Day two of our Game of the Year awards is a classic category: Best Music! Here’s just a few of our picks:
Winner: Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes
It’s hard to quantify what makes a good fighting game soundtrack (well, apart from having a good character select theme; that’s always a good start). A lot of the time the music escapes notice because your focus is squarely on the fight. It becomes background noise amid everything you’re actively trying to pay attention to that it barely registers. Any time the music can rise to the foreground and stay there, you know you’ve got some real bangers.
Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes is a great example. French Bread’s games have always had great music, composer Raito responsible for giving the studio’s work their distinct sound, but Under Night is special in that its music is often as much of a draw as the game itself. It’s not alone in that regard, sure (I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people talk about Guilty Gear as an album that comes with a free game), but notable all the same for how uncommon it feels to for music to be one of a fighting game’s draws.
Part of that is due to how varied Under Night is. Some are more smooth and relaxed compared to the usual high energy tracks to get you pumped up to fight, let alone the dramatic flair of boss character and specific matchup themes. Even a lot of the small interstitials and menu music stand out. It’s all just excellent music regardless of context. UNI2 is largely a collection of remixed tracks from the previous game, but to take what was already a great collection of music and iterate in a way that makes it just as good (or even better in some cases) than what came before is no small feat.
-Callum Rakestraw
Runners up:
Persona 3: Reload
The Persona games are known for their incredible soundtracks, but what happens when one of them gets remade from the ground up? Well, Persona 3 Reload did an amazing job at bringing back the catchy tunes from the original version, updating them to be even better, making the music be an integral part of the game once again.
-Eduardo Reboucas
The Plucky Squire
“Charming” is overwhelmingly the word I’d use to describe the soundtrack to the 2D and 3D Zelda-esque adventure game The Plucky Squire. It is just consistently charming and cute, each and every track suiting the vibe it paints, perfectly suited the children’s story book nature of the entire game. Folk rock-ish in places, sometimes almost reminding me of Jethro Tull (the track “Trarrg Mountain” especially).
– Gareth Brading
Alone in the Dark
The remake of Alone in the Dark came and went without much fanfare, which is a shame as clearly a lot of love and care went into it. The soundtrack is a clear example of this, being very jazzy and moody, also kind of creepy and unnerving. It’s reminiscent of the L.A. Noire soundtrack merged with Twin Peaks, and helps to create the game’s nicely engaging atmosphere.
– Gareth Brading
