Music has steadily become something more and more important to the games industry over the years for countless reasons; be it an original score adding realism tension or atmosphere, or a compiled soundtrack to get help get you hyped to play a game while perusing the menus or adding realism to games that require it, or perhaps in the case of the Guitar Hero’s and Rock Bands of the world being a core gameplay aspect in itself. I myself have become attached to many of these soundtracks over the years, not always because that the pieces in question are amazing examples of musical genius, but because I associate them with a particular time in life or a game that had a huge impact on me for whatever reason, and that is exactly what this article is about. So stay tuned pop-pickers and prepare to disagree, as I give you my personal top ten songs that have been featured in games.
10. Ghostbusters (C64)
Don’t double-take, you read that right. This is on the list because it is simply it is one of my earliest memories of gaming. Every year we would travel to Great Yarmouth to visit family and every time we I got the privilege on my second cousins Commodore 64. This was the first game I always turned to being a big Ghostbusters fan as a kid, and it somehow reminds of a more innocent time. I never finished the game, to be honest I don’t actually remember if I knew what the hell was going on, but I used to love taking down the various ghosts around the city. Here is the soundtrack in all its 64kb glory. Check out the Karaoke lines to make up for a lack of a full quality recording.
9. N.E.R.D – ‘Rock Star’ (Jason Nevins remix): Forza 2
Why this song? Why Forza 2? Well you see, I’ve not always been a big fan of racing titles over years, preferring more style arcade-style of Ridge Racer to the likes of Gran Tursimo purely out of accessibility, as I could dip in and out as I felt the need. Despite the first Forza causing me to smash a pad into many pieces, I still gave the Forza 2 demo a go and for some reason something clicked; I was enamoured and have been a huge fan of racing games ever since. I played Forza 2 for months on end and ‘Rock Star; was one of the tracks that stuck with me. I hear it and I associate it with racing, it always had me desperate to get into the action and was the one song from a well-selected soundtrack that I looked forward to every time I booted up the game; even to this day. Here it is.
8. Exile – ‘The Next Door – Indestructible’: Street Fighter IV
‘IN-DE-STRUCTIBLE!’ Seriously, is there anyone who hates this annoyingly catchy track? It’s because of this track that every time I play Street Fighter IV (and that is a LOT) I still have to watch the intro all the way through, even sometimes making excuses to meander around the menu system just enough to hear some of it before re-entering a fight.
7. Airwolf Theme (C64)
Another nostalgia trip. Forget the A-Team, forget Knight Rider and Street Hawk, the only vehicle-related show worth watching in the 80’s was the Mach 1 helicopters. I adored this show as a kid and another one I used to play on my second cousins Commodore. Watching Airwolf was awesome, playing as Airwolf was even better.
6. ‘The Edge of Soul’: Soul Edge
Another one of those that is annoyingly catchy but brilliantly captures the spirit of Namco’s ‘Tekken with weapons’. There’s not a lot to say about it, just watch the video of awesomeness, featuring not only fighting but also plenty of wobbly boobs and pseudo nudity.
5. ‘Opening Bombing Mission’: Final Fantasy VII
I can safely say that it was this game that gave me such a massive new interest in RPG’s in my youth, and this score stays with me from that experience. It’s the score of which I judge all original video game scores. Along with Resident Evil it was around that time that games became more movie-like in their production values, and with CD quality sound coming in with the PSOne the audio had taken a massive step up since the 16bit era. The start to the song starts beautifully and coupled with FFVII’s famous intro instantly helps you fall into the slight feeling of hope amidst the darkness in the manmade city known as Midgar. Then the tone changes, becomes darker, and kicks in at a higher tempo as you are introduced to our protagonist Cloud, and you instantly know you are a man on a mission and about to jump head first into battle.
4. The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – ‘Maps’: Rock Band
The standout track from my second favourite band’s first album ‘Fever To Tell’. As soon as I saw it in the track-listing for Rock Band, I was always going to buy it. As one of the easier tracks to play (on guitar anyway) it is the perfect introduction to anyone new to the Guitar Hero/Rock Band formula; gentle guitar, powerful drums and Karen O’s sweet voice makes it a really great track to play to play with friends.
3. Blur – ‘Song 2′: FIFA 98: Road To The World Cup
FIFA is currently back at the top of its game these days, and we all know PES ruled the roost before that, however there was another time when FIFA was king and no more so than with the release of FIFA 98: RTWC. Blur’s powerful anthem was a perfect fit for football and it just made you sit up and get straight into the right mindset. It’s horrifying to think that this used to be an attractive game way back when, but Blur are as good as ever.
2. ‘Cohen’s Masterpiece’: Bioshock
After stepping foot into Rapture for the first time, the entire score for 2K’s Bioshock instantly became one of my favourite original soundtracks, not just against games either but also counting it amongst some of my favourite movie scores. However there wasn’t one part of the soundtrack that suited its corresponding in-game usage as ‘Cohen’s Masterpiece’. Classical, creepy, angry and disturbed; it suited the oddball character of Sander Cohen to a tea, and wouldn’t have at all sounded out of place in a Tim Burton movie.
1. Hammer Box – ‘Simple Passing’: Road Rash
When EA’s Road Rash made the switch to the 32bit generation, it brought with it a suitably grungy soundtrack with classics like Soundgardens ‘Rusty Cage’ or Paw’s ‘Jesse’, in a licensed soundtrack the likes of which we had barely seen before. Hammerbox were easily the stars of the show, though while much of the attention when their track ‘Trip’, I much preferred ‘Simple Passing’. Driving guitars along with Carrie Akre’s defiantly strong vocal performance made it an absolute joy to race with. It’s a song I loved so much that I kept the Road Rash disc for years after I was done with it, just so I could boot it up and listen to it. I’ve spent the last 13 years hunting down the Hammerbox album it came on, and I have only just succeeded because of a chance encounter on Ebay. Rest assured I have been listening to it non-stop since. Enjoy, while marvelling at the wonders of polygon folding and pop-in.
