Maybe it is just because I only recently acquired a decent system for playing games on, but I’m noticing that many of the games being released these days have some incredibly beautiful soundtracks. Sure, there have always been games with soundtracks worthy of praise, but over the holidays I played three, recently released games, with some pretty decent music.
First of all, everybody’s favourite (and considered by many to be a perfect game)
Portal theme - alive.mp3: Portal alive.mp3
You really have to finish the game to appreciate this song. It might sound cool and all, but it really just doesn’t have the same meaning if you haven’t played the game. The song is basically the conclusion of Portal, so you just can’t listen to it without the back-story. Portal is included in Valve’s Orange Box set (R317), which also includes the multiplayer masterpiece, Team Fortress 2. If there is one game (or collection) from 2007 worth buying , it would be the orange-box.
Hitman 4 Blood Money: Jesper Kyd - Ave Maria: Ave Maria
I don’t really have an opinion about this game as I haven’t played more than the first level. The theme song in the menu is “Ave Maria” by Jesper Kyd. Some people prefer the piece as performed by a more mature female voice, but I think the imperfections in the child’s voice performing this version actually makes better.
Clive Barker’s Jericho - Theme of the First Born: Jericho First Born Theme
This is an in-game track. It is only 1 minute long, but I find it more haunting than the end- or menu tracks. The game is pretty straight forward with a pretty decent plot. Unfortunately, the ending is severely lacking…
Another reason I’m suddenly noticing so many cool audio tracks could be because I just got the Logitech Z-4’s last week. They’re not going to blow you away with volume, as they are designed for desktop PC use, but in terms of quality they are pretty impressive for a “budget” speaker system, and I am very happy with them.
