The Top 25 Soundtracks 2012: Number 9

Number 9: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles

Looking back, it's a shame that Crystal Chronicles wasn't the title that it could have been. As a game, it was fun to play, especially with friends, but the difficulty in tracking down the requisite number of Game Boy Advance Systems and connector cables just to play (plus the lack of an online system to transfer saves or carry characters with you) made the simple process of playing a single session daunting. Lets face it, most gamers out there didn't have amount of capital it took to get a four player game of Crystal Chronicles running, and it wasn't exactly designed for single player.

As a result, most people missed this charmingly quirky spin off, passing over it in favor of other more common multiplayer titles for the system. Which is truly a shame, because while yes the gameplay was entertaining fun with four people frantically running around working together, the real star of the title was its soundtrack.

The Top 25 Soundtracks 2012: Number 10

Number 10: Xenogears

Yasunori Mitsuda. If you understand game music at all you've been waiting for his appearance on this list, because any acknowledgement of gaming soundtracks that didn't include him would by default be a complete failure. Mitsuda is largely famous in most gamers minds for two reasons. First, he has composed some of the best loved soundtracks out there, earning him international regard as one of the most accomplished game soundtrack composers. Second, he is so dedicated to his music that he puts himself into the hospital almost every time he composes anything.

That may be why there isn't as much of his work as most other composers.It's sort of hard to create a large number of works when most of them take so much out of you that you end up ill. Even so, it's a telling statement about the quality of his work and what he puts into it.

The Top 25 Soundtracks 2012: Number 11

Number 11: Portal 2 [SONGS TO TEST BY]

If you haven't heard of Portal or Portal 2 at all at some point, I must congratulate you. As popular and well received as the games were, still not knowing what they are by this point would be a bit like not knowing what Star Wars is after The Empire Strikes Back has hit theaters. But if you've somehow missed it, Portal is a first-person puzzle game that stars you as a test subject wielding a handheld portal gun capable of creating portals (essentially doorways that link together) on most surfaces. The game challenges you with using this device to work your way through a series of challenging rooms, all of which require use of portals as solutions. All while being goaded on by the facilities slightly unbalanced testing AI, GlaDOS.

It gets a lot more complicated then that of course. Portal was actually just as well known for it's story and characters as it was its gameplay. The sequel stepped it up several notches, tripling the length of the game and introducing several new characters to create a fairly tight and entertaining plot (more then you can believe, buy it and play it). Portal 2 also dabbled in another area that was new: soundtrack.

The Top 25 Soundtracks 2012: Number 12

Number 12: Final Fantasy VI

There are impressive soundtracks out there, and then there are impressive soundtracks. What's the difference? The former can be anyone who manages to create an exceptional piece of music. The latter is someone like Nobuo Uematsu, who's ever impressive works throughout over twenty years of compositional work are finally beginning to receive the interest and recognition they deserve, complete with orchestral concerts around the globe performing his works. Such as the Distant Worlds series of concerts, which this November is taking place in the Royal Albert Hall in London, and is performed by none other then the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Including amongst the impressive array of songs composed by Uematsu that they will be performing are several songs from Final Fantasy VI, undoubtedly the pinnacle of the series for many fans.

Final Fantasy VI is without a doubt a soundtrack that will forever live on in gaming history. Much like young film students sit down in a lecture hall to watch clips of Chaplin and Buster Keaton, it's hard to envision a young game composer in the future who won't be familiar with Uematsu's work, much less a college course of video games that won't require these young students to listen to his compositions. Uematsu's work on Final Fantasy VI is ground breaking.

The Top 25 Soundtracks 2012: Number 13

Number 13: Sonic Colors

It's pretty much a known quantity that if you go anywhere online to discuss video games, the Sonic the Hedgehog series will be the acknowledged butt-monkey. A.K.A. the butt of all the jokes, the one that never gets any credit for anything good, the one that will always be a failure in the eyes of the public. Well, for the most part that reputation is sadly deserved. While the original series was well loved, it's late 90s attempts to reinvent itself in 3D (complete with cheesy 80s-90s rock replacing the electronic dance music of the original series) started out merely OK and then slowly made small up and down movements. With more down then up, culminating in one of the most truly awful and bug ridden games ever released: Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, a title so bad that not only did one of the key minds behind Sonic (Yuji Naka) quite in disgust halfway through development, but the game actually ret-cons itself out of existence if you can manage to suffer through to the end. Which isn't worth it. And that;s just the tip of the iceberg.

It was bad.

Since that embarrassment however, Sega's stepped back and decided to put some effort into bringing the series back to the success it used to be. It took some time, and a few false starts. But then last year Sega came out with the first Sonic game in over a decade that weathered the storm: Sonic Colors. It got high reviews, sold incredibly well, and oh did I mention that similar to the title before it, it had ditched the cheese-rock and gone back to the older Sonic style?

The Top 25 Soundtracks 2012: Number 14

Number 14: Command & Conquer

The Command & Conquer series has been a long time favorite of many players, with an extremely dedicated (and surprisingly fairly sane) fanbase and quite a few very respectable releases. Oh and being created by the inventors of the RTS genre, being the first series to explore it and the one to make it popular doesn't hurt a series popularity either.

But classic gameplay aside, there is another reason the series has persisted in the minds of it's fans over the years. Command and Conquer has a unique and never dull soundtrack, which somehow always manages to perfectly capture the feel of battle while at the same time being completely catchy and versatile in its own right.

The Top 25 Soundtracks 2012: Number 15

Number 15: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Long-time readers of this blog will recognize that I've had an entry from the Mario Galaxy series on this list every year. In fact if the day ever comes when a Mario title isn't on this list, I'll be one of the most shocked. This year the only shock I had regarding it was finding that by complete coincidence Super Mario Galaxy 2 has taken the 15th position held last year by the original Mario Galaxy. While this may be a jump down the list from it's position in 7thduring 2011, I can verify little has changed. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is still the epic improvement of the already impressive groundwork laid in the original Super Mario Galaxy. The music is still performed by a full scale orchestra, the sounds are still significantly space-like while still being grand, and while the original had a fairly large variety of compositions, the sequel outstrips it by a large degree.