I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while, so here it is!
Sometimes when you play a particularly well-put-together game, there are moments when everything just comes together – you enter an awesome looking area ready to engage in an epic battle…and then the incredible background music kicks in. More often than not the music helps set the tone and the atmosphere for the upcoming part of the game, and there are some games that just knock it out of the park in this respect.
This has happened to way more times than I can count, so I thought I should chronicle some of the tracks I’ve encountered in video games that make me feel like going forth and laying waste to my enemies (in the video game, of course). I’ve also provided links to go buy these awesome soundtracks wherever possible because you should support the creative people who compose these tracks, and not be a filthy pirate.
So, in no particular order!
Rules of Nature – Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
MGR:R was my personal Game of the Year for 2013, and it starts on one hell of a high note. Really, the entire soundtrack from that game could conceivably show up on this list but I’m going to put Rules of Nature here because it hits you hard from the get go with an awesome boss fight against a Metal Gear, and the game makes full use of dynamic mixing to play the best parts of the track at crucial moments in the fight.
Buy it here: Amazon.com
Storm – Serious Sam 3: BFE
This is the BGM for a boss fight that pretty much comes out of nowhere. You’ve spent the last thirty minutes or so fighting hordes of aliens in the ruins of Cairo when you emerge into a somewhat more open area with harpies everywhere. You take potshots at them for a while, wondering what’s coming next – and then a giant warship teleports into the sky above you, and an angry man screams “WAAAR!â€
If that’s not a perfect setup to an ass-kicking, I don’t know what is.
Buy it here: Steam (you get it as a bonus with the game, which you should play anyway because it’s brilliant)
The Time Has Come – Devil May Cry 4
DMC4 is a game I feel rather conflicted about, since it has strong points but it does a lot of things I find irritating as well. That said, Nero’s battle theme is definitely one of the strong points. Somehow it never really gets old even after playing the game for hours on end, and considering how much fighting you do in that game that’s a huge deal.
Buy it here: Amazon
Give Me a Break – Guilty Gear Xrd
This game isn’t even out yet (although I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy, based on what I played at Evo), but Sol’s new theme kind of rocks. The opening chords really just set the tone really well for running in and Dust Looping the crap out of your opponent.
Buy it here: You can\’t actually buy the OST yet, but here\’s the opening theme which is pretty awesome too
KDD-0075 – The King of Fighters XI
I think this was the first track from KOF XI that I heard in a match video, and it’s probably my favourite track on the whole OST. The aggressive backbeat and bass suit K’s team perfectly, which is nice because you got to hear this track a lot while playing KOF XI because of how many people picked Kula as their leader (did she really need an invincible DP, SNKP?)
Buy it here: I actually can’t find this for sale anywhere, and it doesn’t seem to be available on any digital music sites either.
This list is by no means exhaustive and there are probably a ton of tracks I missed, but here are the few that popped into my head most readily.