We’ve spent the entire week unveiling the OSVOSTOTY 2012 nominees, and it’s with great pleasure that we finally present to you our top picks for Soundtrack of the Year. This is always one of the hardest categories to come to a decision on, as you can imagine each staff member was fighting for their own personal favorites. We do, however, stand by our final list and think it represents the best of what 2012 had to offer.
I also wanted to take a moment to comment on the change in format for our fourth annual awards. In the past, we had separate categories for Soundtrack of the Year, Best Handheld Soundtrack of the Year, and Best Indie Game Soundtrack of the Year. With advances in technology and the rising prominence of indie games to the point where it’s difficult to discern what’s indie and what’s not, we believed it was important to combine these categories into a single Soundtrack of the Year category to level the playing field. We’ve opened the category up to eight nominees to accommodate, and you’ll find it interesting just how many “indie” games made the cut.
As always, chime in and let us know your favorite soundtracks of the year and who you’re rooting for. So without further ado…
Double Dragon Neon Official Soundtrack
“… Because with his sound, he does not merely capture the essence of the sounds of both Double Dragon and the 1980s, he brings himself into the music, being not just incredibly fun and vibrant, but also passionate and personal.”
Read our full Double Dragon Neon review.
Dust: An Elysian Tale – Original Soundtrack
“There is so much diversity here, and it’s all so interesting and wonderful … I’ve had this soundtrack playing in the background of my daily life for a week now and I’m not even beginning to tire of it.”
Read our full Dust: An Elysian Tale review.
Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan Original Soundtrack
“I’m excited about the prospect of a 3DS title having such a high-quality and kick ass soundtrack”
Fez Original Soundtrack
“He is now thrust into the spotlight once again after providing FEZ with its magnificent, critically acclaimed soundtrack…”
Read our interview with Rich “Disasterpeace” Vreeland.
Guild Wars 2 Original Game Soundtrack
“This was a massive undertaking and a worthy successor to what Soule was able to accomplish with both the original Guild Wars and, more recently, Skyrim.”
Journey: Original Soundtrack from the Video Game
“I guarantee that players who experience Journey will eventually complement its music. Not just because the music deserves this praise, but because it’s hard to ignore the beauty in the music.”
Read our full Journey review.
Max Anarchy Original Soundtrack
“This somehow manages to improve upon what was accomplished with MadWorld in every way, which is an impressive feat. Whether you like hip-hop music or not, the silly and over-the-top antics will at least be entertaining and is worth your attention.”
Offspring Fling
“All creatives have those dark nights of the soul. But it’s hard to believe that such frustration could then result in such a perfectly condensed package of levity and luminescence. This is “feel-good” music, but not in a sugary way. It won’t let you down. It doesn’t have a bad after-taste or side effects.”
Read our full Offspring Fling review.
See our other nominees here:
Best In-Game Soundtrack
Best Sound Design
Best Arrange Album
Best Re-Issue Soundtrack
Best Other Album
Fez and Double Dragon Neon are two of my top five too! The others are quite a bit more personal and specific, being Gravity Daze, Bravely Default and Zombies.
Shawn — If this nomination list had gone from 8 to 10, Bravely Default would’ve been on there. It’s a very tough call, and we know some people out there LOVE this soundtrack. Without question it is something special.
But then there was a LOT of “something special” in 2012 OSTs. 🙂
Ok, good! I had been a little worried when Dust didn’t show up on nominations the other day. Hyperduck really outdid themselves on that OST, and it only served to make an already great game excellent!
My hats going off to Rich for FEZ and Jake, Double Dragon Neon is a fine piece of retro remake mastery!
I think I would vote for Anarchy Reigns, if only because PlatinumGames stole my heart and so did its musical tendencies.
But yeah, probably no chance of that happening!
No Liberation? Epic level sad face. Soundtrack of the year, all years. Six seasons and a mo- well, not so much that but still.
Surprised to find Guild Wars 2 on the list.
I’m sad that Mutant Mudds and its amazing soundtrack have been completely ignored by just about everybody. It did come out in 2012, you know!
Mutant Mudds OST was excellent and was considered. Unfortunately lots of great stuff this year.