that (from TGC). I'm still peeved at Vincent for dissin' Yoko Kanno at that MAG panel a few years back, but he's a great composer and a true innovator.
  • I'm playing LBP Vita and I don't know what's original and what's licensed, but it's great.
  • Also playing Mutant Blobs Attack on Vita and while there's not a huge amount of variety, what's there is great in a retro 50's scifi sorta way.
  • Skyrim. 'Nuff said.

I think there are a TON of recent games with soundtracks that have a few strong pieces. In terms of soundtracks with a LOT of DIFFERENT, memorable & awesome melodies, well, Super Meat Boy is the shit.

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Bastion's mix of country/western twang and electronic beats is a masterpiece. Every song drips with futuristic cowboy imagery.

And while it's not terribly innovative or memorable, I never tire of the FEZ soundtrack. Downsampled/bitcrushed pads and synths with excellent melodies evokes a nice mix of retro game music and modern atmospheric soundtracks simultaneously.

I'll also throw in a vote for any of the LittleBig Planet games. Even though less than half of the songs are original compositions, the soundtracks always have great variety and song choice.

Edited by Cerrax
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  • Austin Wintory's Journey soundtrack is pretty great... I'm still peeved at Vincent for dissin' Yoko Kanno at that MAG panel a few years back, but he's a great composer and a true innovator.
  • Skyrim. 'Nuff said.

In terms of soundtracks with a LOT of DIFFERENT, memorable & awesome melodies, well, Super Meat Boy is the shit.

Bastion's mix of country/western twang and electronic beats is a masterpiece. Every song drips with futuristic cowboy imagery.

Seconding these. Also, Mass Effect 2 & 3's soundtracks had some truly memorable tracks on them; there's at least three that I find myself humming in the car or while working on something totally unrelated. (I'd say ME 1, too, but that'd be on the edge of qualifying as recent - depend on your definition of "recent" I guess.)

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One more vote for the Bastion soundtrack--that thing is pure gold. I've also been partial to the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Videogame soundtrack by Anamanaguchi. Finally, if you want some of the most beautiful, emotion-driven piano music you've ever heard in a video game, check out the To The Moon soundtrack.

Edit: Looks like the Shatter soundtrack also got a mention above me, and that is a really solid OST as well.

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Some great suggestions on here!

I did love the soundtracks of Bastion and Super Meat Boy.

Skyrim I found good but a bit unmemorable - I guess I just find the orchestral stuff a bit samey.

Mass Effect is an interesting one, because I loved the music from ME1, but they went a lot more orchestral in 2 and 3 which I think made it sound like every other epic game and not quite so space age as the mainly electronic style of the first game.

Fez and To The Moon are both on my To Play list so I look forward to enjoying their soundtracks!

That Radiant Historia tune sounds amazing for a Nintendo DS game, will definitely have to check that out. Reminds me of Chrono Trigger's soundtrack actually.

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How recent are we talking here? Last five years? Last ten? From 2000-on?

Either way, one you all need to listen to, immediately, is Yousuke Yasui's soundtrack for Eschatos, for the XBOX360, released in 2011. It was only released in Japan, but the game will work in any region. This is seriously some real damn good slammin' jammin' stuff.

Silver Lining

Point of No Return

Stellar Light

It's music like this that got me to love VGM in the first place.

He also did some music for the upcoming HD rerelease of Under Defeat, styled

.

The original score was by Shinji Hosoe,

DariusBurst, by Taito, also has very great music by its in-house band, ZUNTATA (who are, and remain, the greatest VGM composers ever. Established fact.)

It recently came out on iOS products,

Edited by EC2151
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I notice Skyrim was mentioned, which is excellent. But even more recently than that is Guild Wars 2, another soundtrack by Jeremy Soule. Its absolutely phenomenal. With a lot of MMOs, seeing the same locales over and over with the same music may cause it to lose its luster, but I don't ever have that problem with Guild Wars 2. It's wonderfully crafted, I highly recommend.

How about Xenoblade?

Also thiisssssssss <3 Love this song, and soundtrack overall. Here's a more upbeat one that I also enjoy.

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Nobody's mentioned Nier yet? I plan on plodding through Drakengard 2 just so I can better understand Nier when I play it, which I admit only getting for the music.

Tales of Graces F had some pretty nice tunes that stood out, too. A lot of the soundtrack was your typical bad-synth JRPG fare, though.

And yeah, I have to say "me too" about Skyrim. I spent my time hunting dragons just to 1. hunt dragons and 2. hear that hunting music while killing a frickin' dragon. I'm a sucker for Jeremy Soule's music.

Edited by Annie Felis
Fixed spoilers
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Did someone say Shinji Hosoe?!

Maybe it was just a combination with the gameplay, but I thought that the music he composed for 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors was pretty damn gripping myself, particularly for a DS game. It's like it took the feelings you were supposed to be having and amplified them tenfold. Memorable enough that I still listen to it at least weekly.

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Milestone, a group of former Compile employees, unfortunately went out of business (so it seems by their error and 404-ridden website).

But their games had some of the best damn music this side of cools-ville. "Bitches Blue," indeed.

Radirgy/Radio Allergy (Dreamcast, PS2, GC, Wii, 360) - i hate tha sun

Daisuke Nagata is a seriously talented composer, and I hope that, even though Milestone went under (which is a crying shame; their games were excellent. Better than the other Compile offshoot, Compile Heart), he can find some work somewhere else.

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"Thomas Was Alone" has a pretty good soundtrack in my opinion. It's short and pretty minimal, but the mix of sounds emotion make it an enjoyable listen. (The game is pretty solid too but that's another topic entirely).

More mainstream, you've got the orchestral stylings of either Super Mario Galaxy, the ethnic blend of Sonic Unleashed, and the nostalgia factor of Sonic Generations.

Portal 2 wasn't bad either. A bit on the heavy side, and there's a lot of it, but I thought it was good too.

Mixed feelings about the whole soundtrack, but any version of "Nate's Theme" from Uncharted also has my vote.

Skylanders is also pretty well put together. A bit on the youthful, fun side, but still well put together.

And nobody has put in a plug for Metal Gear Solid yet? :<

Also . . .

  • Skyrim. 'Nuff said.

Can't really argue with that.

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I kind of surprised that no one mentions Daisuke Ishiwatari's work on the Blazblue soundtracks. Definitely my favorite rock album that I have ever heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ2_vVmpXmw&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkLImIt4LZ4&feature=plcp

My personal favorite song from the first soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le6UB6d3f0s&feature=plcp

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I actually really enjoy the Blazblue OST's myself as well, but I dunno if it is really diverse enough to list as a great recent soundtrack. Completely up my alley, but it's all pretty much the same.

That being said, isn't Tagers theme sick?! Haha! I am super psyched for Chrono Phantasm as well! Oh, wait uhhh.. OST's...

I actually found the Witcher 2 soundtrack to be quite cool as well.

I think I also have to back the Bastion and Jamestown bandwagons. And Scott Pilgrim. And does the Hotel Dusk OST still count as recent? I LOVE that one. Ohhhh, and also The World Ends With You. And.... okay I'll shut up now.

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