Best Soundtrack in a game

[Hatman Jam]

I'm surprised how many people haven't said Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Maybe it's just too obvious or something. I 'unno. Regardless, I loved the beautiful orchestrated music in both Brawl and Galaxy, as well as the upbeat tracks in Super Paper Mario.

Another franchise with a suiting, upbeat sound track are both of the "Feel the Magic" games.

 

[danosaurus]

Toss up between Grim Fandango and Vampire: Bloodlines.

Music for both games added to the air immensely, set the mood and scene perfectly.

oooohhh!!! how could i forget Grim Fandango, i'm still yet to come across an adventure game oozing with that much originality and style!!!

 

[slyder35]

you're all wrong - Aquaria has the best soundtrack!!!!

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

I bought the Dreamfall soundtrack. Love it.

 

[jezz8me]

easily rockband it is bassicaly all music i actualy own. They need some cure, siouxsie, manson and more punk though but it will be available for dlc



MGS has an awesome soundtrack i love snake eater and all the jazzy numbers. That song by star sailor is really awesome as well "way to fall."

 

[Piecewise]

PHANTOM DUST

because yes

that or ace combat zero's final boss theme "Zero" (go figure)

 

[Hey Joe]

Morrowind had an EPIC score

Mass Effect had that whole 80's sci-fi thing going for it

Bioshock's score was just straight up creepy and atmospheric. Bobby Darin, yes please!

I also think FF7 did a great job of creating a MIDI score that has become ingrained in gaming circles

The Guitar Hero and Rockband series obviously have great music, but I don't think that actually counts does it?

 

[danosaurus]

The Guitar Hero and Rockband series obviously have great music, but I don't think that actually counts does it?

Yeah i'm thinking the same here, i mean the songs in Rock Band//Guitar hero (whilst admittedly I think alot of the tunes are awesome) weren't created specifically for that game.
The songs on these Band based games were created for a mass audience and for a completely different reason rather than being for a sole purpose//setting//moment in a game.

 

[Ovlovian]

My votes go to Grim Fandango, AM's Alice, Psychonauts, and No One Lives Forever.

 

[Vigormortis]

Most of my favorites have been listed and I'm pretty sure this thread's been done numerous times before, but what the hell, here we go:

Half-Life series - Kelly Bailey's music in all of them, including Portal, just rocks.
Halo 1 - loved the original's, not so much the sequels' soundtracks
MechWarrior 2 + addons - Jeehun Hwang's work on these was way ahead of his time as game soundtracks go
Lemmings - just too catchy on all accounts
Pretty much everything by Rare - again, just catchy tunes I find myself still humming on occasion to this very day
Homeworld - every song just emphasized the vast, empty feeling of space they tried to produce in the game
Metroid Prime series - one of the most atmospheric soundtracks I've heard.

 

[Wazzelbe]

Halo 1 - loved the original's, not so much the sequels' soundtracks
MechWarrior 2 + addons - Jeehun Hwang's work on these was way ahead of his time as game soundtracks go
Lemmings - just too catchy on all accounts
Pretty much everything by Rare - again, just catchy tunes I find myself still humming on occasion to this very day
Homeworld - every song just emphasized the vast, empty feeling of space they tried to produce in the game
Metroid Prime series - one of the most atmospheric soundtracks I've heard.

Alriiiiight! It's hard to state such agreement & satisfaction on a thread without seeming sarcastic, but there it is.
Suggestions also include:
- Mechwarrior 3? I dunno, I might have to rethink that.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert. It was given an award for its soundtrack, and rightfully so.
- Icewind Dale II, dammit! Has no one played this game!?

 

[ZenMonkey47]

Icewind Dale II. No one's said Icewind Dale II, yet. I think that music was a pleasant surprise.

Seconded

Frankly I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned the God of War series. Every time I hear Colossus of Rhodes I wanna go do something epic

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Diablo 2 or War of the Worlds.

If you ever want a world swap, go around your local supermarket with the Diablo 2 track playing on headphones. Totally changes your view of the shop.

 

[Gedo]

Half-life 2: Actionpumped, adrenalinfilled music - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slX1-WhL0NU&feature=related

Metal Gear Solid: Beautiful, nice'n relaxing music and lyrics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCgeHDFIFLY&feature=related

 

[GothmogII]

Arcanum for sure, Ben Houge was great, it's done mostly in string quartet, a pleasure to listen to. I've got several tracks on my MP3, Sierra were nice enough to upload em to their site,
http://www.terra-arcanum.com/sierra/media/media-soundtrack.html

Homeworld had a pretty good soundtrack too, although Agnus Dei sticks out as something memorable.

Freespace 2 has some good stuff, particularly in the cutscenes, but the in mission music is suitably exciting without being overbearing, more ambient really.

Painkiller, yus yus, mindless shooty gibbage. Still, I thought it was fun, and the soundtrack fits it like a glove, mostly by Marcin "Cedyń" Czartyński. Mostly metal, though there's some nice ambient tracks when you're not in combat.

 

[Awkward Turtle]

I can't believe no one's said Ocarina of Time yet.
Sure, it has almost(?) no orchestrated music, but the music just kind of sticks with you. I can still whistle all the ocarina songs by heart.
Even the music that played in dungeons was memorable. I remember being scared to death the first time I went in the Shadow Temple because of the music(and wallmasters...).

The Hyrule Field theme is on my iPod. That's how awesome it is. (...and how much of a nerd I am.)

 

[Joos]

For all you people who agree with me when I say Vampire: Bloodlines, check this:

http://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-audio

You people who haven't played the game, have a listen as well. Turn the light down when you listen and imagine that you are in dark alley, nervously looking left and right, just waiting for some bestial creature to jump out and....

 

[silentsentinel]

Has anyone said Shadow of the Colossus yet?

 

[erikvduyn]

Shadow of the Colossus has indeed got some good stuff, but my favorites have to be:

Clive Barker's "Clive Barker's Jericho" (by Clive Barker)
Max Payne, gotta love the theme song

and possibly some other things i forgot right now.

 

[Joos]

Has anyone said Shadow of the Colossus yet?

Yes. But its plenty awesome, so you can say it twice.