植松伸夫 - Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack [1997]

Much unlike FFIV, this actually has some really good writing mixed in. When he does evil and dark, it's very good. However, the more regal stuff feels too childish and weak. The whimsical stuff is TOO whimsical and ends up sounding camp. The battle music is usually pretty good. There are a few recurring themes that do get annoyingly repetitive and really tiresome by the end of the album. USE THEM SPARINGLY, NOBUO! While he does a great job with most of the dark stuff, the Sephiroth themes are actually some of the weakest of the dark songs. Sure, this is one of the best from the FF soundtracks up until this point, but, damn, that's not saying much. The old FF soundtracks are really over-hyped by people that don't know what good songwriting is. Most of it is shitty and bland. Damn, this thing is just waaay too long and there is way too much crap in here that really doesn't need to be on the soundtrack.

Rating: 5.5

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/uematsu/index.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Taro Bando - F-Zero X Guitar Arrange Edition [1999]

This is more like it. The guitar distortion isn't anything worthy of Death Metal, and neither is the production quality, but the live instruments and production really add to the punch of the songs. The drums are oddly produced with a few toms having WAAAAYYYY too much bass put on them. The solos are lovely shredding rock solos that remind me of old-school metal. The songs are much more cohesive and have been rearranged to actually feel like a song from start to finish instead of a looped track for the purpose of continuing forever.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Taro+Bando

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Taro Bando - F-Zero X Original Soundtrack [1998]

Ok, so it's nostalgic. However, the production quality suffers quite a bit from the required performance of the game. So, it's not all that immersive an experience to listen to the soundtrack. There's potential for many of the riffs that is never realized thanks to the production quality. That said, there's a lot of filler on here, too. The nice thing is that there is a good deal of variation in the feel of each song.

Rating: 6

http://www.last.fm/music/Taro+Bando

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Hans Zimmer - Crysis 2 Original Soundtrack [2011]

Now that I've let the crappiness of the game settle in my mind and be nearly forgotten, I can listen to the soundtrack with an open mind. Things start off creepy with "Insertion" and then move into more anxious and proud. "Battery Pack", has more tension. Epic, dark, proud, sometimes cliché, So, it's not all that creative, and I especially dislike the "PROUD AMERICAN" feel that sometimes crops up, but it IS pretty epic and polished to a perfect shine.

Rating: 7.75

http://www.hanszimmer.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

植松伸夫 - Piano Collections Final Fantasy IV [1992]

The piano certainly breathes a bit of life into music that is otherwise dull and empty. While it's a wonderful step up, the music remains unchanged.

Rating: 4.5

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/uematsu/index.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

植松伸夫 - Final Fantasy IV Original Sound Version [1991]

This is mostly a soundtrack for nostalgia. Other than that, it's a pretty standard style of RPG music. I must say, this is fairly disappointingly bland and lifeless when compared to stuff like Chrono Trigger. It's not downright BAD, per say, but it really doesn't survive without playing along to the video game. There are a few exceptions, of course: Chocobo, "Into the Darkness". The battle music, while somewhat effective at raising pulses, is somewhat predictable. I have a feeling that my disappointment with the FF music is going to be a common theme because of the... well.... common themes that are recycled throughout the series that Nobuo worked on.

Rating: 4

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/uematsu/index.html

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Ōkami - Ōkami [2006]

I'm very VERY worried about starting this soundtrack... I'm making the prediction that it will be awesome for a while, but I will want it to end around the 3rd disk. EXTREMELY impressive start to disk 1, but I can already see that this is falling into a similar trap as many other VG soundtracks in that the length of the songs are absurdly short most of the time. It's very excellent Japanese Folk most of the time with a very ancient feel. When things pick up, it creates great tension and excitement. What, the, fuck... this album keeps getting better as it goes on... "Kamiki Village I" and "II" just feel like they can't possibly be topped by anything that will follow. So, yeah, half-way through the second album and I'm a bit pooped out. This shit is still incredible, but there's way too much material and it's mostly in the same style. Gotta take a break. Seems like the second disk is more about whimsical writing than the beauty of the first disk. Disk 3 is a mixed bag. There's whimsical, beautiful, and epic songs. Disk 4 is shaping up to be better than 2 and 3. Yes, definitely, disk 4 is THE SHIT. More dark songs; more epic battles; more soothing beauty. Odd, the first 18 tracks of disk 5 are 10-second bites of even music. There are only two things anyone can possibly complain about here: 1. The soundtrack is unnecessarily long; 2. It is tiresome to listen to all the way through. One is caused by the other. Besides that, this is a fucking amazing soundtrack through and through. Even the less epic and more happy 2nd and 3rd disks are a total joy to listen to. Brilliant in every way.

Rating: 9.75

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okami_%28video_game%29#Audio

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Yoko Shimomura - Parasite Eve Original Soundtrack [1998]

Wow, "Primal Eyes" is very impressive... I wasn't expecting this much depth at all for a horror game soundtrack; hopefully this will continue through the album. The album skips between dark atmosphere, beautiful and atmospheric, orchestra, upbeat break beat, and techno/piano wonder. One major complaint is that the file samples for the orchestra and opera vocals is clearly just pitch-shifted/bent, making it sound very fake and obnoxious... and now I'm really beginning to hate the fucking vocal shit in "Phrase of Eve". They just meander around with no purpose or structure... it's just random crap shit out by a five year old with a keyboard. It's annoying because the other stuff is quite awesome. Another complaint is that there aren't any particularly epic or hair-raising songs on this album, which is a bit strange for a horror/survival game. No matter, the other music certainly makes up for it a bit. The songs themselves are a bit repetitive, but I prefer this soundtrack to many other more typical horror soundtracks because it actually uses real MUSIC instead of just filling three hours with industrial and ambient effects.

Rating: 7.5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Shimomura

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill Original Soundtracks [1999]

Well, Akira sure didn't waste any time jumping into a creepy feel. 11 tracks in and it's plainly obvious that this is mostly an atmospheric album that uses industrial hits and effects. "Claw Finger" is one of the few tracks to catch my attention. This album would be great to create atmosphere in the background and for falling asleep, but I can't say that it has much artistic merit at all because it's 45 tracks of mostly repeated effects with the occasional sudden punch. Standout tracks: "Claw Finger", "Don't Cry", "Ain't Gonna Run", "Die", and "Silent Hill Pianissimo". Towards the end of the album, the tracks start using more music than effects. However, the album is still too long and has way too much just faffing about for me to enjoy listening to it actively.

Rating: 6

http://www.blog.konami.jp/gs/cat67/index.php

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Kai Rosenkranz - Risen [2009]

Three tracks in and I'm very impressed. There's no recycling from the Gothic 3 soundtrack at all, but it still creates flawless atmosphere. Beautiful, epic, extremely well-crafted, perfectly produced, and (at times) haunting. The soundtrack looses a bit of its appeal after the halfway point and starts to sound a little more generic than previous tracks. If the soundtrack kept its strength through the entire album, this would've blown Gothic 3's soundtrack straight out of the water, but as it is, Risen comes out equal to G3.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.last.fm/music/Kai+Rosenkranz

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Kai Rosenkranz - Gothic 3 [2006]

Fuckin' flawless songwriting. Always has the feel of an epic fantasy movie. Perfectly sets the mood. There's not much creativity, but it's so flawlessly executed that there's no way I can bash it.

Rating: 8.5.

http://www.last.fm/music/Kai+Rosenkranz

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

X3: Reunion

This sound track is great. Very atmospheric. The massive reverb on all of the instruments and the echo on the techno effects really makes you feel like you're floating through space. Makes me want to play the game really bad. It's very slow moving, but it's such a serene listen that I don't mind at all. However, the "inner station" tracks can fuck right off. They're great in the game, but fuck do they clogg up the soundtrack. It's not their fault, of course, since I was the one that ripped the tracks straight from the install directory.

Rating: 8

http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3/info_en.php

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.