7. Furi (2016)
Furi is an action shoot-'em-up that shares similarities with both Hotline Miami and Contra. The game is entirely made up of boss fights and gameplay revolves around dodging bullets, parrying attacks, and finding weaknesses in your foe. The world has a beautiful cyberpunk feel and the bosses were all created by Takashi Okazaki, the author and artist behind the critically acclaimed Afro Samurai. However, Furi’s unique concept and intuitive boss design is not its most notable feature. What truly makes this game shine is its brilliant soundtrack.
Furi features some truly epic synthwave and electronic inspired music from artists Carpenter Brut, Danger, The Toxic Avenger, Lorn and Waveshaper. Each of these artists were briefed on the bosses and their unique abilities in order to compose music that embodied their character. As a result, you’ll find that every track fits perfectly with each boss, while the overall tempo and rhythm compliment their attacks. Furi’s soundtrack isn’t just background noise, it’s an integral part of the game’s mechanics.
8. Journey (2012)
Austin Wintory’s beautifully atmospheric Journey soundtrack is positively magical. Wintory developed the music so that it would dynamically tie in to both the actions of the player and sound effects caused by nearby game objects. As a result, our actions have a real weight to them and the music constantly helps us feel a part of the game’s story. The music doesn’t just evoke certain emotions, it also helps guide us on our journey as we transition from the mournful tones of “Nascence”, to the joy and elation felt from “The Road of Trials”. It’s certainly not hard to see why Journey was the very first video game soundtrack to be nominated for a Grammy. Journey is a timeless classic that still looks and sounds great to this day.
9. Parappa the Rapper (1997)
Created by music producer Masaya Matsuura in collaboration with artist Rodney Greenblat, Parappa the Rapper features unique visual design and rap-based gameplay that still proves influential to rhythm games today. Parappa the Rapper’s characters are as absurd and weird as the songs, but it’s the game’s overall strangeness that has kept it from being forgotten. The gameplay isn’t overly remarkable, but the songs still put a smile on our face. After all, Chop Chop Master Onion taught us some very important lessons about how “It's all in the mind!”
10. Rayman Legends (2013)
The Rayman series has delivered us with some of the best 2D platforming we’ve seen in recent years, but Ubisoft Montpellier took this a step further by working music directly into Legends’ mechanics. Each world has a lightning-fast musical platforming sequence that’s set to a popular rock or pop song, with classics such as Black Betty and Eye of the Tiger being recreated with a humorous twist. Watching our enemies sent flying to the crash of a symbol and punching enemies to the sound of Rocky’s theme is what makes this game so memorable. Rayman may not be as popular as our favourite plumber and hedgehog, but he certainly delivers a musical score that is hard to pass up.
