As 2011 is quickly fading into distant memory, and 2012 is already bubbling with anticipated new releases, I have procrastinated enough and decided to share with you what I felt was the cream of last year’s crop of video game soundtracks.
If you’ve read any of my previous “best of” lists, you know how much I loathe the process. However, with a genre like this, I feel a little bit more responsibility in conveying quality product, especially since video game soundtracks are like the red-headed stepchild of the music industry, despite their growing popularity.
So here goes, enjoy!
10. TWO WORLDS II, composed by Borislav Slavov (Topware)
If you know me, then you know that I’ve got a severe penchant for ancient, period adventure scores. And Two Worlds II took me right back to those great adventure classics like The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, King Richard and the Crusaders, and The 13th Warrior. Passion and fury collide in bold, epic musical storytelling, and I must give Slavov props for the ride!
9. DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, composed by Michael McCann (Square Enix)
Like Blade Runner meets The Fifth Element crossed with Tron: Legacy, McCann gave us a sonic portrait of a dystopian future that is wondrous and terrifying at the same time. It’s dark and doomy, and yet there is something beautifully hypnotic about his ability to create such textured, cybernetic themes. Like a neon-lit back alley at night, McCann offered up a landscape where you really don’t want to live but you cannot seem to lift your feet to leave.
8. GEARS OF WAR 3, composed by Steve Jablonsky (Sumthing Else)
Just when you thought Jablonsky had forgotten how to write a simple melodic theme without all the crash-bang-boom of Zimmer-ian-influenced stylization, he knocks your feet out from under you with Gears of War 3. For every reason there is to dislike his Transformers movie scores, there is an equally opposing reason to love Gears of War 3. While retaining his penchant for aural density, melodies float through the ash and smoke of a war-torn landscape like the shimmering silver lining of a monstrous thundercloud.
7. STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC, composed by Mark Griskey, Gordy Haab, Lennie Moore, Jesse Harlin, Peter McConnell, Wilbert Roget II, Steve Kirk (Lucasfilm, Ltd.)
I’m always amazed by how incredibly far the Star Wars universe continues to expand year after year. Thanks to the video game circuit, the musical backdrop for the realm from “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” has been given free rein to plow forward into undreamt territory, while never losing sight of its origins. Some “purists” see it as blasphemy and ignore the Expanded Universe altogether, but there is a growing sect of Star Wars fans that welcomes any and every addition to keep enriching our imaginations. What is very cool about The Old Republic is that, although scored by a team of composers, the music sounds like it was written by a prodigy of Maestro Williams.
6. RIFT, composed by Inon Zur (Trion)
Rift is yet another in a long line of video game soundtracks that expands upon the increasing cinematic heft that makes games more enjoyable to play in the 21st century. Inon Zur, a master of blurring the lines of what we would normally classify as sounds associated with the past, present, and future, bends our reconciliation with time and tone through Rift in a way that leaves us dumbstuck, thrilled, and satisfied. We don’t know where we are, and we don’t know where we’re going, but once we’re there, he makes the adventure all the more worthwhile.
5. DEAD SPACE 2, composed by Jason Graves (EARS)
From the “Holy Crap!!!!” Files comes Dead Space 2, or as I like to call it, Jason Graves’ response to Jerry Goldsmith’s Alien soundtrack. He goes from making you feel apprehensive to downright wetting your pants in the span of about 3-minutes. And he continues to frighten you through the duration of the game (or soundtrack, whichever you happen to be experiencing). Frankly, I’m surprised Graves doesn’t score big-budget Hollywood horror films, because he’s a rare talent that makes you want to keep the lights on while merely listening to a CD! [Read more of my thoughts on Dead Space 2 here.]
4. UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION, composed by Greg Edmonson (La-La Land)
Another one of those video game scores that can whoop the backside of most modern Hollywood film scores, Uncharted 3 continues Greg Edmonson’s mission to create the richest, most musically vibrant video game soundtrack in human experience. If only Hollywood’s big guns bore half the tenacity that oozes from Edmonson’s work, the Best Original Score Academy Award category might actually mean something. But there you go, like most genres where the craft speaks louder than the media machine, only the chosen few are “permitted” to experience such brilliance. And kudos to La-La Land for giving us two full discs of trans-cultural adventure themes!
3. ALICE: MADNESS RETURNS, composed by Jason Tai, Chris Vrenna and Marshall Crutcher (EARS)
This one came out of left field, and left me scarred from the first listen. The composers for Alice: Madness Returns take us on a trek, creepily curious and atmospherically bleak. Musically, it is the Danny Elfman effect without the same old tired sense of theming. Rather, we are accosted by dissonant sound design and turn-of-last-century, Jack the Ripper-ish cues that keep us on the edge of our seats – thrilled and chilled simultaneously.
2. SOCOM 4, composed by Bear McCreary (La-La Land)
Bear McCreary is a true journeyman of score accompaniments, blending his expansive style into any and every facet of entertainment possible. While SOCOM 4 can be treated as the tip of the proverbial iceberg into the world of McCreary, it is also a concrete testimony to one man’s adaptability into a realm that traverses a gamut of cultural themes as it does emotions and atmospherics. When putting his hat into the ring for a future project, all McCreary really needs to do is hand the producers this CD.
1. ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM, composed by Jeremy Soule (Bethesda)
You probably knew this was coming, and as much as I tried to dissuade myself from giving Skyrim the top spot, there was no way to rationalize anything else. Just like the jaw-dropping visuals and game-play, the music for Skyrim is all-encompassing – transporting the listener from a cozy couch or chair and into a world where anything can happen. Jeremy Soule really swung for the fences and bled a soundtrack that is so immersive and “real” that it can, at times, become emotionally overwhelming. His score is so texturally organic that you begin to feel like you are visiting another world. Mega-wicked credit is also due to Bethesda Softworks for releasing a 4-CD box set of the music and allowing us to revisit nearly every corner of Skyrim even when our gaming system is turned off!
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