The Gaming Music Playlist

Hi there! I'm Ben Ward, Co-Founder of new indie studio Hogrocket. I've been asked by the fine folks at Gamereactor UK to put together a short playlist of my favourite gaming soundtracks, and why I think they're so memorable. Let's get started!

Track: Hell March 3
By: Frank Klepacki
From: Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC)
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The Command & Conquer games are timeless classics for anyone who ever grew up with a PC in the 90s, and looking back it's easy to see why. Not only was the gameplay superb, but the rendered FMVs were ahead of their time and the soundtrack was absolutely top-notch. For me, however, the theming really came together with the first Red Alert. The Soviets against the Allies in a new alternative timeline to World War 2 was fascinating, and the composers really tackled this new world head on. Hell March was the pinnacle of their work, and has since been revisited in each Red Alert game since then. Not only does it capture the mood of the games and their themes, but in my mind it's also become an anthem for strategy games in general. I love it.

Track: Big Blue
By: Unknown
From: F-Zero (SNES)
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Given the limited audio capacities of the 16-bit era, I think music really had to go the extra mile to stand out from the crowd. F-Zero is a game which not only stands out, but it sprints 10 miles down the road too. The audio team created a unique track for each planet in the game, and whilst many were utterly fantastic it's Big Blue that stays in my head most of all. The sense of speed is utterly brilliant, and it makes the perfect audio companion to one of my favourite racing games ever.

Track: Transport Tycoon Deluxe Theme
By: John Broomhall
From: Transport Tycoon (PC)
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In my opinion Transport Tycoon is one of the most addictive and fantastic strategy games ever created. The player's objective, to build a huge transportation company, might seem mundane at first glance. However, the devil is in the details and Transport Tycoon's micro gameplay will grab you by the scruff of the neck and never let go. The game's soundtrack is a perfect accompaniment to the gameplay; never pushing you too fast but always encouraging haste. I find myself listening to these tracks over and over whilst I work, as they seem to bring out the best work ethic in me. The unfortunate side effect of this is that I want to load up the game itself; a task made even harder with the existence of the excellent OpenTDD

Track: Fly Like a Butterfly
By: Hiedki Naganuma
From: Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox)
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Do video game soundtracks get any better than Jet Set Radio, or it's sequel Jet Set Radio Future? I don't think so; they are the work of utter brilliance. Whilst I'd love to put virtually every track from the game(s) on this list, if I have to pick only one then it's got to be Fly Like A Butterfly. It perfectly captures the rebellious but super-funky tones of the characters of the game, and also prepares the player for the gameplay: a high-speed, rocket-powered skating romp through the streets of future Tokyo. It's sad to think that we probably won't see another JSR game again, but that just makes the original two even more precious. For christ's sake don't throw out your old Dreamcast or Xbox, if only for these two games alone.

Track: All I Want
By: The Offspring
From: Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast)
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Another Dreamcast classic for you here. This one, whilst not strictly an OST (it wasn't written for the game specifically), had such a huge impact on the final game that it's impossible to ignore. The decision to include multiple tracks from the Offspring album "Conspiracy of One" must have been quite a controversial one at SEGA, and regardless of your opinion of the band you must admit that it was an incredibly brave decision to include such an overpowering playlist on the disc. I challenge anyone to play Crazy Taxi and not shout "YAH YAH YAH YAH YAH!" at the top of their lungs after a couple of play throughs. That, and "ARE YOU READY? HERE WE GO!"

Track: The Race Around the World
By: Waterflame (aka Christian M. Krogsvold)
From: Castle Crashers (XBLA)
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Castle Crashers is such a huge artistic accomplishment, and it's soundtrack really had to live up to this incredibly high visual bar. The Behemoth surely had a difficult time finding a set of composers who could do the game justice, but fortunately for all of us they succeeded. Waterflame and the rest of the music team have created such a memorable set of tracks for Castle Crashers that as soon as you hear them you instantly imagine your knights running around, slicing and dicing their way through fairytale kingdom. The pace is fast and the tunes are addictive, and a perfect companion to an excellent game.

VVVVVV (PC)
Positive Force
By: SoulEye
From: VVVVVV (PC)
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The final choice in my playlist is a track that many of you probably won't have heard before, and that's a great shame as VVVVVV is one of the most creative and original indie platform games of the game few years. If you haven't played Terry Cavanagh's masterpiece yet then I suggest you drop whatever you're doing now and go play it (it's available on Steam for both PC and Mac). Oh and whilst you're at it, download PPPPPP - the official soundtrack too. Both are brilliant, and if you love pixel art and chip tune music then you've got no excuse.

That's all from me, thanks very much for reading! What are your favourite music tracks? I'd love to hear your opinion - either post in the comments below or hit me up on the Hogrocket website: https://www.hogrocket.com. See you soon!

-Ben