Project Antivent - Day six

If you remember the worryingly glowing review of Prototype I did back in June, you'll recall me gushing over the tutorial stage, of all things. Set right at the end of the game, it gave you an opportunity to dick around with some of the powers you'd later get to play around with right off the bat as the world goes to hell around you. I described it as one of the best intros I'd ever played, and the music that accompanied your carnage added immensely to the overall feeling that this, as I said back then, was Armageddon in hi-def.

Six months on, and my feelings haven't changed a bit. This is still one of the best games of 2009 and this track, Memory In Death, is one of the best pieces of music in the game. If you still haven't played this yet, rectify that ASAP.

Project Antivent - Day Five

Time for something a wee bit older now. To anyone raised in the 16-bit era, the name Yuzo Koshiro is one that will likely cause a twang of nostalgia, the man being responsible for some of the best soundtracks on the Megadrive (or 'Genesis' if you prefer) and the SNES. Streets of Rage is probably his best known work, and while the second game is usually seen as the best of the series, I'll always prefer the original above all. For my money, the soundtrack to this one represents some of his finest work, and the boss theme, Attack of the Barbarian, stands head and shoulders above them all.

Project Antivent - Day Four

If truth be told, I could probably fill this entire list with the various remixes of Devils Never Cry from the DMC3 soundtrack – there's enough of them after all, and they're all pretty damn excellent. I decided to go for the Motion Capture Demo version, however, simply because there's something worth watching along with it. As you can probably guess, this features footage of the motion capture taken for the game, and it's well worth a look. Watching the acrobatics involved - much of it done by the game's voice cast, no less - is simply fascinating.

That the song's a great take on the main theme is only a bonus.

Project Antivent - Day Three

One of the challenges I set myself for this list was to limit myself to one piece of music from each game series – one piece of music from, say, Final Fantasy, one from Silent Hill and so on – to ensure a good mix of things. Otherwise I would probably wind up clogging the list up with music from the Shin Megami Tensei series and The World Ends With You and just call it a day. So, representing the entire MegaTen series is Hunting – Comrades from Digital Devil Saga. One of the best pieces of music in a game filled with them, DDS 1&2 have probably the best overall soundtracks in a series renown for its outstanding music. Shouji Meguro, you outdid yourself with this one.

Project Antivent - Day Two

Day two, and this time we have the main battle theme from Shadow Hearts: From The New World. The third game in the Shadow Hearts series has taken a lot of stick for being more slapstick and outright dumb compared to it's previous two incarnations. And, in fairness, they're absolutely right. But one thing that's harder to deny is the quality of its soundtrack, exemplified by Dead Fingers Talk, the main battle theme for the game. Say what you will about the rest of the game, but I will not hear a bad word said against this track.

Project Antivent - Day One

The Christmas season has just officially started (if you ignore the two or three month lead-up to it) and chances are, you're already sick of the deluge of carols and songs committing aggravated assault on your eardrums. Well, wouldn't you know it, I've got just the remedy for you! Probably.

Yes, from now until Xmas Day, we here at Overclocked on Caffeine are going to be listing an alternative to the usual crap piped endlessly, in the form of 25 of the best tracks from various games. Sort of a combination advent calender/antidote (hence: Antivent - s'good, innit?) to the Xmas Virus, but with a little extra at the end for those dumb brave enough to follow me all the way to the end.

We get off to a storming start with METHOD_REPLEKIA/ from the criminally unknown and under-appreciated Ar Tonelico 2. The game features characters who use songs to trigger and power their magic attacks, and the track in question is played whenever one of the main characters triggers their most powerful special attack. If ever a song stated clearly and explicitly “You are fucked” then it kicks in, it would be this one. And if that's not un-Chistmassy, I don't know what is.

Play it loud, folks!