1. Mario Kart 8 - Wii U - Composed by Shiho Fujii, Atsuko Asahi, Ryo Nagamatsu, Yasuaki Iwata; Developed by Nintendo EAD
Stand-out Tracks:
Excitebike Arena;
Bowser's Castle;
Mount Wario
Truth be told, I have usually
hated Mario Kart soundtracks. Bland, utterly forgettable music, perfect for background noise as you scream at your mates on the sofa, but with little other redeeming value. So it was to my surprise that the first sounds of something far greater began coming out of Mario Kart 8 ahead of its release - and even more surprising that I couldn't stop listening to it all following release.
Almost every track has an accompanying theme that immortalises the portrayed location in the Mario canon. The sun-drenched port of Toad Harbour matched with a sub-zero chilled guitar that oozes tourist adventure on a summer holiday; Bowser's Castle's ridiculous hard rock riffs, instantly painting a dual vision of playfulness and ruthlessness in co-operation with the soundtrack's ever-present brass section; Shy Guy Falls with its beautiful duet of violins and pan-pipes transporting you instantly to a untouched frontier on the edge of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Older tracks are rejuvenated by Nintendo's live band, such as the killer violin treatment for Moo Moo Meadows, the bluegrass swagger of Yoshi Valley or the impeccable makeover for Rainbow Road N64, dragging it and many others out of the depths of MIDI hell and into a dazzling new world of real banjo, saxophone, violin, drums, bass guitar, trumpets, flutes, infinitely improved synths and guitars electric and acoustic. The DLC even gives the oft-forgotten but forever-infectious Excitebike theme new life.
The sheer polish put into the music for Mario Kart is staggering, and every single song, new or old, is all the better for it. It has songs that take you away into its fantasy world, drill them into your head, and have you humming them for weeks after you've escaped. It bleeds fun and effort and love, it puts Nintendo's other soundtracks this year to shame, and it's far and away the best soundtrack this year.
2. D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - Xbox One - Composed by Manyo; Developed by Access Games
Stand-out Tracks:
Detective of the Past;
Theme of D4
Somewhat fitting for a game about a man jumping through time and cases; here's a soundtrack that can't sit still. D4 leaps from genre to genre, instrumentation to instrumentation, throwing the rulebook out for how a coherent soundtrack is supposed to sound in an effort to settle for nothing less than the absolute best, most memorable sound for each moment.
Like Deadly Premonition, it wears its inspirations on its sleeve - CBS crime procedurals, Trent Reznor, Dropkick Murphys, bad hotel piano/porn music - but rather than the wackiness or borderline plagiarism that that game could fall into, D4 crafts some surprisingly strong themes and incidental music out of these influences. The theme tune, whilst clearly undoubted to many a cop show title sequence, outshines possibly all of them, perfectly setting the tone for a game that wears its heart on its sleeve. Later on, Drank Dead DOM Die is a perfectly ridiculous Dropkick Murphys song that leaves you equally parts unconvinced and utterly without doubt as to SWERY's grip on American culture, but you'll be too entertained to think more of it than that.
This is a soundtrack that matches SWERY's vision to a tee amplifies the comedy, the drama, the confusion and the strange otherworldliness that only he can craft. Hopefully there's more to come.
3. Luftrausers - PC, PS3, Vita - Composed by Kozilek; Developed by Vlambeer
Stand-out tracks:
Trickrauser;
Laserauser
When you think about it, the traditional high-score game - the kind of game that Taito, Namco, Atari et al pioneered back in the late 70s and early 80s - should really be a solemn affair. They wrap those games up in bright colours and catchy jingles for a reason secondary to enticing someone to put in another 50p, and it's to mask the fact that these games are not going to end in your victory; you will always be overcome. Vlambeer's Luftrausers, rather than hide that fact, instead embraces it full-on, with a muted colour scheme, a vague WWII setting and an absolute maelstrom of bullets, enemy ships (both on water and wind) and narrow escapes. The music has to match that aesthetic, that of an ascent into certain doom, but it's also got the problem of fitting the other side of Luftrausers; the part where you're alley-ooping through the air, ripping apart entire companies in a flurry of bright white fire, feeling the breathless high of aerial supremacy in the moments before you come crashing down. What's a Kozilek to do?
First thing's first; he has a genius idea that makes his job tens times harder. Luftrauser's "soundtrack" is only 9 songs, as per
the bandcamp release, but that's not quite accurate. The game features a layered soundtrack, that switches out rhythms and instrumentation based on the parts that you've chosen to build your machine of death out of, allowing for a total of 125 different tracks. Some are incredibly dirty; the standard default "Luftrauser" gives you a mean digital reverb that gets throatier as it grows, eventually growing an infectious, commanding drumbeat, and it's instantly attention grabbing. Others go for more high-pitched sounds, like "Trickrauser", led by its chirps as the ever-present drums attempt to keep up.
Ultimately, each track eventually hits the 1:30 mark, at which they explode into a more traditional war-time chorus, almost celebratory, almost a sigh of relief. Well done! You did it! You're not cannon fodder after all, you're hanging in there. Perhaps this conflict won't be quite so pointless for you after al- oh, never mind, the drums are back and you just got shot down by an ace. Oh well.
Maybe go back to the hangar, fix your craft up, change some things around. The tune you'll hear between your ears will be different, and so might your luck. Sure, the overall structure is the same, but when it's this good, and when it so perfectly fits your tastes - agile and scratchy when falling with style, ruthless and intimidating when behind the joystick of a flying nuke - it's hard to find much fault with a lack of variety. Luftrauser's soundtrack doesn't paint its game as anything it's not; instead, it successfully bends, warps and rebuilds itself, all the while drilling the fear of your inevitable comeuppance into your subconsciousness.