Music in games sets the tone. From epic orchestrals in RPGs, to creepy violins in horror games, the music often makes the game. While there are countless soundtracks that make their games stand out, these five are particularly awesome. Prey (2017) (PC, Xbox One, PS4) Bethesda and Arkane’s Prey was released in May 2017. The game can be stealth, or more a first-person shooter, depending on how you want to play it. Regardless of how you play it, the soundtrack goes well with the game. On the official soundtrack, the majority of the songs were composed by Mick Gordon. One of his recent soundtracks was for Doom (2016). There were also songs by Ben Crossbones (Organ Trail), Matt Piersall (Epic Mickey) and Raphael Colantonio (Co-creator with Harvey Smith on the Dishonored series. Until 2017 Colantonio was the president of Arkane Studios). The song that best encompassed the feel of the game is Semi Sacred Geometry. Portal 2 (PC, Linux, Mac, PS3, Xbox 360) Portal 2 was released in April 2011 by Valve. The Xbox 360 version of the game is backward compatible with the Xbox One. As the sequel to Portal, the game is even better than its predecessor. The music was composed by Mike Morasky, who also did the music for Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. He also did visual effects for the Lord of the Rings and Matrix movies. He composed the soundtrack for Portal (2007) with Kelly Bailey, who created the music and sound for the Half Life series. The best song of the soundtrack is Want You Gone. Folklore (PS3) Folklore was released in October 2007 by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game has a great story and visuals that have aged well. The composers are Kenji Kawai, Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, and Hiroto Saitoh. All four have done soundtracks for many games. Kenji Kawai has also done music for anime, including Seven Swords and Ghost in the Shell. Shinji Hosoe and Ayako Saso composed the soundtrack for Ridge Racer. Hiroto Saitoh composed the soundtrack for Druaga Online: The Story of Aon. The best song of the soundtrack for Folklore is Where the Soul Goes. Dragon Age: Inquisition (PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4) The third game of the series, it was released November 2014 by Bioware. The game is a great addition to an already great series. The composer of the music was Trevor Morris. He’s done music for tv series, including The Pillars of the Earth and Vikings. He also did the soundtrack for the movies Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen. The best song of the soundtrack is The Dawn Will Come. Especially the instrumental version of the song heard in several places throughout the game. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst (PC, Xbox One, PS4) Mirror’s Edge Catalyst was released in 2016 and created by EA DICE. While it’s the sequel to the November 2008 Mirror’s Edge, it has a different feel from the first game. The 2016 game has more to explore and improved controls from the first game. The story also goes much deeper than that of the first game. The soundtrack was composed by Solar Fields (Magnus Birgersson). He has several studio albums and composed the music for both Mirror’s Edge and its sequel. The song that captures the feel of the game best is The Shard. What games do you think have the best soundtracks?
0 Comments
Crystal Dynamics’ 2015 Rise of the Tomb Raider continues where Tomb Raider (2013) left off. This time Lara Croft is looking for the secret of immortality, following her father’s research. The graphics of the 2013 game were already impressive, but have still improved a lot. The cutscenes are crisp and smooth, along with the character animations.
The quick-time events of the previous game were absent from this one. It took away from the immersion of the cutscenes more than I thought it would. In the previous game, the quick-time events, though some were frustrating, added to the immersion in the cutscene. The cutscenes felt more a part of the action before, rather than pausing for a movie. Despite the lessened immersion in the cutscenes, they carried the story forward well and were never boring or slow. Crafting is much more complex in this one and adds further depth to the game. Gathering materials as you progress is a nice addition to the survival part of the game. The clothing choices were nice, but as the game progressed, Lara’s appearance didn’t change much, how it did in the previous game. Her adventures had less of a visual impact on her. As for the combat, it was definitely improved. Stealth felt more realistic and being able to use the environment more added to the benefits of using stealth. There was a much wider choice of weapons and just enough ammo spread in the environment that there wasn’t too much, but there was still a chance of running out. The side quests varied from each other, but a few felt like fetch quests. The side quests are optional, but a lot of them add further depth to the game. Journal entries and collectible items were as interesting and enjoyable to find as in the previous game. The main story felt shorter than that of its predecessor. Near the end, it seemed more was going to happen, but instead it was the end of the game. It’s better that the story wasn’t drawn out longer than it needed to be, but it felt shortened. The previous game felt like it had more at stake for Lara, with the lives of her and her friends being threatened. Rise of the Tomb Raider moved her character forward, toward a more capable adventurer, but felt less personal. The main objective was something personal to her character, but what would happen if she succeeded or failed, wasn’t as clear as in the previous game. Overall, Rise of the Tomb Raider was well worth playing and a good addition to the series. It had far more things working well for it, than those that didn’t. It still had the possibility of exploration that the previous game had, with even more tombs and temples to discover and explore. |
ArchivesCategories
|