I'm just going to name a few games that I thought had really awesome soundtracks, and maybe name a few of the songs I thought were strongest in each, but I'm not going to post any links because I don't want to crash the thread.
F-Zero X: Quite plainly the best soundtrack I've ever heard in a racing game, period. The intense guitar rhythms and drum beats really emphasize the speed on the track. In particular, the song used for the "Big Blue" tracks, "Decide in the Eyes", is probably one of the best songs in the game overall, but none of the songs in the game are bad.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction: You could probably make an entire thread out of the stuff Michael Giacchino did for various video games, but I'm going to put Mercs here because it gave every faction their own unique identity through their music. The "action" songs(the ones that play when you're actively fighting) are definitely the stronger pieces, with the South Koreans' theme "Hidden Valley Bunker", the Russian Mafia's theme "Family Business" and the Allied Nations' theme "Allied Nations"(yeah, I know) being the best among them.
Burnout 3: Takedown: There were actually a number of songs that were made for Burnout 3 before Criterion got grabbed up by EA and the game switched over to having licensed music. Which is a damned shame, because the songs were damned good. At least they got put into Burnout Paradise so we can actually listen to them in a game. The ones on my mind are the songs "Take Cover", "Red Sky Horizon" and "Tonight This Ends". Again, it's a real pity these weren't actually used in Burnout 3.
And I see someone already mentioned a piece from Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. "Hrimfaxi" was good, sure, but I think there were plenty better. "First Flight", from the mission where you have to fend off waves of Yuktobanian aircraft over Sand Island, comes to mind. So does "Wings of Unity", from the game's penultimate mission at the Belkan city of Sudentor. "Naval Blockade" from the mission where you have to help the Osean fleet break through a Yuke blockade of their port and "Rendezvous" from the mission where you first encounter Yuktobania's Burst Missiles are also good.
F-Zero X: Quite plainly the best soundtrack I've ever heard in a racing game, period. The intense guitar rhythms and drum beats really emphasize the speed on the track. In particular, the song used for the "Big Blue" tracks, "Decide in the Eyes", is probably one of the best songs in the game overall, but none of the songs in the game are bad.
Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction: You could probably make an entire thread out of the stuff Michael Giacchino did for various video games, but I'm going to put Mercs here because it gave every faction their own unique identity through their music. The "action" songs(the ones that play when you're actively fighting) are definitely the stronger pieces, with the South Koreans' theme "Hidden Valley Bunker", the Russian Mafia's theme "Family Business" and the Allied Nations' theme "Allied Nations"(yeah, I know) being the best among them.
Burnout 3: Takedown: There were actually a number of songs that were made for Burnout 3 before Criterion got grabbed up by EA and the game switched over to having licensed music. Which is a damned shame, because the songs were damned good. At least they got put into Burnout Paradise so we can actually listen to them in a game. The ones on my mind are the songs "Take Cover", "Red Sky Horizon" and "Tonight This Ends". Again, it's a real pity these weren't actually used in Burnout 3.
And I see someone already mentioned a piece from Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. "Hrimfaxi" was good, sure, but I think there were plenty better. "First Flight", from the mission where you have to fend off waves of Yuktobanian aircraft over Sand Island, comes to mind. So does "Wings of Unity", from the game's penultimate mission at the Belkan city of Sudentor. "Naval Blockade" from the mission where you have to help the Osean fleet break through a Yuke blockade of their port and "Rendezvous" from the mission where you first encounter Yuktobania's Burst Missiles are also good.
