Summary
- Brutal Legend's rock and metal soundtrack complements its open-world aesthetic and cameos.
- Gears of War's use of "Mad World" in the trailer conveys atmosphere and tone effectively.
- Rayman Legends features musical levels resembling a platformer version of Guitar Hero.
The soundtrack of a video game is absolutely vital to setting the atmosphere of the piece. From how the game is sold to its audience in the first place to the opening track, all the way to the credits. While all games have their own audio made explicitly for the game, many also make use of already licensed tracks to great effect. There is an underappreciated art to this matchmaking of the two mediums.
Games That Are Basically Interactive Music
Although most video games incorporate some kind of musical component, these titles found creative ways to make music interactive.
In an attempt to achieve a little more variation, certain franchises such as Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row have been left out, as while they are undoubtedly excellent at picking licensed music to suit the games, there is so much variety that how it is experienced is completely down to player preference. Whereas the picks for this list, while still varied, have a much more directed setlist.
8 Butal Legend
You Can't Kill The Metal
Brutal Legend
- Released
- October 13, 2009
WHERE TO PLAY
Brutal Legend is a game that was to be made or broken by its soundtrack. Thankfully, not only did Brutal Legend have a solid array of rock and metal tracks to peruse as players adventured in the RTS open world – an open world which nailed the aesthetic of acting like a collage of the fantastical cover art for rock/metal albums – but it also had many legends of the genre providing cameos as characters in the story.
Having Ozzy Osbourne acting as the shopkeeper in an underground lava lair is the kind of mind-boggling moment that everyone should be thankful has happened and is now preserved in history for our experience.
7 Gears Of War
Tears Are Filling Up Their Glasses
Gears of War
- Released
- November 7, 2006
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Epic Games
- Publisher(s)
- Microsoft Game Studios
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- Franchise
- Gears of War
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter
- How Long To Beat
- 9 Hours
When the first-ever trailer for Gears of War dropped way back in 2006, it changed things. Naturally, it created huge excitement around the game, it boosted the popularity of Gary Jules' cover of "Mad World," but it did much more than that. It conveyed a change in the medium of video games from both within and outside perception. For an action game trailer, there is precious little action. Instead, it focuses on delivering atmosphere and tone.
By having the song feature from the first moment - and becoming its unofficial theme - it also allowed for it to create a huge impact in the third game, where an instrumental version was used at the climactic point of a character's story, and many a tear was shed in response.
6 Rayman Legends
The Thrill of The Fight
Rayman Legends
- Released
- August 30, 2013
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ due to Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Montpellier
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft, Nintendo
- Engine
- UbiArt Framework
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Rayman
- Genre(s)
- Platformer
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PC, PS Vita, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Stadia
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
- How Long To Beat
- 10 Hours
Rayman Origins felt like the perfect revival of the series, and at the time, it was hard to imagine how it could be improved upon. Then came along Rayman Legends with a whole range of answers to this question. The musical levels of Rayman Legends are an absolute treat to beat, playing like a platformer version of Guitar Hero.
The themed covers are well-made and enjoyable to listen to by themselves, though they will have been played alongside the level so many times that players will probably be instinctively pressing buttons in their mind alongside it anyway.
5 Death Stranding
Don't Suffer Alone
Death Stranding
- Released
- November 8, 2019
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Kojima Productions
- Engine
- Decima
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes! Players will share the same server as Steam and Epic users
- Cross Save
- yes
- Franchise
- Death Stranding
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- PC Release Date
- July 14, 2020
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- November 7, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- September 24, 2021
- Genre(s)
- Action
- Platform(s)
- iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 40 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- no
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
Hideo Kojima’s games always have a great soundtrack and more often than not will feature at least one or two licensed tracks placed at just the perfect moment to transform a scene from great to unforgettable. So much so that this whole list could be taken up with his games. The reason that Death Stranding is the pick of the bunch is due to the unique nature of the setting and gameplay, and just how well matched its soundtrack is for this.
8 Best Music Albums Inspired By Video Games
The following albums pull all their inspiration from the video games they were dedicated to.
On paper, a game primarily about slowly and awkwardly traversing an empty landscape to deliver packages shouldn’t have much emotional resonance and yet that moment when Port Knot City comes into view as Sam crests the hill and, "Asylums For The Feeling", begins to play tugs on the heartstrings in a mysterious yet poignant manner and it is here where the game really starts to come together as an experience.
4 Life Is Strange
We Were Younger
Life is Strange
- Released
- January 30, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol
- Developer(s)
- Dontnod Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Engine
- unreal engine 3, unreal engine 4
- Franchise
- Life is Strange
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
- Platform(s)
- Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 15 Hours
When Life Is Strange came out, there weren’t many gaming stories like it, with a focus on younger characters in a coming-of-age tale that was a mixture of mystery and small-town social life with a tone that was somewhere between Twin Peaks and Paper Towns. While there was much to enjoy about this episodic game, the soundtrack was a particular highlight that really helped in setting the wistful, nostalgic tone and the underlying sorrows of life in Arcadia Bay.
A particular standout moment was the reuse of an early track in episode 1, but played backwards, cleverly playing on the game's theme of time and moments relived in repetition in the mind, wishing things could have been different.
3 Spec Ops: The Line
Will You Still Miss Me, When I Am Gone?
Spec Ops: The Line
- Released
- June 26, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
Right from the first moment, before any shots are fired or first steps taken, the title screen's twisted version of "The Star Spangled Banner" acts as a musical alert to the player that all is not as it seems.
Spec Ops has a brilliant original soundtrack, and the several licensed tracks throughout are perfect accompaniments for both creating an atmosphere but also continuing to push the themes of the game through every aspect of its delivery.
2 Hotline Miami
Adrenaline Pumping Gameplay With A Soundtrack To Match
Hotline Miami
- Released
- October 23, 2012
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ due to Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Crude Humor
- Developer(s)
- Dennaton Games
- Publisher(s)
- Devolver Digital
- Engine
- gamemaker, phyreengine
- Franchise
- Hotline Miami
- PC Release Date
- October 23, 2012
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 23, 2023
- PS5 Release Date
- October 23, 2023
- Nintendo Switch Release Date
- August 19, 2019
- Genre(s)
- Shooter
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Android, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- How Long To Beat
- 5 Hours
- PS Plus Availability
- Extra & Premium
Off the back of the highly influential 2011 film Drive came the hit game Hotline Miami, a sensory experience of high-octane and fast-paced violence, a kaleidoscope of colors, and tons of amazing 80s/90s-inspired music of hard drums and bass and the hardest going disco tunes that the mind can handle.
Hotline Miami is an absolute whirlwind of an experience and this is reflected in the music as the player decimates the Russian mob with household blunt weapons alongside a track that acts like a hypeman and then the next moment they can relax back into their seat as combo and scores for the level rack up and lazy stoner music takes the forefront.
1 Tales From The Borderlands
So Show Me Why You're Strong
Tales From The Borderlands
- Released
- November 25, 2014
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Telltale Games
- Publisher(s)
- Telltale Games
- Engine
- Telltale Tool
- Franchise
- Borderlands
- Genre(s)
- Graphic Adventure
Continuing the Borderlands series tradition of fantastic opening sequences accompanied by a banging track, Tales From the Borderlands applies this to each of its five episodes, and every single one outdoes the main series counterparts.
Not that the main series does them poorly, but Tales From the Borderlands is just that good that narratively and stylistically, that it blows the rest of the Borderlands franchise out of the water. Each song pick is a banger, the choreographed intros are amazing, and it made waiting for the next episode release go from hard to excruciating.
Music Rhythm Games To Play If You Miss Guitar Hero
These rhythm games can keep the beat going amidst the Guitar Hero franchise's recent silence.