Top 5 rocking game soundtracks

Nowadays playing a game on a 5 inch or 42 inch (our Roughdawg4 favours the 50 inch) is not enough. The soundtrack is a crucial part of setting the scene to create the best gaming experience.

Video game soundtracks have certainly changed since the first arcade games were produced.

Taito first released its Japanese Space Invaders in 1978. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and features two-dimensional graphics. These early games had no soundtrack, the game just had four chromatic descending bass tones repeating on a loop. I can remember playing one of these stood on a milk crate so I could see the screen. As the aliens slowly made their descent row by row towards earth, the bass notes got quicker. This really made your heart beat that bit faster, it was a simple yet clever music piece.

Since then games have evolved and so has the melodic background music. Synthesizer music scores were next and games like Streets of Rage on the Sega Mega Drive made this side scrolling beat ‘em up unforgettable. Then came the big jump when games like Wipeout hit the Playstation in 1995. Here the soundtrack included bands and recording artists like Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers and Orbital. To further this the Grand Theft Auto series came out and they used the radio with actual songs being played as the soundtrack – awesome.

Some people like a little Roll with their Rock while others like dance. Well me, I like the Rock. Some bands do straight cover songs hoping to grab the spotlight while others play from the heart and it’s these bands that wag my tail. So here are my top rocking tunes that make a game rock just that bit more:

No.5

ATV Off Road Fury

California Rockers Saosin blast away with “Sleepers” on the soundtrack of the PSP’s ATV Off Road Fury. This song really stands out against the rest of the soundtrack. I still don’t understand why off road games still have the same heavy bone crunching songs game after game. Strange. This track is one more reason to get the PSP charged up again.

No.4

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

This song caught me off guard. What a great intro for a game. Both soundtrack and intro movie work so well together. Brilliant. Science fiction space rockers New World Revolution provide the opening to the PS Vita’s new release Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken.

No.3

Brutal Legend

PS3’s third person action adventure game Brutal Legend has to be included. 107 heavy metal tracks from 75 different bands including tracks by Ozzy, Kiss, Judas Priest and Motley Crue make this a real head banger’s ball. I’m picking LA hair glam rockers Ratt with “Lay It Down” for my choice of total rockage. There is no better feeling when playing a game when a classic song jumps out through the speakers. Oh Yeah!

No.2

NFS Hot Pursuit

US rockers 30 Seconds To Mars provide the opening for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit with their awesome track “Edge Of The Earth”. Other bands rocking the soundtrack are Bad Religion, Weezer and Pendulum which all add to this excellent super fast racer. The game was developed by British games developer Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts on November, 2010.

No.1

NFS Most Wanted

Alternative English rockers Muse deliver the truely brilliant “Butterflies and Hurricanes” which seamlessly flows into the gameplay of the PS Vita’s Most Wanted. The track is from their third studio album, Absolution. Such a modern song over the most current driving experience out there and the two gel together amazingly well. The soundtrack unlike other off road racers is so varied. Calvin Harris, The Chemical Brothers and even Dizzee Rascal gets a look in.