I seem to recall another thread where people discussed video game music, but I can't find it to raise from the dead. Anyway, this is a subject I could go on for hours about... I remember when I was nine, someone was asking my dad what kind of music I liked, he said "He only likes music from video games." :D As a gamer from the days of *,8 (is that right?), I've got tons of favorite music. Rather than go on for page after page after page about the glory days of the Commodore and the haunting Sanctuary song from The Bard's Tale, the opening theme of Aliens, or the best of the SNES, I thought I'd try something different. Each post I'll make will have a few different games picked at random, with thoughts on the soundtrack in general, favorite songs and musings about the game.

[B]Farhenheint[/B]

This was an old FMV game where you played a rookie firefighter. I haven't played this since about 1995. I can still remember the cheesy '80s rock song that opened the game. It's been stuck in my head off and on for fifteen years :mad:. "Feel the heat, oh the fire... white hot flames rising higher, higher, HIGHER, oh feel the heat!" (insert guitar solo here)

[B]Jurassic Park II: The Chaos Continues[/B]

This has one of the greatest songs in video game history, IMHO.[I] Base[/I]. Just listen to the awesomeness: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMEv3yA-ApU[/url]

Has there ever been a song more suited for kicking the butts of Evil MegaCorps™? Ah, it's all coming back to me, the first time my brother and I played this mission. We acted as one, finely tuned killing machine, wreaking havoc with ByoSyn in perfect unison... mostly because of a previous mission where you infilitrate a raptor nest and arm a bomb and I was running in panic, wondering why my guy wasn't responding to the controls, when I realized that I was looking at the wrong character on screen and that's why my brother was yelling at me... I had Dr. Grant running against the wall for 30 seconds and the bomb went off before we could escape the area. I think my brother still has a grudge over that one. :o

[B]Deus Ex[/B]

One of the all time best, with one of the greatest themes. Every single song was memorable and perfectly suited to it's area. Heck, even the song that played during the [I]tutorial[/I] was good. How many games can say that? I remember one particular instance, the last time you're in Hell's Kitchen and it's possible to pick up a tail. I noticed I was being followed and confronted him. He whispered "Gotcha!", Majestic-12 troops and robots burst onto the scene, and as I opened fire with my modified assault rifle- the brooding and tense NYC theme changed to what I call the panic strings that play whenever there's combat. Sure, it happened a ton of times of the game, and I could practically play the music in my head at that point, but it never felt so right, with JC Denton being a hunted agent and knowing that this would be the last time he could buy from Smuggler or hit up the Underworld bar for info.

I could do an entire thread just outlining each song in the game. Ever realize that the UNATCO and Majestic-12 themes parallel each other? Both open with sweeping, wind synths. UNATCO's is soothing, Majestic-12's very harsh. UNATCO's stays through the entire song for a relaxing tone, in MJ-12 it fades into a ominious, breathing tone that provides an unsteady feeling for the remainder of the song. There are other similarties if one listens to the two songs back to back.

A lot of people were disappointed in Deus Ex: Invisible War's soundtrack shift from the dark, varied and dynamic electronica of the first game to a subtle and static ambient score, but there are still a few standout tracks. The soundtrack was released for free on the website, fans might find some worthwhile tracks. I can recommend two songs, the opening title has an outstanding, beautiful vocal version of the Deus Ex theme: [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r86C-qIft94[/url]
Gave me chills the first time I heard it.

The Seattle City Hub/Emerald Suites theme is very good, the Emerald Suites is pretty ominous and tense, considering that at that point of the game, you're still pretty much an errand boy doing low level espionage work. Heck, I was assuming with that kind of music, I was going to open an door and find out one of the apartment residents was keeping a pet Karkian or something. :D