Earlier last week, Epic Games released a 20th Anniversary album for free, chronicling some of their best soundtrack themes from their last 20 years of games. Gears of War? Check. Unreal Tournament? Check. Infinity Blade? Check. Jazz Jackrabbit? CHECK. Just about every noteworthy game was accounted for, except for one – One Must Fall: 2097.

A number of dedicated fans quickly responded in the comments of Epic Games’ site, professing their love for the game and its soundtrack, wondering why it wasn’t included on the album. After listening to the main theme below, you’ll wonder the same thing, which is why we’ve chosen to give OMF: 2097 some recognition.

Composed by Kenny Chou, this epic (no pun intended) main theme for the game is a glorious rendition of synthesizers and electronic beats. It manages to be futuristic sounding while also remaining stunningly retro, a strange yet appropriate combination.

The game was declared freeware in 1999 by Epic Games, so the soundtrack, along with the game itself and all the patches and updates, are free here at this fan site.

Overhaul Games have announced that Sam Hulick, best known for his work on the Mass Effect series, will compose the score for their upcoming Baldur’s Gate remake/update. Hulick’s score will accompany the games’ original soundtrack, in-keeping with the spirit of the Enhanced Edition project, which aims to modernize Baldur’s Gate while remaining true to the beloved original.

Hulick had this to say about the project: “The music of Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II was a huge inspiration for me as a composer who was just venturing forth into the world of writing music for games. So to be able to travel back in time, so to speak, and score original material for the Baldur’s Gate saga is a dream come true for me,”

Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is set to be released for PC, Mac and iPad this Summer.

If you’ve visited our sister sites XBLA Fans and PSN Fans recently then you may have heard of Awesomenauts, an 80′s cartoon themed MOBA game. If you’re not sure what a MOBA is, XBLAFans has you covered on that one too. You should probably check out their reviews too, just so you’re fully informed.

The reason we’re bringing this up though is because Awesomenauts has a pretty rad soundtrack, just check out the theme music in the above video if you don’t believe us. Thanks to Ronimo Games and our sister sites we have a vinyl record with some choice Awesomenauts music from that soundtrack, and we’re giving it away to one lucky winner. On the front side, the record contains contains an exclusive version of the complete Awesomenauts theme song and a fitting drum & bass remix. The B side contains a mega mix of all the songs in the game.

If you want to be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is tell us your favorite XBLA soundtrack in the comments below (Awesomenauts is totally a valid answer). That’s it, once the contest closes we’ll pick a winner at random and get in touch.

There’s plenty of other chances to win though, XBLA Fans is giving away four of the records, PSN Fans has one copy to give away and you can also win through Facebook and Twitter, details for those are below.

We want to get the word out about this, so everyone who likes XBLA Fans’ post about the contest on Facebook and everyone who shares the following tweet will be entered for a chance to win a copy.

Tweet this: Checkout this great giveaway for a chance to win an Awesomenauts Vinyl Record! RT for a chance to win. bit.ly/LZqvjz

The contest will run until Friday May 18th. You may enter once on each site.

Good luck!

Epic Games, creators of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War, just turned 2o years old. To celebrate they have put together a soundtrack compilation album. Featured are an assortment of tracks from Epic’s back catalogue, everything from Jazz Jackrabbit and Epic Pinball to last years Gears of War 3 and Infinity Blade II.

Best of all, the 20 track album is free to download, so head over to Epic Games’ website and get some great free game music.

The under-appreciated and generally unknown sequel (sixth chronologically in the series) to the original Metroid for the NES was a fantastic entry in the franchise that continued its tradition of a lonely, bleak atmosphere, exploration and of course, great music.

Well, saying Metroid II had a great soundtrack is a bit of an overstatement. Most of the “music” is atmospheric bleeps and bloops, which manage to get the point across of being in a dangerous, alien world, but it is hardly listenable outside of the game.

However, the track “SR388″ is phenomenal, and stands out not only as a great song, but also as the only real music track in the game other than the credits song. It’s catchy as can be, and really demonstrates the Game Boy’s excellent ability to produce great chiptune music. Compositional credits go to Ryoji Yoshitomi.

In the last installment of The Best of Videogame Soundtrack Remixes we covered Zeldastep. In this feature we are going to cover two more iconic video games whose soundtracks have well and truly been made even more awesome. We will be covering Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the classic 80s game Tetris. 

Tetris  was released in 1984 and immediately won over the hearts and minds of gamers even until this very day. In 2009 Game Informer rated Tetris #3 on their list of the 200 best video games of all time. And of course to accompany such a catchy game you must have a catchy soundtrack, which Tetris definitely does. Tetris was first created in Russia by Alexey Pajitnov while he was working in the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR. Tetris‘ Russian heritage is certainly not lost in the soundtrack, and immediately conjures up images of the motherland with its upbeat feel .

*This remix does contain profanities* The remix comes from the DJ Doctor P. This track opens with the original soundtrack with a slight rumble of bass to hint at what we can expect to happen. The original tune winds down in the cliche way, as if it is breaking down, and after a short swear word the bass kicks in. Doctor P makes effective use of  a variety of pitch ranges in this first section, although it is not as catchy as later on in the track, it is pretty neat. There is a slow breakdown, only interrupted with a “its Tetris”, which is followed by a brief clip of a heavily synthesised version of the original theme. The track repeats the bleeps and bloops that followed the opening, giving the track a slightly monotonous feel. Although this may not seem like the best remix it was chosen on the grounds that it was the inventive, manipulating extracts from the original soundtrack  into the track very effectively. Another remix that sticks more to the original soundtrack is Basshunter’s, who hardly strays from the original sounds, adding a solid bass beat and the odd bit of variation.

The next remix uses a track from Sega’s 1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This game was immensely popular selling around 6 million copies of the Sega Genesis, making it the second biggest selling game on the console. Second only to its predecessor. Although it ranked #61 on Game Informer’s list of the  200 best video games of all time (lagging way behind Tetris) the game has been described as the most finely polished Sonic title.

The remix is of one of the stages in the game, Emerald Hills, by 0SM and is truly amazing. Although it is does not feature any clips from the original track it  is possible to hear where 0SM took his inspiration from. The track opens with a strong beat which erupts into the tune. This variation in dynamics is something 0SM employs throughout the track making it that bit more interesting to listen to. Another feature that is particularly noteworthy is the use of the coin sound effect just before what can only be described as the chorus. Like the majority of the electronic tracks there is a lot of repetition, so it does have a tendency to get a bit dull, but when the final drop kicks in I can guarantee you will be dancing around. This Emerlad Hills remix can be downloaded from 0SM’s soundcloud.

1080 Snowboarding was a technical achievement for the Nintendo 64 when it was released back in 1998. Impressive draw distances and character models, intuitive controls, excellent snow effects and of course, fantastic music for its time. It would remain the king of snowboarding games until the arrival of SSX on the PlayStation 2 two years later.

1080 Snowboarding‘s music in particular stood out from the rest of the game, propelling it just that much further into the hearts of gamers. The soundtrack, composed by Kenta Negata, was notable for the sheer fact that it used actual, spoken lyrics in some of the tracks, which was practically unheard of back then for cartridge-based video games. It also used fairly realistic sounding music samples, which worked great for the hip hop and drum and bass tracks, but not so much for the rock tracks.

It’s all quite laughable by today’s standards. The music reeked of the new, angsty styles of music emerging during the late 90s, as well as Nintendo’s own obsession with “attitude” and being the cool, hip video game company that was still playing out from the Super NES days.

Despite all of this, the soundtrack to 1080 Snowboarding is endearing and nostalgic, even at it’s worst, which is more than can be said for many game soundtracks of the time.

“Work Your Body” is probably THE classic track off the entire soundtrack. This catchy, chill-sounding character select music takes center stage often, as you constantly find yourself selecting different characters for different events. As mentioned early, just the sheer fact that lyrics were present is striking, not to mention the song itself is actually a decent hip hop song.

“Golden Forest” is one of the better examples of a rock song from the soundtrack. Even still, the cheesy-sounding guitar samples stand out a bit, but the drum samples are much better. It also features a pretty wicked organ in the background, which makes a whole lot more sense if you just listen to it in the song itself. Take my word for it, it works.

Whew boy, “Grasp Power” is where things really start to go downhill for 1080‘s soundtrack. The hilariously bad vocals sound reminiscent of Fred Durst if he were belting out complete gibberish, interspersed with random words in English whenever he felt like it. You kinda almost feel bad and want to give this guy credit, even if he is trying way too hard, screeching and warping his voice when he gets too intense, which is often. It’s so bad that it becomes endearing after a while.

To make things even more amusing, the lyrics weren’t included in this track during gameplay, it was all instrumental. Fervent fans who bought the soundtrack were rewarded with the addition of the vocal track, as if the record label thought they were doing the fans some kind of grand favor. The in-game, instrumental version is floating around somewhere on YouTube, but the official soundtrack version is the most common.

“Lost” is much more bearable, and includes no lyrics, just sweet, smooth drum and bass. Even though this track only plays after losing an event, you wouldn’t be considered crazy for losing on purpose just to hear this song. Rather than giving you the middle finger for losing by playing a super annoying track, the game just lets you sit back, relax, calm down and get ready to try again. It demonstrates the versatility of 1080‘s soundtrack, which for better or worse, was a landmark soundtrack for it’s time.

The soundtrack was released on disc May 20, 1998 through Pony Canyon Inc. However it is pretty difficult, if not impossible, to come by today through most legitimate sellers. Rare copies can be found randomly on the Internet, but tread carefully if purchasing from any unknown sellers.

PlayStation 3 exclusive Starhawk will feature a soundtrack composed by the award-winning Christopher Lennertz, which is available June 19, 2012 through La-La Land Records. Lennertz has scored more than 40 feature films, five network televisions series and more than a dozen video games, his most recent being Mass Effect 3.

Starhawk‘s soundtrack appears to be “one of the most unique and interesting scores” of Lennertz’s career, as he says in the video below which details how the soundtrack was crafted.

The soundtrack will utilize a wide array of instruments and styles, including everything from traditional strings and brass to harmonicas and heavy-metal style guitars. Lennertz’s candid approach and enthusiasm for the game and his musical scores is inspiring, so enjoy the video.

Everyone and their (gamer) grandmother remembers Chrono Trigger, one of the most celebrated RPGs – and games – of all time. This title is rife with great tunes, but one sticks out for a specific reason. And that reason will come later.

Today’s featured track is simply called “Robo’s Theme.” It represents a character players meet early in the game, and one that fans remember fondly. But in regards to the music, how’s about that drum intro? Maintaining the same rhythmic pattern throughout the whole tune, it’s distorted kick drum effect suits its 8/16bit depiction of a mech romping around.

Once the melody kicks in though, the entire representation of Robo becomes clear in that he isn’t just some soulless machine, but an actual character with personality.

However, have another listen to the melody. Doesn’t it sound… familiar?

Usually with Indie games the music can be one of two things; a wonderfully realised extension of the games vision, lovingly created by somebody who really understands the game, or a forgettable acoustic patch plastered over the top that, just about, serves a purpose as background noise. Luckily one of Mode 7′s tiny three man team just happens to be an accomplished electronic musician. Going by the name nervous_testpilot, Paul Taylor’s stunning soundtrack for Frozen Synapse is, as one of the tracks is named, a Triumph.

Frozen Synapse is a turn based strategy game set in a dystopian cyberpunk future where corporations control the populace through a blending of the real world and a stlyized tron-esque network. You control a small variety of troops in a top-down perspective, guiding them through short, tense engagements via a detailed set of commands.

The game overall is a delight but the soundtrack is outstanding. Maintaining a fine balance between aiding the air of tension that ordering tiny men to their deaths entails, and remaining unintrusive while also greatly enhancing the games atmosphere.

Nightpath.

Heavy bass overlayed with lighter electronic sounds builds an almost palpable air of tension and contemplation while somehow, possibly with the aid of magic, still sounding relaxed.

Concentrate.

Concentrate is a wonderfully chilled track, mixing a deep yet subdued bassline with light snares that are almost like hearing raindrops against a window. Mixed in with that is a lovely piano riff and some ethereal vocal samples. Probably my personal favourite, finding its way easily onto my most played song selection.

Focus.

Focus is a blend of snappy orchestral elements with an underlying electronic beat that reminded me of  late nineties videogame scores. The mellow break in the middle of the song reflects the gameplay on a whole, lots of planning and tactical musing with short, violent, execution of careful tactics.

Triumph.

Another track that does a fantastic job of massaging your ears while you wrack your brain trying to find the best method of flushing out a dastardly sniper

Frozen Synapse is a wonderful display of what modern indie studios can produce. The album, along with the game, is available from Mode7 directly or from Steam.