The 10 Best Songs in Video Games
We recently had the unfortunate task of reviewing the sequel to Mirror’s Edge, a game we thoroughly enjoyed historically. We found Mirror’s Edge Catalyst to be a frustrating experience to play, the open world a chore to traverse, and, worst of all, just boring. One notable missing component was the excellent song “Still Alive” that was the centerpiece of the first game. Catalyst featured an original song by CHVRCHES called “Warning Call” but it was sadly not nearly as impactful as the sleeper hit original song for the sleeper hit original game.
This got us thinking, what are our favorite songs from games. Sure we have favorite soundtracks like the SNES’s Donkey Kong Country, N64’s Goldeneye, or the recent Transistor (which is absolutely outstanding), but what songs really stand apart from or, at times, even made the game worth playing. Here now are our 10 favorite songs from games ever.
10. “Still Alive” by Lisa Miskovsky (Mirror’s Edge – 2008)
EA DICE caught lightning in a bottle when they hired the Swedish singer and songwriter (apparently for Backstreet Boys) to write an original song for this unknown new IP. The song with its sweeping piano movements and isolated female lyricist seemed remarkably fitting for the story of Faith, the heroine of Mirror’s Edge, up against enormous forces leaping across skyscrapers in a desperate attempt to stand up for her cause. Orchestral variants of this song littered the entire game but never lost their impact despite being commonly heard throughout. Playing through the sequel we were left stunned realizing how much we could miss a theme song to a franchise.
9. “Still Alive” by Jonathan Coulton, performed by Ellen McLain (Portal – 2007)
In the late 2000s, Valve was on a hot streak with Half Life 2, the Left 4 Dead franchise, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, etc. They had enough of install base to successfully launch their own digital delivery service, Steam, which is the de facto standard store front for PC gamers today. Their other original IP, Portal, the spiritual successor to the student project Narbacular Drop from the DigiPen Institute of Technology, was an incredible puzzle platformer and its sequel is still one of the best single player experiences we’ve ever had. The evil CPU GLaDos that holds you hostage for most of the game was instantly hilarious and one of the most interesting NPCs we’ve seen in a game. The credit sequence of the first game features GLaDos’s best work, its song “Still Alive” in which the CPU taunts you, the player, that it’s still here and not really angry for what you did. This song was so good it almost made up for the absolutely atrocious soundtracks of Half Life 1 and 2, the only flaw of those otherwise near masterpieces.
8. “You Were There” by Michiru Oshima (Ico – 2001)
Ico, by the appropriately named Team Ico, was one of PlayStation’s best titles up there along with Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy 7. The story was deliberately minimalistic telling a story of a young boy born with a deformity that befriends a young girl in an abandoned fortress after being locked up there by his village. Developers made a concerted effort to remove anything that would distract from the immersion (e.g. HUD, score, time, etc.) using a practice coined “subtracting design” that started a trend in game design for years to come. So much of this game just felt special and that includes the fabulous “You Were There” that was used for most of the promotion of the game and later in the game’s credits. Performed by a member of an all-boy English choir, Libera, “You Were There,” like Mirror’s Edge’s “Still Alive” seems to capture the essence of the game both in the choice of singer and the lyrics of the song itself.
7. “Hell March” by Frank Klepacki (Command and Conquer: Red Alert – 1996)
This one is out of left field but an old favorite of ours. We can’t believe it’s been 20 years since we fought against an alternate history Stalin with Tanya and those awesome tesla coils, but Command and Conquer: Red Alert was a monumental game for us at the time. It was one our earliest introductions to FMV cutscenes (which were completely viable until after the PSX era years later). It also arrived at the time when having more laid back experiences in games like Prince of Persia, Myst, and Dark Forces. Command and Conquer’s intro cinematic (which just showed most of the game’s cutscenes) was jaw dropping for us namely due to that incredible song, “Hell March.” Time has tragically not been kind to this though so gamers too young to have been around when this came out will likely be underwhelmed.
6. “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant (Borderlands – 2010)
Something just clicked when developer Gearbox choose Cage the Elephant’s hit single “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” to kick off the Borderlands franchise that has since led to 2 sequels (well, 1 pre-sequel technically) and a TellTale spinoff series, Tales from the Borderlands. The game struggled to distinguish itself from other shooters at the time, especially when they dropped the realistic graphics style to a cell-shaded approach. The song was featured in early trailers though and showcased the game as a tongue-in-cheek outlandish shooter that piqued the interests of gamers everywhere. Gearbox has tried since to start their games with solid opening songs and while all of them are quite good, the original is still the best. Whenever we hear the song on the radio, and it is still played today, we’re instantly brought back to the world of Pandora.
5. “Tears” by Health (Max Payne 3 – 2012)
Unfortunately there hasn’t much to say about Remedy Entertainment’s neo noir style rogue cop franchise, Max Payne, after the first game’s innovative for the time bullet time combat. Nearly a decade later after Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Rockstar Games brought a reluctant (not to mention heavier and now bald) Max back to kill off one more small army of people in bullet time. Rockstar’s Dan Houser did his best to squeeze every last drop of relevance out of this tired character in a wholly original storyline set in Brazil as Max takes on the role as private security, but the game failed to impress critics and gamers. However the game is worth checking out for its soundtrack alone. The title screen pulses and hums with Health’s definitive dark techno vibe and picks up with their incredible single “Tears.” This song is great in any context but most notably here and in the final airport shootout level.
4. “Beyond the Sea” by Bobby Darin (Bioshock – 2007)
Ken Levine’s Bioshock was an instant classic the moment it hit shelves back in 2007. The game was so meticulously designed to immerse you in this distinctive world the moment you caught of glimpse of it from your bathysphere that you didn’t mind when it devolved into FPS tropes you’ve seen before (e.g. carrying a small arsenal on your back, forgettable boss fights, etc.). One fantastic design choice was to leverage upbeat jazzy songs of 50s and 60s which fit with the era but were out of place from the horrors of Rapture all around you making the macabre tone all the more pronounced. Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea” was perhaps the most utilized appearing in marketing materials and frequently echoing in the empty hallways as we explored dark corners of this fallen paradise. Bioshock completely co-opted this song for us to the point where we can no longer hear it and NOT think about the game.
3. “Legacy” by the Gone Jackals (Full Throttle – 1995)
Even if you’ve forgotten the game you’ll no doubt easily recall the stunning opening cinematic with one of the best songs to ever appear in a game, The Gone Jackals’ “Legacy.” 1995’s Full Throttle for us one of the best of Lucasarts’ point-and-click adventures and among our top 10 games of all time even today. The story follows reluctant biker gang leader, Ben, who is suddenly up against corporate tyrant Adrian Ripburger (voiced by the always great Mark Hamill) on a murderous trajectory to takeover motorcycle maker Corley Motors to pursue higher profits in minivans. MINIVANS! Sequels were pursued and eventually scrapped, but that’s arguably for the best. Interestingly most of the songs of this game came from The Gone Jackals 1995 album, Bone to Pick. “Drop the Hammer” is played moments before Adrian Ripburger runs you off the road before the final fight, “Trapped” is the song you hear as you finally jump the gorge, “Born Bad” is used at the beginning as your bike wheel falls off before your major crash. Listening to this album is a serious nostalgic trip for fans of the game.
2. “Mad World” by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules (Gears of War 3 – 2011)
This one feels like a cheat. Michael Andrews and Gary Jules’ haunting “Mad World” (a stripped down version of the original Tears for Fears version from the 1980s) was arguably the best thing about the cryptic 2001 Donnie Darko and has been in regular circulation on our personal playlists ever since. It’s appearance in the trailer for Gears of War 3 seemed oddly fitting but its usage in the game itself was brilliant. In a moment that defies logic, a main character decides martyrdom is the only way to save his squad. The only reason this moment works though is that it’s supported suddenly by this song that somehow carries it despite how ridiculous the entire sequence is.
1. “Halo” by Martin O’Donnell (Halo: Combat Evolved – 2002)
Written in just 3 days, Halo’s opening theme song is arguably one of the most memorable video game tracks of this generation of gamers. Audio director, Martin (Marty) O’Donnell described his work as an attempt to “give a feeling of importance, weight, and a sense of ‘ancient’ to the visuals of Halo.” It nails the mark and that song in the right context can still give us chills. It’s too bad the series veered off track somewhere after Halo 3. It’s also a shame then that Marty O’Donnell’s story turns south after Halo. As Bungie moved on to Destiny and welcomed the presence of Activision, this apparently caused inner-office complications for Mr. O’Donnell. There are many versions of this story available online, but suffice it to say Marty O’Donnell’s still outstanding score for Destiny would be his final work for Bungie before an acrimonious dismissal and subsequent litigation around his stock holdings and back payments. We’ll admit we’re happy to hear the rulings went in Mr. O’Donnell’s favor but regardless it’s a shame to see his work at Bungie is complete.
Monaco? Bastion? What songs did we forget that you loved? Let us know if the comments below!
