Medic’s Favourite Video Game Songs

I have weird tastes in music. Although I generally dislike things like pop and jazz, I’ll happily listen to a lot of different types of rock and metal music. I am a fan of Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Crowded House, Linkin Park and Disturbed all at the same time. I actually saw Radiohead live when I was 11, and I reviewed their last album here. When it comes to video game music, it’s not as bad, a lot of the things I like have common themes about them. Unfortunately, I have zero musical talent nor do I have the capacity to really understand why I like particular songs.

That ain’t gonna stop me from writing about them!

Thanks in advance people who uploaded these songs.

You Will Be Perfect – Portal 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxhao80ZdQA

I was really sad when my official Portal 2 soundtrack never contained a code for a Genuine Ap-Sap, but that doesn’t matter. I could now listen to Want You Gone and Still Alive in super high quality. But as good as those songs are, I didn’t really like much of the soundtrack. It was all a little too technological, a little too beepy and boopy, something, I’ve criticized other bands *cough* Radiohead *cough* for in the past.

You Will Be Perfect though caught my attention. Because it’s what stuck in my mind from the old Portal 2 trailers. And it’s a good song, fast-paced and not nearly as beepy as other songs.

Lightbringer – Pentakill – League of Legends

Lightbringer was the first single released by Riot, using the fictional band Pentakill (by the way, that’s a link to all their music, for free). The band consists of a bunch of punked out League of Legend characters and the music is done by a large medley of musicians. Although their new album, Grasp of the Undying, is a big step up, features some insane tracks and introduces a new band member, Lightbringer has a somewhat cheesy feel about it. It’s the sort of thing you’d hear in a video showcasing a bunch of awesome plays. Or maybe an action-packed intro to a League of Legends animated show. Or maybe it feels like a video game parody of Disturbed. I don’t know.

Watch the Skies/Secunda – TESV: Skyrim

Song of the Dragonborn is the song most people think of when they think of Skyrim. But Song of the Dragonborn and the altered version One They Fear just aren’t as powerful as Watch the Skies. While the other dragon-induced songs have their ups and downs, Watch the Skies is a powerful blast of adventure and death and destruction. That dragon IS attacking you. You MUST fight back. You MUST destroy it and swallow its soul. You ARE the Dragonborn. And you don’t need 30 buff men to tall you that. But it helps.

Unfortunately, I can’t find any lyrics for Watch the Skies. I think it’s just random Latin stuff (often used in video game music to sound magical). That doesn’t stop me from trying to sing along.

Secunda though, Secunda is so calm and peaceful. The complete opposite of Watch the Skies. It always seems to play at night, when everything’s quiet and still. When the moons of Nirn rise. After a long day of battling dragons, you return to Lakeview Manor and watch the stars, or stare down into the deep, dark depths of the nearby lakes.

It Hates Me So Much/Seduce Me – Team Fortress 2

I couldn’t narrow the TF2 soundtrack into just one song, so we have two here. It Hates Me So Much and Seduce Me are part from the soundtrack from Expiration Date, while Rocket Jump Waltz, which was my third choice, has been in the game since release. What I like about these ones in particular is just how… happy they are. They’re fun, bouncy and perfectly fitting for the time they’re meant to be set in. When you hear them, you could totally see yourself being in a corny parody Spy film from the 60’s and 70’s. A silly, cheesy, fake James Bond movie. It gets you in the mood, it sets the atmosphere and it reminds you that you should never ever teleport bread.

It’s just a real damn shame that we only ever hear these tracks on the main menu. Seriously, I’d love to have this as background music while actually healing people. Even more annoyingly, the music only plays once on the main menu, and will not play again until you restart Team Fortress 2.

Before we get to the last one, there’s a TON of honourable mentions. The majority of the Team Fortress 2 soundtrack is included here. But the final battle music from Borderlands 2 (the fight against Jack) is the only track apart from the title music that sticks out for me, so it deserves a place here. The Warframe soundtrack deserves a mention too, for its powerful drums but also for the track This is What You Are, which is mind-blowing, in-game version or official release version. The God of War soundtrack is the final mention here. I don’t know why, I just like it.

Anyway, time for the last one.

Fundamentum (Burning Basement) – Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axRrgkkBUD0

Honestly the main reason I like the Binding of Isaac, both the flash game and the remade version, is the music. Even the fan DLC Antibirth has amazing music. So many of the tracks are awesome, dark and creepy. I was going to award this slot to the title music, Genesis 22:10, or even the Boss Battle music from the original Binding of Isaac. But Fundamentum wins out because it’s got this sense of urgency that one would expect from being in a burning basement.

But what I like the most is the sped up version of Fundamentum.

The SPEED challenge is fucking stupid and insanely hard to complete. While playing it, all sound effects are sped up, including the background music. Normally, you don’t notice because you’re too busy trying to get to the end as fast as possible – you automatically die when the timer hits 20 minutes. Many of the sped up songs sound a bit squeaky, like a cacophony of noise. But with Fundamentum, there’s something about it that clings to my mind, its claws digging in.

The urgency is far greater here than in the normal version. You feel like you need to MOVE right NOW. It screeches at me but the screeches are part of something bigger. Really, I don’t know why I like this so much. Maybe it’s the guitar, maybe it’s the beat, maybe it’s just how fast-paced it is. But I like it. I like it a lot.

And liking things is what matters.