One of the most important components to a video game is the soundtrack, there’s no other way to put it. It ushers in the tone of the game, the feel of it, and even evokes the feels when necessary. As narrative and story has progressed throughout the years, it’s become one of the biggest and most pivotal parts to a video games success or failure, and 2014‘s list of titles have been no different. Here are the winners of this years Video Game Soundtrack of the year award.
Winner – Halo: The Master Chief Collection
History proves that the Halo saga has been an incredibly successful series and will no doubt continue to be throughout the Xbox One’s life cycle, but one of the main reasons it’s so damn good is because of the soundtrack. Marty O Donnell, the composer for the first three Halo entries in the collection, managed to establish a tone that no other title could replicate. It makes you feel like YOU ARE the chief, YOU are the ultimate badass kicking ass and taking names, and some of the final sequences in each of the games are further enhanced by classic Halo compositions that you’ll never forget (Halo 3 ending, anyone?) When Marty left with Bungie to craft the soundtrack for Destiny, Neil Davidge and Kazuma Jinnouchi jumped into the helm for Halo 4, and made a pretty darn good impact too.
It might be considered a little bit of cheating, but Halo: The Master Chief Collection intertwines four of the most iconic soundtracks in the history of gaming together, and the package is enhanced because of it.
2nd Place – Dragon Age: Inquisition
Dragon Age: Inquisition is a giant game, clocking in at around 80 hours to just finish the single player story. The series has been known for excellent musical direction and Inquisition follows suit once more with an emotional soundtrack that blends the realm of fantasy, heart-break and joy together into one. There’s no doubt that this soundtrack will live on for years to come inside many-a-gamers iTunes libraries because it’s just that damn good.
3rd Place – Transistor
Super Giant’s follow up to Bastion was an excellent game itself, blending in the realms of a cyberpunk world and a tightly-woven story, but above all else its soundtrack stood the highest. Provoking a sense of wonder and intrigue throughout the 6 hour story, it managed to capture everything that a cyber punk world would be, and then some.
What video game soundtracks have you stored into your library after completing the game? What gems have we possibly missed? Let us know in the comments below!