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[Nert]

Earlier, I opted to spread the word on Tekken Tag Tournament 2. This time around, I'm going to try to drum up some more support for Botanicula's soundtrack.

I can't think of a soundtrack released this year with more personality. Nearly every song here is thoroughly odd and easily hummable, representing an eclectic mix of sounds that includes chirps, gibberish language, bells and water splashes.

For people that haven't given this soundtrack a shot yet, I recommend starting things off with level 3. I would be shocked if it didn't get stuck in your head after a listen or two. This exuberant song propels the player forward to a major hub area about halfway through the game, and it's one of the most enjoyable moments of the game.

If that's a little too conventional for you, move on to A major for 12 frogs. Remember the water splashes that I mentioned earlier? They serve as the percussion here, providing some structure for a bizarre progression of squawking sounds.

plavaci hlavolam is another highlight. The song gradually builds up around a single droning kind of noise, becoming increasingly intense as the piano is worked in.

Before I descend into "linking the entire soundtrack" territory, I'll finish things off with mrs mushroom likes LCD soundsystem, which is my candidate for "strangest song name 2012." I'm not even sure how to describe this song... melodic gargling set against a lively bass line? Whatever the hell it is, I love it.

If DVA, an indie Czech band, can bring this level of insanity and variety to their first game soundtrack, I dearly hope to hear more from them in the future.

Related recommendation: Machinarium's soundtrack. Tomáš Dvořák's work here provides a fun, robotic companion piece, peppering in beeps and static rumbles instead of chirps and "woohoos." Gameboy Tune is a pretty good example of this, but really, you owe it to yourself to give the entire thing a listen: it's one of this generation's best.

 

[randomkid]

Nert, really feeling your posts, I been on that Botanicula tip but Tekken was a neat surprise.

I'm apparently the first to mention this in the thread, but freaking Tokyo Jungle you guys. I can't possibly tell you how much I adore the choice the developers made to go with oppressive techno music, feels so thematically true and the people who think the music didn't fit are STUPID haha.

And they even threw in this happy thing for the Pomeranian's Theme for those who thought everything was too drab. Maybe it's cuz I don't listen to techno (I'm aware enough to know you're not supposed to call it techno right?) but I just loved this so much, even if I'm not knowledgeable enough to properly judge. People are just making up names for the songs, so Tokyo Jungle gets my vote as game which needs an OST release the most.

Edit: Edited for art!

 

[Shinta]

1. Final Fantasy XIII-2: Naoshi Mizuta, Masashi Hamauzu & Mitsuto Suzuki

Lightning's Theme ~Unguarded Future~
Ruined Hometown -Aggressive Mix-
Plains of Eternity
Eternal War
Synchrodrive

2. Sine Mora: Akira Yamaoka

Papa Carlo
Imperial AiBorg Factory
Charybdis
Moneta Point Research Base
Kolobok

3. Gravity Rush: Kohei Tanaka

Resistance and Extermination
The Mirage Rift
Pleajune
Honeymoon
The Inferno Rift

Honorable Mentions (if any):

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward: Shinji Hosoe

Ambidexterity
Dispensary
Recreation
Biology
Cabin

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance: Yoko Shimomura, Tsuyoshi Sekito & Takeharu Ishimoto

TWISTER -KINGDOM MIX-
CALLING -KINGDOM MIX-
Ice-Hot Lobster
Access the Grid
Digital Domination

Dragon's Dogma: B'z

Into Free -DANGAN-

Double Dragon NEON: Jake Kaufman

City Streets 2 - (Mango Tango - Neon Jungle)

 

[Nert]

Will something that's consistantly Honourbly Mentioned but never or rarely voted for get a write-up? :3

To preserve our sanity, Ghaleon Q and I are probably going to stick to doing composer profiles for just the 15 winning soundtracks. Fortunately, we're also going to have a massive archive in the results thread that includes descriptions and praise from other people posting here. In that sense, any soundtrack could have a write-up to go along with it, provided that at least one person cares enough to give it a shot.

Well, I'll drop the discussion about the soundtrack, because its silly on my part. Is about best soundtrack, not original soundtrack. Anyway, here are my picks.

I don't think that your concerns were silly at all. We spend a decent amount of time each year deliberating as to what we should and shouldn't allow, actually. In most cases, we err on the side of less restrictions, as it can suck the energy out of a thread when people don't feel like they can vote how they would like to, but there can be exceptions to this (like blocking Xenoblade Chronicles after it had already won soundtrack of the year). The topic is open to game soundtracks in general, for now, but that can always change in the future if necessary (based on feedback from everyone).

Sorry about the huge post! Hope you enjoyed some as much as I did!

Once again, people don't need to apologize for involved posts. I actually enjoyed reading it quite a bit!

 

[darkvir]

1. Journey
2. Crimson Shroud
3. Hotline Miami

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

1. Gravity Rush - Exceptional soundtrack, and one I can still hum back tunes without having even played the game since I platinumed it back in June. Love how upbeat and fun the soundtrack is, and it perfectly plays off the central character Kat and the universe around her. Just brilliantly done.

2. Journey - The soundtrack on it's own is fantastic, but one has to play the game to truly understand just how good it is. The final ascent up the mountain alone is worthy of all the praise this soundtrack gets. As beautiful as it is, however, it didn't stick with me the same way Gravity Rush's did.

3. Sound Shapes - Everyone give due credit to the Beck songs but that is not to belittle the rest of the songs here. The entire game has excellent music, and users themselves have created fantastic pieces of work. This is the game that keeps on giving in terms of soundtrack.

 

[StevePharma]

I'm thinking about my top three but I have some questions. I've seen some GAFfers have Sleeping Dogs and a lot of them have Hotline Miami in their lists. Are these eligible titles, since they have a lot of licensed music. I love Hotline Miami's soundtrack but I don't know how much of it was original.

Not sure if licensed soundtracks are allowed though, I guess they are. Nothing wrong with that but I need to know if Hotline Miami is eligible to be on the list

 

[Skirn]

1. Hotline Miami
2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
3. Mass Effect 3

 

[zashga]

1. Kid Icarus Uprising - Aurum Island

Unquestionably my favorite soundtrack this year; I love the musical collaborations that Sakurai brings together. This one prominently features some of my favorite videogame composers, and their contributions are glorious. This soundtrack is everything I love about videogame music: strong melodies, driving rhythms... it's a soundtrack that demands your attention and transports you to the game's world. Kid Icarus Uprising owes a great deal of its charm and breathless exhileration to this score. The excellent callbacks to tracks from the NES original also warrant a mention.

2. Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Noel's Theme

This one surprised me, since I wasn't the biggest fan of FFXIII or its soundtrack. The sequel hits all the right notes, with memorable melodies and tracks that are variously mysterious, driving, menacing, and melancholy. There's a lot of different stuff to like here. The game itself is somewhat scattershot in terms of settings, themes, and action, but the soundtrack does an admirable job keeping up.

3. Journey - Apotheosis

Ambient, moody soundtracks aren't always my thing, but this one is an exception. The Journey experience would be greatly diminished without this score. It perfectly traces the ups and downs of your trip to the mountain, and it meshes perfectly with the chirps and chimes of your fleeting companions. The music drifts along in the background most of the time, but makes itself heard at the right moments.

----------------------------------------

Honorable Mentions

Paper Mario Sticker Star - Saxophone really suits Mario. This soundtrack blows the doors off both of this year's "new" Mario titles.
Nintendo Land - A lot of great tunes to be had here, but not a lot of original tracks. Retro charm aplenty.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy - An amazing collection of music, almost none of which was composed in 2012. Most of it is at least a decade old and presented entirely, sublimely unaltered.
Xenoblade - I'd vote for it again this year if I could.

 

[crinale]

1. Gravity Rush
2. Persona 4 Golden
3. Journey

 

[Nert]

There have been a few more updates to the archive and the soundtrack cover art compilation. I'm going to sleep for now, but there will be more to come tomorrow.

I'm realizing that I'm going to have to listen to a lot more soundtracks before I get anywhere close to finalizing a vote. My goal is to spend some more time with Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, Krater, Tokyo Jungle, Lone Survivor, The Unfinished Swan and Paper Mario: Sticker Star before too long.

 

[Thoraxes]

That's a really interesting way of looking at it! I come from a slightly different perspective and while I don't disagree with anything you said, I think there's something to be said for games that can not necessarily integrate the music (whether it be gameplay driven or just static, pre-recorded) but allow it to become a part of the experience.

Whilst great music should be rewarded regardless of how it relates to the game and the theme, if it can be great on it's own AND match the game it was written/collected for then it becomes truly special.

For a timely, appropriate example, I *adore* electronic music. The music in Hotline Miami is exceptional without a doubt and I can appreciate it without the game. But the game took the music to another level. The music itself became music from the era and the world in which the game was set. And in turn, the music adds another layer to the game to draw you into it's world.

If I had to write an essay on what I thought a good game soundtrack should be, I could write it on Hotline Miami. I don't know if I could do that with many (if any) other games... with the possible exceptions of Tetsuya Mizuguchi's works in the Rez and the Lumines series of games.

Fuck, apologies for breaking up the thread with that, guys. Didn't mean to vomit all those words!

It's all good
This kind of discussion is great!

 

[Shaneus]

It's all good
This kind of discussion is great!

It really is. I love music and love video games, so this thread is my Wonka factory

 

[Dark Schala]

Can't wait to read Nert's post about Dustforce if he intends to write one up. Enjoying these recommendation posts, Nert. Keep it up.

I kinda wanna do one.

I've recently started listening to the Time Travelers Original Soundtrack. You may recognize composer Hideki Sakamoto from a few of the Ryu ga Gotoku soundtracks and 428 ~Fuusasareta Shibuya de~. This album has incredibly high production values, with the majority of the music being played live. I think what made me check the album out was the fact that Sarah Alainn was doing vocals on it and a bunch of the string players also performed in a bunch of games I've played before.

Time Travelers opens up with a wonderful opening theme with a heavy focus on brass, with some intertwining choral work. While the percussion halfway through with the woodwind mixing in sounds rather militaristic, parts of it sounds wistful to a degree. This theme will be arranged a few more times on this soundtrack, but it's a wonderful lead-in to a very brilliantly orchestrated album.

In fact... it introduces Another Timeline. It isn't composed of a short melody which loops back around which you'd probably expect from a second track on a soundtrack. No, it begins with a piano introduction (which ends up being a motif played throughout the album), and then the theme becomes more energetic or militaristic with the addition of strings and brass and a lovely sweeping harp. First you can concentrate on how melodic the theme is before it becomes incredibly dramatic. It continues on until towards the end when it quiets down a bit, slows down its pacing and then the vocal version of Time Travelers sung by Sarah Alainn makes an appearance. It might seem a little off when looking at this in writing, but when you hear the theme, it's just an utterly perfect addition. Then the theme picks up after a short piano interlude to round off the piece with flair. Fucking gorgeous.

Some of the vocal songs are incredibly cheesy (ex: Hina's Theme), some of them are kind of bad (ex: Shindo's Theme-- the jazz instrumentation works so fucking well, but I... don't like the singer's diction very much at all. It bugs me crap out of me), but some of them are good (ex: Farewell, Self -- excellent diction; seriously, I can't say anything against Ms. Alainn because her vocal quality and colour is out of this world... as someone who's studied theatre and conservatory vocal music growing up, I have to deeply respect her; she's wonderful).

I have to give a nod to Kamiya's Theme. I love how it opens up and progresses. We start off with some fantastic synth beats, brass, and a piano intro... and then it moves into a decently-paced string melody. I love layers of strings like this, and the choral stuff is excellent. But my favourite part? My favourite part is when the melody drops out completely and we're left with percussion and bass around the 1:30 mark. If you've read any VGM thread when I go in depth about bass and percussion, you know that sort of stuff is my jam. So I appreciate that composition decision a ton.

I love the stringwork on this album as well (ex: For the Sake of Someone), but I have to give a special nod to the jazzy elements on the soundtrack. Listen to this shit: Shady Business. That bass is so good. It speaks to me when it hammers... I could use some slides up and down the fretboard, but I'll take what I can get.

Ready for Combat sounds like it could fit into a Hitoshi Sakimoto album at first-- we get a great string intro and then it sounds more militaristic as it moves into the piece proper. The best part of this piece could be considered the trumpets. They rise and fall periodically... but I think the "bassline" is my favourite part. Now or Never is another one of the battle-like themes, with a focus on percussion providing the base with the strings and brass rising above it. The intermittent flute playing is a nice touch.

Overall, the soundtrack is rather brilliant, with a mesh of orchestrated stuff and pop tunes to placate different listeners' tastes. Because the game's story is divided among five characters, the variety of sounds on the album makes sense. Perhaps some of the vocal themes might drag it down depending on your taste, but it's an incredibly masterful score composed by Hideki Sakamoto. I haven't played the game, but I would damn well like to considering the score is very good, the album has incredibly high production values, and I love the fusion of different genres on this album.

I would write up a post for Nayuta no Kiseki, but I'd like to save it for my vote post.

I think I might fit Time Travelers into my honourable mentions at least. I'm incredibly impressed with it.

Not sure if licensed soundtracks are allowed though, I guess they are. Nothing wrong with that but I need to know if Hotline Miami is eligible to be on the list

Hotline Miami's soundtrack is in the soundtrack archive in the OP of this thread and thus is eligible for voting for reasons previously stated in the thread. Plus there doesn't seem to be a heck of a lot of resistance to its inclusion given that tons of people are voting for it.

 

[Shinta]

I appreciated the discussion this (and to echo other posters, you don't have to apologize for talking about things like this, Shaneus. Encouraging people to actually talk to each other more in this thread was one of our major goals this year).

Generally speaking, I used to be a lot more wary of licensed soundtracks being allowed in these threads, but I've come to trust GAF enough for it to not really be an issue. To pick a now out of date example, the worst case scenario would be Guitar Hero #12 winning soundtrack of the year because everybody really likes that one Linkin Park song that they decided to release as DLC. The way that Hotline Miami uses its licensed music is a lot more thoughtful and interesting, and it clearly has made a stronger impression on people here.

We're always open to constructive criticism, though, so if anyone else has thoughts on this issue, please let us know.

I honestly think it should be disqualified, or made into a separate category.

A licensed soundtrack is little more than a fancy mix-tape. You pick your favorite songs from whoever, and put it together. It's not really that deserving of recognition in my humble opinion.

This vote should be about new music and the people who actually wrote it. At least in film, if a song is picked from someone else, it's usually used in extremely specific scenes in very specific ways that are themselves a form of creativity. In gaming its often just background music.

Hotline Miami soundtrack, best mix-tape of 2012. That shouldn't take votes from entirely original music composed this year. If it does, it's just sad. So little effort (comparatively) overshadowing much more deserving efforts.

 

[mocolostrocolos]

1. Persona 4 Golden
2. Mass Effect 3
3. Kid Icarus Uprising

 

[Card Boy]

1) Double Dragon Neon (3 points)

Holy fuck! This is kickass. Listen here!

2) Lollipop Chainsaw (2 Points)

Considering noone bought I'm not surprised noone is voting for this. The game-play itself is mediocre and repetitive like all Sudas games but man does it have an awesome soundtrack.

3) Awesomenauts (1 point)

Love it, every Awesomenaut has his and her own theme song and it has that nostalgic Saturday morning cartoon vibe.

 

[Shaneus]

I honestly think it should be disqualified, or made into a separate category.

A licensed soundtrack is little more than a fancy mix-tape. You pick your favorite songs from whoever, and put it together. It's not really that deserving of recognition in my humble opinion.

This vote should be about new music and the people who actually wrote it. At least in film, if a song is picked from someone else, it's usually used in extremely specific scenes in very specific ways that are themselves a form of creativity. In gaming its often just background music.

Hotline Miami soundtrack, best mix-tape of 2012. That shouldn't take votes from entirely original music composed this year. If it does, it's just sad. So little effort (comparatively) overshadowing much more deserving efforts.

You haven't played it, have you?

 

[B-Genius]

1. Hotline Miami
2. FTL
3. Dustforce

Honourable mention: Journey

I was all about the Journey soundtrack upon initially playing it, but I've been listening to my 3 top picks a great deal more in general.

This year (and the end of last) has indeed been great for music, especially indie titles. More power to them!

 

[GhaleonQ]

I've recently started listening to the Time Travelers Original Soundtrack. You may recognize composer Hideki Sakamoto from a few of the Ryu ga Gotoku soundtracks and 428 ~Fuusasareta Shibuya de~.

Blast! You picked my picks! He claims that its his masterpiece, but I'm partial to Patchwork Heroes/1,000,000 Tons Of Debris.

By the way, find these if you can: http://vgmdb.net/album/31898 http://vgmdb.net/album/34417 He sings Doctor Schrodinger, Tell Me Please!

Nice post.

 

[Shinta]

How about you play it before making such comments? Or you can just read the comments on it when it ranks higher than whatever you voted for.

Don't bother to comment if all you're going to do is get pissy when someone has a different opinion.

I made some points, and you have nothing to add to it or specifically refute. Just ignore my comment next time.

 

[Illithid Dude]

1- Gravity Rush
2- Max Payne 3
3- Sound Shapes

 

[RyougaSaotome]

Can't wait to read Nert's post about Dustforce if he intends to write one up. Enjoying these recommendation posts, Nert. Keep it up.

I kinda wanna do one.

I've recently started listening to the Time Travelers Original Soundtrack. You may recognize composer Hideki Sakamoto from a few of the Ryu ga Gotoku soundtracks and 428 ~Fuusasareta Shibuya de~. This album has incredibly high production values, with the majority of the music being played live. I think what made me check the album out was the fact that Sarah Alainn was doing vocals on it and a bunch of the string players also performed in a bunch of games I've played before.

Wow, I was NOT expecting to see Time Travelers pop up here. A fantastic game with a fantastic soundtrack. It's unfortunate that both of those things will likely be forgotten as time passes considering how poorly the game did at retail.

The vocal tracks on the OST are extremely weird (laugh out loud strange at times), but on the whole it's a really fantastic work.

You have no clue how happy you've made me by making this post!

 

[Shining]

1. Journey
2. Dear Esther
3. -

 

[Shaneus]

Don't bother to comment if all you're going to do is get pissy when someone has a different opinion.

I made some points, and you have nothing to add to it or specifically refute. Just ignore my comment next time.

Check my other posts in this thread. I've gone into a significant amount of detail as to why I think soundtracks can (and are) every bit as good as original compositions. I was frustrated because you clearly didn't read them

Edit: For your convenience

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45472451&postcount=188
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45474911&postcount=210
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45483005&postcount=259
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=45495874&postcount=296

 

[Nocturnowl]

This time around, I'm going to try to drum up some more support for Botanicula's soundtrack...

Okay, this is the strangest thing i've heard in some time, what a unique take on things, i'm not sure how much I like it yet but it certainly leaves an impression that's for sure.

 

[Somnid]

1. Kid Icarus Upising
2. Nintendo Land
3. Wii U Menu (is this even eligible? It's so good)

Aside from that nothing I played from 2012 really stood out enough to nominate.

 

[seventynine]

1. Max Payne 3.
2. Sound Shapes.
3. Little Big Planet Vita.

 

[ForzaFerrari]

1. Final Fantasy XIII-2
2. Assassins Creed 3
3. Mass Effect 3

 

[twentytwo22]

1. Gravity Rush
2. Ys Celceta no Jukai
3. Kid Icarus Uprising

 

[ys45]

1.The Last story
2.Ys Celceta No Jukai
3.Gravity Rush

 

[MickeyKnox]

1. Hotline: Miami
2. Journey
3. Sleeping Dogs

 

[hunnies28]

1. La Mulana
2. Mighty Switch Force
3. Nintendo Land

 

[scion_barzahd]

1. Final Fantasy XIII-2
2. Journey
3. Sound Shapes

 

[MachoSuave]

1. Max Anarchy/Anarchy Reigns
   - Possibly more guilty pleasure than anything
2. Crimson Shroud
   - Sakimoto's my homeboy
3. Paper Mario Sticker Star
   - Nintendo getting good with the new tracks and remixes with this and Nintendo Land, a welcome return to form after all that NSMB copy/paste.

Honourable mentions:
Hotline Maimi
- Love a bit of 80s synth

 

[duckroll]

The "omg you haven't played the game" comments about Hotline Miami are some of the more elitist crap I've seen in a while. Smh. Who cares if someone hasn't played a game? This is about soundtracks. It's not like I played Asura's Wrath either, but if I think the music is outstanding I'll vote for it.

Any debate about whether soundtracks comprising of nothing but licensed songs should be allowed should not have anything to do with whether someone played a game or not. That's not relevant at all. It's just a factual discussion - should we allow licensed soundtracks to be voted on or not. And why. How much someone loves a game and how well that soundtrack works in the game has no bearing on such a rule.

 

[The Xtortionist]

1. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron - This one caught me completely off guard, offering up several hard-hitting tracks that were seemingly engineered to get your blood pumping. Masterful combat music. Oh, and crank that bass up.

Main Theme
Plaza
Sniper Fight
Bridge Fight

2. Nintendo Land - Not sure what I can say. Incredible soundtrack with countless retro tunes.

3. Halo 4 - A few misses but also some amazing pieces as well as some excellent combat tunes that I can't find on Youtube.

117 (my track of the year)
Arrival

 

[MachoSuave]

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Wuh-ho, thanks for those links, FoC had completely fallen off my radar recently, no longer.

 

[Nert]

As it turns out, Hotline Miami's soundtrack is not entirely licensed. Jasper Byrne's contributions appear to be wholly original for this game. Additionally, it appears that Scattle's contributions are original ("Here's the 6 tracks I created for the awesome violent 80s game Hotline Miami, out now!"). We're still investigating this, but at this point, Hotline Miami is definitely allowed.

I do apologize for the lack of clarity regarding licensed vs. original soundtracks in the voting rules. GhaleonQ and I are going make a more definitive statement on this and edit it into the original post later today. Up until now, we haven't clearly said anything to the effect of "original soundtracks only," so it probably wouldn't be fair for us to make games like Lumines: Electronic Symphony and Sleeping Dogs ineligible after people have already voted for them. We still want to collect feedback on this issue, though, so let us know what you think. Either way, we'll make sure that there is no confusion about it next year.

 

[Shaneus]

The "omg you haven't played the game" comments about Hotline Miami are some of the more elitist crap I've seen in a while. Smh. Who cares if someone hasn't played a game? This is about soundtracks. It's not like I played Asura's Wrath either, but if I think the music is outstanding I'll vote for it.

Those comments are in response to people who are stating that games with non-specifically written songs are basically "mixtapes"... a comment someone might say if they hadn't played the game. It's like looking at the Trainspotting soundtrack and saying exactly the same thing.

If soundtracks can only be for songs written specifically for the game, then that's fine. But to call things like that "glorified mixtapes" is a load of horseshit.

 

[duckroll]

Those comments are in response to people who are stating that games with non-specifically written songs are basically "mixtapes"... a comment someone might say if they hadn't played the game. It's like looking at the Trainspotting soundtrack and saying exactly the same thing.

And it is exactly the same. It's treated as a licensed soundtrack, not an original soundtrack. Which is the point of the debate. Get off your high horse, because the effort put into making a licensed soundtrack work well does not mean it is not a licensed soundtrack.

 

[Swordy]

1) Final Fantasy XIII-2
2) Gravity Rush
3) Mass Effect 3

 

[Uncle AJ]

1. Persona 4 Arena
2. Journey
3. Hotline Miami

 

[GCNemesis]

1) Rez
2) Journey
3) Double Dragon Neon

Honorable Mentions: Kid Icarus Uprising, FTL, Hotline Miami, and Rhythm Heaven Fever

Love this time of year and these threads. So many good soundtracks and love being introduced to so many.

 

[zashga]

Licensed soundtracks probably should be a separate category, but that may not be practical if Hotline Miami is the only one getting any votes. How many other games from 2012 have (predominantly) licensed music, anyway?

 

[SaintMadeOfPlaster]

1. Kid Icarus: Uprising
2. Virtue's Last Reward
3. Nano Assault Neo

 

[Muitnorts]

1. Journey

2. Max Payne 3

3. Sound Shapes

 

[Vlodril]

You know i was wondering , we give best games , soundtracks etc of the year do we have a best VO thread of the year? Since most games these days have it.

 

[Zia]

The licensed music argument is a bit silly. It's pretty obvious Hotline Miami uses licensed (and unlicensed, as ten seconds with Google will show you) music very coherently . It's not the same as some faux-indie schlock playing in the background while you're tooling around in the Madden or FIFA menus. Trite JRPG OST #352 isn't inherently more impressive than some incredible curation.

 

[Jintor]

Licensed soundtracks probably should be a separate category, but that may not be practical if Hotline Miami is the only one getting any votes. How many other games from 2012 have (predominantly) licensed music, anyway?

Sleepy Dawgs
Lollipop Chainsaw

You know i was wondering , we give best games , soundtracks etc of the year do we have a best VO thread of the year? Since most games these days have it.

We sure as fuck should. There have been some outstanding dubs this year.