Proud To Be Loud

Sometimes I forget just how much I love the music in video games.

I was hitting up my starred playlist in Spotify – for those who don’t use Spotify, your “starred” playlist is basically just a “favourites” playlist that you add songs to by clicking the star icon next to their name – and hidden amidst the depths of my vast metal collection I found the soundtrack to Bionic Commando: Rearmed. After picking it up in a sale on the Xbox dashboard a little under a year after the game was released, I was hooked. It’s easily one of the best games on the Live Arcade, and at 400 points it was a steal.

Now, I generally don’t listen to music like this, but there’s just something undeniably catchy about the soundtrack to Rearmed. In particular, there’s a song on there called “Heat Wave” which I utterly adore.

[youtube width=”300″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tL0_PwxTYc[/youtube]

It’s like a perfect fusion of retro gaming goodness and modern phat beats. Like I was saying, albeit in less explicit terms, I’m normally one for blistering guitar solos and thundering drums, but this soundtrack completely caught me off guard. I just love it, and I was immediately reminded of that when it shuffled into my playlist.

Not long after that, another wee gem started playing. This time, it was some jazz courtesy of one Milt Buckner – a song called “The Beast”.

[youtube width=”300″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OriJfIlF8ag[/youtube]

You may remember it from Battlefield: Bad Company, DICE’s first console-only Battlefield title. I specifically remember how out of place it felt – like “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen when it popped up in Full Metal Jacket. The rather upbeat melody behind the song contrasted the level of destruction the game permitted, in such a way that it made the whole experience feel almost slapstick in nature. Unfortunately, this pocket of lightheartedness wasn’t repeated in Bad Company 2, which was a shame but ultimately it didn’t ruin anything. They may have tried to rectify that with the brilliant Vietnam DLC they released about a year later however, with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” taking centre stage.

Hearing these two awesome songs from Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Battlefield: Bad Company reminded me of another song too – one which is most likely my favourite song from any video game ever. I’m not entirely sure why I love it so much. Maybe it’s just because it sounds more complex than it actually is? Maybe it’s just that it’s retro? Perhaps it’s some combination of the two. I could list loads of probable reasons for it, but maybe the best idea would be to just let you hear it for yourself. So without further ado, I give you the aptly named “E1M2 Power Plant Theme” from DOOM:

[youtube width=”300″ height=”250″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjp-8rL5xls[/youtube]