The Greatest Game Music

Reviews of truly outstanding game music

Most recent review

Returnal Soundtrack

Returnal Soundtrack, Bobby Krlic, 2021

Among early titles for the PlayStation 5, Returnal was probably publisher Sony’s biggest system exclusive. Developed by Housemarque, the game offered an intriguing mix of third-person shooting and rogue-like elements. Each time astronaut Selene – stranded on the alien planet Atropos – dies after fighting extraterrestrial creatures, she is resurrected, and her environment changes. This surreal time loop plays into Returnal’s dive into psychological horror, as Selene is haunted by visions of her own home and must piece together the mystery of this Hades-like nightmare world through audio logs. While the game’s difficulty level and lack of a save feature drew some ire from gamers, critical reception of Returnal was strong overall, with reviewers highlighting the game’s unexpectedly well-developed story and immersive atmosphere as some of Returnal’s strongest suits.

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Featured review

Nessa no Hoshi Soundtrack

Nessa no Hoshi Soundtrack, Kiyoshi Yoshikawa, 1997

The 32-bit era deserves to be remembered as one of gaming’s most experimental periods. Moving from two-dimensional pixel-based graphics into the polygonal 3D space forced developers to get creative and develop new gameplay concepts – sometimes through what feels in retrospect like try-and-error. One such experiment that now seems somewhat bizarre was Nessa no Hoshi. The game was an incongruous mix of first-person adventure and 3d-fighting games. The fact that Nessa no Hoshi was set on an alien desert planet might explain the game’s less than appealing graphics, presented in many dreary shades of brown. Still, there was significant ambition behind this game. It made extensive use of full-motion videos, to the point that Nessa no Hoshi was published on two CDs. The fact that developer Itochu was part of one of Japan’s largest companies might explain the surprising amount of resources invested into the game.

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A-Train 5 Soundtrack

Since an internet search for screenshots of the PC version’s cover came up empty, a screenshot of the PlayStation port’s cover has been used above.

A-Train 5 Soundtrack, Koshiro Nishida, 1996

Few game series have shown as much longevity as the A-Train franchise. From the very first A-Train game released in 1985, the series gathered a reputation for delivering the most in-depth treatment of its subject matter gamers could ask for. Due to the corporate structure of Japanese railroad companies – which own all the stations, land and trains associated with the services they deliver – the A-Train games were always about more than just laying down train tracks and figuring out timetables. Instead, they were full-blown city-building simulators with a strong focus on rail infrastructure. The series was successful enough in Japan to pique the interest of overseas publishers (including SimCity’s Maxis) in the mid-1990s – although Western gamers seemed less interested than their Japanese counterparts. Thankfully, some decades later, digital distribution made it possible for franchise entries like A-Train All Aboard! Tourism to still reach Western shores.

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Knockout City Soundtrack

Knockout City Soundtrack, The Soundlings, 2021

Just about any sport in existence has been immortalised in at least one video game (well, maybe not synchronised swimming – yet). Still, some sports have arguably proven more popular than others once turned into interactive screen entertainment. One of the sports rarely encountered in video games is dodgeball. Maybe that’s because of its inherent simplicity and lack of strategy. However, the same features can also be a strength since they make it easy to transpose dodgeball into new settings and gameplay modes. Case in point: Velan Studios’ Knockout City, which sees teams of players chasing each other through the titular futuristic city, trying to knock each other out by hitting their opponents with a ball. Sure enough, when asked why they went with dodgeball as the game’s core gameplay component, Velan Studios CEO Karthik Bala responded that it was an “intuitive” sport whose concept everyone understands.

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Featured review

Speed Limit Soundtrack

Speed Limit Soundtrack, Matija Malatestinic, 2021

There have been many love letters to classic video games of the 1980s and 90s. That means if a developer wants to turn heads with yet another homage, they will have to come up with something special. With Speed Limit, Gamechuck opted for a distillation and combination of staples pulled from the history of arcade games. Their title brought together elements of run and gun platformers, racing games, isometric shooters, vertical shoot ’em ups and even faux-3D flight simulators à la Afterburner. On top of all that, Gamechuck threw in several movie-inspired setpieces. Whether the game was ultimately the best of various worlds is up for debate. Reviews were generally respectful but couldn’t help point out Speed Limit’s brutal difficulty level that made memorisation of oncoming enemy hordes necessary.

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Buddy Mission BOND Soundtrack

Buddy Mission BOND Soundtrack, Kosuke Mizukami, 2021

One of early 2021’s most polished Nintendo Switch games was Buddy Mission BOND. With character design by Yusuke Murata (manga author of Eyeshield 21 and One-Punch Man), Buddy Mission BOND’s visuals indeed impressed, particularly during the 2D story sequences, presented in the style of comic book panels. Emphasising the interactions between the quartet of protagonists, Buddy Mission BOND was split into three portions. First, the visual novel segments with multiple-choice dialogue options; then, investigation episodes where the player has to uncover clues; finally, the 3D infiltration segments where players break into the villain’s base, solving puzzles with the information gathered during step two.

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Maglam Lord Soundtrack

Maglam Lord Soundtrack, Chiaki Fujita / Nobuo Kiyota / Kyouko Nakamura / Kiyoto Ohtani, 2021

For its most recent game, developer Felistella didn’t stray too from what worked for them in the past. Mixing elements of visual novels with strategy and action RPGs in their Summon Night and Hyperdimension Neptunia titles, Felistella delivered a similar experience with 2021’s Maglam Lord. In tune with those earlier games’ humorous tone, Maglam Lord follows Killrizark, an all-mighty demon lord sealed away after an epic battle. Every RPG fan worth their salt will be able to guess what happens next – at least up to a point. After many years, Killrizark awakens – weakened and ready to regain his strength by eating as many innocent souls as possible. That is, until he is told he’s been declared an endangered species by the government.

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