Favorite current Gen soundtracks?

[Dobie]

We're 5+ years into the current gen at this point, and there's been some games with marvelous music. What would you say are your favorites thus far? I can think of a few off the top of my head, I'm sure there are many more.

Kameo--The orchestral, epic feel is just awesome. Without the music, this game wouldn't have motivated me to play through once, let alone twice.

Halo ODST--Love it or hate it, but I thought the choice of the "smokey sax" and dark themes were unique and really added to the feeling of solitude.

Red Dead Redemption--This game is still fresh in my mind, but the music was perfectly suited to the west. Plus, (no spoilers) there's this song towards the end that captures the "moment" perfectly. Perhaps better than any game I've played this gen. If you've played through RDR, you know what I mean.

Braid--Its mostly licensed, but its sweet. Especially the final level, the urgency and excitement of the music really added to the "mind blown" emotional punch of the finale.

[SegaAges]

I do enjoy a bunch of the songs from Assassin's Creed

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Braid - Various Artists
Echochrome - Hideki Sakamoto
Bioshock II - Various Artists
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The Wolrd The Game - Anamanaguchi
Katamari Series - Various Artists

I'll second Braid. Great stuff there that's frequently stuck in my head whether I'm listening to it or not.

Echochrome is a personal favorite. The Hideki Sakamoto music is fucking SUBLIME. I listen to it all the time, and the recently released piano-only version is great too.

While MOST of the music is only used in menu screens, load sequences, or intentionally atmospheric moments of the game, I really dig the Bioshock II soundtrack. I'm a sucker for Jazz/Big Band era stuff.

Most recently the Anamanaguchi soundtrack to the Scott Pilgrim game has been in rotation on my playlist.

And, who doesn't love the Katamari Damacy family of games and their awesome soundtracks?

[Sinizar]

Puzzle Quest

[Swamperon]

Super Mario Galaxy - used my Club Nintendo points to order the Soundtrack. Love it.

Little King's Story - Well technically it may not count as it's just remixes of classical tunes, but it does it amazingly.

Super Monkey Banana Blitz

Sonic Unleashed (Day time levels only!)

Super Smash Bros Brawl - again remixes though.

Valkyria Chronicles

Eternal Sonata

[hbkprm]

sonic remake
dark void
bionic commando
fallout 3

[SpaceHarrier]

Mega Man 9

Ironic?

[Jaruff]

Just about everything that's come from Rockstar Games, especially Red Dead Redemption.

I'll give an honorable mention to the Modern Warfare 2 soundtrack. The soundtrack (I believe Hans Zimmer did it) kept the excruciatingly boring single player campaign enjoyable to a marginal degree.

[Nebagram]

I'm with you on Braid. Absolutely stunning from start to finish, and buying and downloading the soundtrack was the best $8 I ever spent.

I have a soft spot for the LBP soundtrack- licenced as it is- simply as it perfectly conveys the sheer fun element of the game.

I know it's a rhythm game so slightly cheating here but the remixes in Boom Boom Rocket were fantastic.

Space Giraffe's music complemented its gameplay brilliantly- your mileage may vary on that of course.

Several good ones, yet I can't help but feel that this generation still hasn't had its 'Rez' moment yet music-wise. Ah well, still time...

[Swamperon]

Oh and Monster Hunter Tri has some pretty good tunes. The soundtrack has just become available which I'm quite tempted by.

[mattimeo310]

machinarium. I cannot get enough of the robot band tune!

[heybtbm]

Oh! Game soundtracks...my favorite subject! (I own 220+). A few current-gen songs worthy of your time...


The Presidium (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG7NtjBSEEE) (Mass Effect I and II)

Dreams of Venice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvZHAT7xHO4) or Tour of Venice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJz9OGYmPvs) (Assassin's Creed II)

Watchman's Ease (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQsC5IEXDag) (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)

Exodus in America (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao-Aj_I0Tzo) (Red Dead Redemption)

Snowy Raid Yard (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZaxGBGjeSo) (Street Fighter IV)

Throwback Galaxy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3l3xpkAkvA) (Super Mario Galaxy 2)


...just to name a few. We are living in the golden age of game music. So many modern gamers just take this for granted.

EDIT: Seriously...listen to the whole Red Dead Redemption song and tell me you don't want to immediately play the game. These are all masterpieces.

[Berserker]

VVVVVV - Pure chiptune awesomeness, and (for me) half of what made that game so fun to play through.

[G-Boobie]

Red Dead Redemption
Shatter
Oblivion
Blazblue
Street Fighter IV
Metal Gear Solid 4

I would call these dope, if I were pressed to do so.

[The 1 2 P]

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Most Star Wars games have good music and this one continued to add to that tradition.

Halo 3: ODST: A slight change of pace from the normal Halo tunes and not quite as good as the music from Halo 2 but a very moving score none the less.

Alan Wake: The normal in-game music was so-so but the actual soundtrack music they used was exceptionally well at times. For some of those songs they certainly chose the right artist.

[Emuaust]

Street Fighter IV
Mega Man 10
Metal Gear Solid IV
Braid
Alan Wake

I could go on all day, there has been some awesome audio this gen but to me BIONIC COMMANDO and REARMED These are my favorites from this gen hands down thus far.

[NayusDante]

I actually haven't really appreciated all that many game soundtracks since the PSX era. To me, game music is synthesized on the fly, which results in a different style of music from recorded audio. Now, everything's just orchestral sountrack music, which rarely stands out to me. It doesn't help that I simply don't have an ear for orchestral music unless it's really distinct.

I really appreciated Mega Man 9 and 10's soundtracks, but they almost seem more like throwbacks than new, honest-to-goodness 8-bit music. However, I would blame that on the fact that I listened to the music from 1-6 obsessively as a kid, and their sountracks were the first music of any kind that I remember liking. Hearing new 8-bit Mega Man music after all these years is great, but it's not part of that original collective sound in my mind.

Baroque had some good audio, but I was disappointed that they didn't use the more industrial sounding original tracks from the Saturn version.

The Dark Spire is almost worth picking up for its soundtrack alone, which I've enjoyed more than the game itself. The music is all sequenced, and there's also 8-bit versions of the tracks.

The best part of Final Fantasy XIII for me was the soundtrack, but even still, it's not that memorable. It's mostly the battle theme that sticks in your head.

[Aussie2B]

I actually haven't really appreciated all that many game soundtracks since the PSX era. To me, game music is synthesized on the fly, which results in a different style of music from recorded audio. Now, everything's just orchestral sountrack music, which rarely stands out to me. It doesn't help that I simply don't have an ear for orchestral music unless it's really distinct.

Same here basically. In fact, I'd say we're lucky if a modern game has orchestral music since so many games opt for licensed junk or lame ambient noise. But like you said, too often the orchestral stuff doesn't have a driving melody either.

It's kind of strange because if you look back to the very early days of games on CD, like with the Turbo CD and Sega CD, the fact that redbook audio was available didn't seem to limit how catchy and memorable the music was. It almost more rockin' in some cases, like all those awesome Turbo CD shooters. Then things started to change around when the PlayStation came out, but, yeah, that era still produced some great soundtracks, if only because the storage space was still limiting enough to make some games go with synth.

There are some soundtracks from the previous generation quite a bit, but I can't think of much on Wii/360/PS3.

[kupomogli]

Brutal Legend. I'm surpised no one has mentioned this. The soundtrack is amazing. Too bad that and the story are the only two things this game has going for it.

GTA4, GTA Episodes From Liberty City, GTA Vice City Stories(I consider PSP and DS next gen.) Liberty City Stories had a terrible soundtrack and I haven't heard Chinatown Wars to make a judgment.

Widl ARMs XF.

Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7.

[Lord_Magus]

Nier had stunning sound design and some beautiful, touching melodies throughout.

Atmosphere-wise, I enjoyed the bombastic, grand soundscapes of Demons Souls.

Folklore also had some pretty inventive, Danny Elfman style tunes.

And of course, Mario Galaxy :)