There’s a whole lot that goes into a great video game and one much-misunderstood element is often the soundtrack. People wildly underestimate the difference a great soundtrack can make; it can take a game from good to history-making. Whether it’s the cleverness of the sound effects, the mastery of the score itself, the unusual combination of instruments, or a snapshot of a certain period of time, there are myriad reasons why a soundtrack can be excellent. We’ve picked some of the best video game soundtracks out there, some from the history vaults, as well as some you may never have heard of and we’re going to pick apart exactly why these soundtracks are so brilliant.
Skyrim
If you enjoy an atmospheric soundtrack then you’d struggle to do better than Skyrim. The main theme to this soundtrack was recorded by a male choir of thirty performers who sang the entire piece in the dragon language from the video game. The effect was bone-chilling in the most wonderful way. Haunting echoes in a strange tongue create a truly ghostly feeling to this game and that wasn’t the end of it. The instruments in this soundtrack are masterful too. When your player enters into battle the drums begin beating slowly and as the battle progresses they quicken until they’re positively thundering like the sound of a panicked heart. If your adventurer makes it to the dwarven ruins then they’ll be faced with a newly terrifying part of the soundtrack, deep harmonies from that male voice choir, and haunting strings. So great is this soundtrack that the composer Jeremy Soule has made it available to stream on all of the main streaming platforms and of course YouTube too.
Blackbeard
This pirate-themed slot game really understood the assignment, especially when it came to creating a theme tune that was both catchy and fitting to the action. The sound effects are a real triumph, with canon fire whenever you hit a big win, a high-pitched cackle whenever you match three or more parrots, and the authentic wooden clack of the reels, they feel absolutely believable. This is teamed with a catchy theme tune played largely by horns. It feels olde-worlde, but not tired. The melody is simple, with no harmonies, just one note at a time, reminiscent of a silent film for the cartoon age. If you’d like to play this game then it’s available to play at Vegas Slots Online alongside some of the best casino games online. There’s a huge amount of choice on this site, from blackjack through poker and plenty of slots, though we can’t guarantee that every soundtrack will get such a rave review as this one.
The Legend of Zelda
When it comes to successful video game composers there is perhaps nobody as well thought of as Koji Kondo. The composer in residence at Nintendo, Koji has worked for the company since 1986 and is the genius behind some of their most famous titles, including Super Mario which so nearly made the list. However, perhaps Koji’s best work is the theme tune for the Legend of Zelda. This video game took a daring new approach to the soundtrack, creating more complex tunes that still retained earworm status. So catchy is the Zelda soundtrack that it was transcribed into a four-movement symphony which was called the ‘Symphony of the Goddesses and is a truly rousing thing to listen to an entire orchestraplay. It’s one thing having a catchy soundtrack, but it’s quite another to have one so brilliant that an orchestra decide to play it.
Cuphead
Some videogames have a soundtrack that’s totally of their time, think Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, or Grand Theft Auto, but Cuphead has turned that idea completely on its head. Despite being released in 2017, Cuphead has an illustration style that’s taken directly from the 1930s. The beautiful line drawings, the color palette, and even the way that the video game is laid out are all reminiscent of a 1930s newspaper. So, it made perfect sense for the game to also have a soundtrack inspired by the 1930s too. This soundtrack really is a rip-roaring reminder of a decade-long past, with big band sounds and plenty of jazz. Its rumbling, tooting and be-bop-a-dooing are feel-good enough to counteract the gloomy storyline and more than catchy enough to have you humming them for days to come. Just like the hit that was the Skyrim soundtrack, this soundtrack too has made enough of a name for itself to be included on all of the main music streaming platforms, and those that particularly love it can even buy it on vinyl too.
