VideoGame Soundtracks No.1 Total Annihilation

Total Annihilation was one of my most played games in early 90′s back when I used to play a lot of PC games. An RTS game similar in style to Command and Conquer, it was a grand space si-fi battle of the future between two machine races. Although the game was praised for its playability, scale and balance, plus the fun of blowing lots of stuff up with Nukes, it also had a very good soundtrack.

Composed by Jeremy Soule the soundtrack would change to match the pace of battle. So there were some slow paced background tracks while you built up your armies and searched the battle field for the enermy  and then some much faster paced and grander tunes during battle. Some standout tracks for myself were the perfectly name “Attack!!” and “Brutal Battle” tracks that would up the tempo of the music while in the heat of battle. Some of the other tracks such as “Licking Wounds” and “On Throughout The Night” have a gentler pace and an eerie  alien type vibe to them, which represents better some of the landscapes of the battle ground you fight in.

I don’t know if the soundtrack is available to buy anywhere, I recommend it if you can find it, otherwise it is available to listen to on GrooveShark, link provided below. Look out for more recommended video game sound tracks in future, although they won’t be full blown reviews as I’m no music expert, just my simple thoughts on some of my favourites that help me survive a hard days work.

http://grooveshark.com/#/album/Total+Annihilation/392667?src=5

Mirror’s Edge – Still Alive

I have been playing the game recently on Xbox 360 and found the album of remixes of the theme song on Spotify.

Lisa Miskovsky – Still Alive (The Theme From Mirror’s Edge)- The Remixes

The main theme song from this by Lisa Miskovsky is a really memorable tune and gives the game a real unique feel to it. I especially like the cool piano melody which is really catchy. The rest of the album has some interesteing remixes of the song as detailed below. This isn’t a proper review or anything as I’m no music expert just my thoughts on which ones I liked and which I didn’t.

Armin Van Helden – Not really what I would call normal remix of the orginal song, more like he dropped the oringal song on the floor, smashed it into a million pieces then tried sticking it all back together with crazy glue. At least it is the most adventurous of all the remixes on this album.

Paul Van Dyk – Much more of a traditional remix, doesn’t mess around with the lyrics but does add a fresh new exciting dance beat to it that really sounds good.

Benny Benassi – More of a traditional dance track with parts of the Original Still Alive song and lyrics mixed into the middle. Much more of a new track than a remix of the orginal but still very good and mixes in parts of the original very well.

Junki XI – More of a chilled version, with a relaxed tempo but still retaining the classic piano section which in itself is actually quite chilled out anyway, so fits in here really well.

Teddybears – Is probably closest to the orginal with just a hint of a dance remix to it to give it a mroe upbeat tempo and dance style.

Edit [January 2011] - Spotify have removed the above album from their system which is a shame, I guess you will have to find it from somewhere else to listen to it. However they have now uploaded the Mirrors Edge Original Soundtrack by Solar Fields which includes the Original and Instrumental versions of Still Alive. and you can listen to it via the link below. Enjoy.

Solar Fields – Mirror’s Edge Original Videogame Score

Edit [March 2012] – Here is the same soundtrack but in GrooveShark. Much easier to be able to listen to itin your browser.

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Mirrors+Edge/61877475

 

Call of Duty 4: Classic?

Activision recently announced that Call of Duty 4 has topped 13 million sales. That’s great becasue it is one of the best games of all time. It was released more than a year ago now, and is still in many a top sellers charts today. They must have made a lot of money from it as well because not only have they sold so many copies over such a long period of time, it is still being sold at the price point of a brand new game. You can look around but you won’t find a new copy for less that £30, and even the second hand copies go for about the same price.

Even after the release of Call of Duty: World at War they still sell COD4 at the same price, in many places you can buy COD: WaW for less than COD4.

I know that Xbox have a classics range, and Playstation have their Platinum range, so when will we see COD4 on this list. Well my hope is that after the announcement of topping 13million sales and Modern Warfare 2 in the works now would be a good time to bring down the price of COD4, make it officially a classic and bring the price down to at least below £20 and really push it over the summer until MOD2 is released.

I’m hoping this will happen, I am also hoping soon, as I noticed that both Amazon and Play.com have removed COD4: Game of the Year edition from their stores in the last few days, maybe a new version is in the works…. it would make business sense to me, if they did that COD4 would be back on the top shelf in game stores, it may get more people playing the game again just in time to get the hype up again for MOD2.

PS2 Games I Still Have To Play

Taken from this site, http://www.gamepro.com/gamepro/domestic/games/features/205778.shtml, this is my personal list of PS2 games I still need to play before I upgrade to the next gen of consoles. I think top of my list is God of War 2, I played the original and loved it. Also I want to try Black, I never really got the hang of FPS games on console, I couldn’t managed the controls compared to PC, but I think I should give them another go as when I get a next gen console I need to buy Call of Duty 4 as its the best multiplayer game I ever played, but if I can’t master the console FPS controls I’m gonna suck and I don’t want to suck at COD 4 cause I love it. Anyway……

Black

With completely destructible environments, an amazing arsenal of weapons, and “Style Kills” rewarded for suave decapitations, there was no way you couldn’t play this game without feeling like an absolute badass. The revolutionary physics also blew away the competition with real-time debris flying from destroyed buildings and vehicles, plus unmatched explosions that flattened foe and environment alike. The prettiest shooter on the PS2 is also one of the best.

Burnout 3: Takedown

In addition to the great racing and crash modes showcased in earlier titles, Burnout 3 added a much deeper championship mode and a cool little feature called the “Aftertouch,” which allows you to control your car, post-crash, in order to take out other racers. Burnout 3 was also the last game in the series based in some semblance of reality, as future titles allowed you to ram into the back of cars going the same direction as you without punishment, which took a lot of the intensity out of the race.

Twisted Metal Black

After its two previous less-than-stellar incarnations from 989 Studios, Incognito went back to the drawing board for the franchise’s PS2 debut. Luckily for PS2 owners, they created the darkest, most brutal vehicular combat experience to date! Set in its own continuity, Twisted Metal Black was able to revamp the stories behind fan-favorites such as Sweet Tooth, Mr. Grimm and Axel, giving them darker, more disturbing origins. With stunning, fast-placed gameplay that was sure to get your adrenaline pumping, there was no way you could stand idly by and watch a Twisted Metal deathmatch: it was drive or die.

Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

Choosing between three stellar Ratchet games is a tough task, but we chose the third game for its near-perfect blend of action, platforming, and humor. A graphical feat on the PS2, Up Your Arsenal was one of the best-looking games on the console, and its implementation of old-school game elements (we LOVE the 2D Qwark mini-games) make it the complete Ratchet package.

Gran Turismo 4

With astonishing customization that allows motorheads to fine-tune their vehicles down to the smallest detail, Gran Turismo 4 added a new level of authenticity to racing games that has yet to be matched. With never-before-seen physics that took into account the weight of your car, the friction of the road, and speed of surrounding vehicles, Gran Turismo 4 wasn’t just a racing game — it was an experience. GT 4 also introduced GT Online mode, which allowed racers from across the world to challenge each other in their customized vehicles via the internet.

Shadow of the Colossus

The concept of Shadow of the Colossus is so simple, it’s amazing nobody tried it before. In this adventure game, you’ll explore a massive landscape and fight a series of massive bosses. By trimming out the fat of extraneous enemies and other tiresome challenges, the game is able to focus on the greatest parts of any videogame-the boss battles! Shadow of the Colossus is considered a modern-day classic, and when you see the titular Colossi in motion, you’ll instantly understand why.

God of War II

How do you improve on a game that was almost universally hailed as being one of the best action games ever created? You make the sequel bigger and better. With new weapons, more godly powers, and larger levels, God of War II was everything its little brother was and then some. Continuing where the original God of War left off, the second installment in the God of War saga brings Kratos’ one-man vendetta against Mount Olympus to a thrilling cliff-hanger ending that left gamers everywhere clamoring for the third and final chapter (soon to be revealed on the PlayStation 3). Oh, it also features one of the most epic opening levels ever created: an awe-inspiring fight against the Colossus of Rhodes that, in lesser games, would have served as the final boss fight. With expectations high after the success of God of War, new director Corey Barlog and his team had to deliver a masterpiece to live up to the hype. Luckily for PS2 owners, they did just that. God of War II is a PS2 high point.

Zero Punctuation

I have to give a shout out to this new series of online video game reviews, mainly because they are insanely funny, clever and funny, but partly because they are done by someone I went to school with, one Ben ‘Yahtzee’ Croshaw.

I remember coding Visual Basic 3 games at lunch times at school with him and a group of mates, all of who did better games than me. While I managed to make a snap card game he developed a brilliantly funny point and click adventure game about a guy called Arthur Yahtzee.

Anyway I recommend checking out his video reviews of the latest games in which he totally rips into them for pretending to be as great as a Brazilian football star but only turning out be a half useless English International player.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/zeropunctuation

http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/

Final Fantasy Series Video Documentries

A few weeks ago I found online a brilliant set of video documentaries about the all time best video game series, Final Fantasy. The videos are being made in the run up to the release of the Final Fantasy 13 games on PS3.

There a going to be a complete set of 13 separate videos telling the complete story of the Final Fantasy series from its very humble start on the NES console to becoming one of the biggest selling video game series of all time.

These videos are brilliantly made, amazingly detailed and in most cases are a real blast from the past and bring back the great memories of some of the previous Final Fantasy games.

I have so far watched them all, detailing all the games from one up to eleven and can’t wait to see the new videos which appear every Monday evening, although by the time you read this they may all already be there .

I think looking back at these games I still think seven is the best that I have played with 10 a very close second. After watching these though I might have to go and buy some of the earlier games i.e. games 1-6 that have recently been re-released on the GameBoy and PSP.

Anyway enjoy the show there really worth watching:

The Final Fantasy Retrospective