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In this 11th edition of Game Soundtracks for Your Soul, like Spinal Tap I’m turning things up to 11. What I mean by this is I am looking back at some game music that at the time took game music to the next level.
There are some tracks that once you heard them you knew that what you were about to play was going to be the next level of gaming. So turn your speakers or headphones up to 11 (if you can) and come listen to some of the video game music tracks that for me, took the genre to places I never thought possible.
Alright, so I am going to cheat a little bit here with this first track which Megadeth’s “Duke Nukem Theme“ from the album Music to Score By which is an excellent cover the the Duke Nukem 3D main theme. This by far has to be one of the most adrenaline inducing pieces of video game music out there. The song begins with some panting, grunting and rock guitar and kicks off with Duke saying “Let’s Rock” and belting out his catch phrases during the song. Every time I hear this song I feel like I would be ready to take on a alien hoard, or chew some bubblegum and kick some serious butt, too bad I’m all outta gum.
If the earth is ever invaded by a hostile alien force, as long as we have Marty O’Donnell’s “Truth and Reconciliation Suite” on the playlist, they don’t stand a chance. This piece of music along solidified the Halo series, and still today in my opinion remains one of the greatest video game music pieces of all time.
Final Fantasy VIII was the first of the Final Fantasy games I ever played, and musically it was one of the best places to start because the main title “Liberi Fatali”. Which accompanies the above opening cinematic which forever changed Final Fantasy games. Nobuo Uematsu’s use of a full orchestra including a glorious chorus, and finishing with a lovely solid piano chord as the game title is revealed still gives me chills.
Lastly, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess also brought the use of a full orchestra for several pieces of music featured in the game. The opening title is my favorite because of its use of a haunting full choir to sing the The Legend of Zelda theme, with lyrics and the song ends with an unsettling wolf howl. This piece of music set the tone for a game that was dark, and musically one of the best in the series.
So after listening to these pieces how are you feeling? Did you crank your sound equipment? I hope you did. What pieces of video game music took things to the next level for you?