My question: Are there any good game soundtracks available on cd? Please give some info on the score as well.

E.g.:
Medal of Honor (Michael Giacchino) - orchestral - great score - CD by Dreamworks Interactive
Medal of Honor 2 (Michael Giacchino) - orchestral - great score - CD by Dreamworks Interactive
Jurassic Park: The Lost World (Michael Giacchino) - orchestral - great score - CD by Sonic Images

Also, if you can find copies:

ANYTHING BY JEREMY SOULE
Including: Total Annihilation, Giants, Sovereign, Icewind Dale, and Amen.

-Ron Jones' score for "Starfleet Academy"
(Owes a little (stylistically) to Goldsmith, which is cool!)

-Lennie Moore's score for "Outcast"

-Nobuo Uematsu's "Final Fantasy 8" Orchestral Album

-George Oldziey's music from "Ultima IX: Ascension"

Great stuff.

Jeron

Express.com has George Oldziej's (sp?) album for Ultima: Ascension for only $1.99. What I heard in the game sounds fine, it's orchestral, though with a small orchestra and synths to make it sound larger. They still haven't shipped my copy (reportedly, they've got financial problems).

--Brian

NP: Myst 3 (****1/2)

Half-Life. The greatest game of all time with one of the best scores to a game ever created. Incredibly moody, and atmospheric with a heavy beat psycho flare at times, many times with a techno feel. When the music plays within the game, and it only plays when something is done, or is about to be done, a huge smile seems to rip across anyone's face who likes film music. Great edgy stuff.

Black&White. I recently bought this game, and the main theme is outstanding. It is up there with Half-Life in the "best games of all time" category, and the music sends a shiver down my spine each time I hear it, not because it is scary, but because it is so good.

Both Half-Life and B&W are the best games one could get for the PC, the music is what pushees the games above everything else. In B&W, the music is better than 90% of the film scores of today, and Half-Life is better them 95% of them. Amazing in how well they work with the game.

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Georges Bizet: Carmen (Baltsa, Carreras, van Dam; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan)

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Carreras? Karajan? Berlin PO?

NP:
The Mummy
13th Warrior
First Knight

I did like those Jeron, but they sound like any film I have ever heard. I prefer ones that try new things, edgy, say an orch. with beats as well, much like the Requiem for a Dream score, and the musical theme to Black and White.

Not a big fan of Rainbow Six... though his much improved take on it is great in Rogue Spear. He did a great remix of the theme, as well... though I can't help but think the developers were listening to NGS's "The Rock" the entire time they were coding the game.

His music from Shadow Watch is awesome. It contains a kick-butt theme... yet again, very much in the keys of M and V. Timeline is also pretty entertaining.

He's written a lot of fun stuff! Even his film work for Any Given Sunday and Finding Forrester is top notch. Thanks for reminding me about him... I can't believe I forgot. D'oh!

Jeron

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Originally posted by Hasta:
NP: E.T. (Williams) Undecided rating

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Ummmm, Jason? Scott's gonna beat you down if you give it anything less than a 5-star rating, I'll tell ya that much...

I'll have to check out Black and White...

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Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
Express.com has George Oldziej's (sp?) album for Ultima: Ascension for only $1.99. What I heard in the game sounds fine, it's orchestral, though with a small orchestra and synths to make it sound larger. They still haven't shipped my copy (reportedly, they've got financial problems).

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When did you order it? Upon reading your post about it at the FSM board the other month, I went and order it. It was here in like, 4 days tops. At the time, they had near 2000 in stock, did they run out?

In any case, if it has been more than a week, emailing them is in order!

Japanese or American? I wouldn't say one is better than the other. Both, VG music from the US and those that originate from Japan and elsewhere, are equally good. However, just how many soundtracks get released here, one a year, maybe two?

In Japan most if not all games get some sort of release or another. They do not all necessarily need a release, but it is nice to know they are there for us to listen to, if we feel the urge to do so. They are expensive no doubt as well, but very much worth it.

The best part, there are arranged versions. There can be many for a single game, from a symphonic work to Jazz, techno and more. In many cases, they put Medal of Honor and Outcast to shame. Hopefully, in the upcoming years we will see more reaching here in the states as domestic albums or at least, lower costing imports.

Some of the ones that I have enjoyed, and can think off the top of my head...

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Chrono Trigger
The Legend of Zelda
Resident Evil
Streets of Rage II
Y's

Plus many others that I have and have not heard. Enough so, that I'll have to sell a kidney if I go ahead and buy anymore!

So, what do you all think?

Regards,
Sean Robert Abbey

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Originally posted by JJH:
I like the timpani hit that plays whenever I play Hearts and the computer slaps me with that damn Queen of Spades.

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Hey JJ, have you listened to all those MP3 clips I've posted above? They're tight, if I must say so myself...

TIE FIGHTER!!

not only is it the best game ever (yes, its better than half-life) but the music is outstanding! Using the Imperial march as a base,the score twists it into many different variations. I used to replay the end credits over and over again just to hear it!
Get the older version, not the collectors edition, as the score is repaced with cd audio music

I remember Dark Forces as having a great theme too....why can't Lucasarts rerecord their game themes!

also great scores:
The DIG
Full Throttle
Grim Fandango

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Originally spit out by Kross:
My favs are still Half-Life and B&W. Both are different from most music in games and film, and both are great.

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Yeah, I love Half-life. Reminds me of the score to Event Horizon (Kamen/Orbital).

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Originally posted by Hasta:
On the subject of first person shooters, did any of you guys ever play the original Unreal?

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I only played Unreal Tournament. The score wasn't very special, but I got Goldsmith's Rambo: First Blood Part II around the same time, and that is the perfect score for the game. I checked if the disc has the music in CDDA or MP3 format, so I could replace it with the Goldsmith score, but I wasn't succesful.

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Originally posted by sabbey:
When did you order it?

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The problem is that I have several items on the same order, and at first some of them were backordered. By now, it seems they've all arrived, because all items are marked as "pending", but the order still isn't out. I haven't e-mailed them yet because I'd probably only get an automatical response anyway, and they had a system upgrade very recently (during which the order wasn't accessible, for more than one week). I WILL mail them if the order doesn't go out next week.

BobaMike, I totally agree on TIE Figther. The best game out there (along with X-Wing Alliance), and one of the very best scores. They actually REPLACED it on the "remastered" edition? Boy am I glad I played the original DOS game! I'd happily pay the price of 4 full-priced CDs for an orchestral recording.

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Originally posted by BobaMike:
Grim Fandango

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Does anybody know where Europeans can order that score? LucasArts doesn't ship internationally; I once had the URL of a German store that carried Grim, but I can't find it anymore.

Another great one is The Curs of Monkey Island (and at least the prequel's score, too), which even has a leitmotivic approach (gotta love LeChuck's theme!), but sadly there hasn't been a CD release.

You asked me if I had downloaded the mp3s above. No I have not.

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Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
Does anybody know where Europeans can order that score? LucasArts doesn't ship internationally; I once had the URL of a German store that carried Grim, but I can't find it anymore.

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Well, i just found the store again, but: THEY DON'T HAVE COPIES OF Grim Fandango ANYMORE!

Does anyone have any idea how non US/Canada citizens can get their hands on this great disc now?

However, I am looking further into finding the soundtrack for all of you people from out of the US/Canada.

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Originally posted by Racerprose:
You can download the entire score to Grim Fandango from: http://bones.grimfandango2.com/downloads.shtml

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Wow, that's great! I have actually ripped the complete score myself, and had even begun editing it, fading cues that are looped in the game etc., but I never finished it (the score is LOOONG!).

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However, I am looking further into finding the soundtrack for all of you people from out of the US/Canada.

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Thanks! The soundtrack album would be great to have, because the music in the game has poor sound quality. Also, it seems the tracks on the album are (at least some) suite arrangements of the game tracks. Plus, it might have some of the cutscene underscore that's combined with dialogue in the game.

NP: RVW: The Wasps (LPO, Sir Adrian Boult)