june gloom on 24/7/2008 at 09:30
So I just finished Opposing Force for the nth time (probably my 4th favourite of the official HL games, after the episodes and Blue Shift) and the ending theme, "Planet" never fails to haunt me. (Actually, to be fair, the last ten minutes of the game are fucking terrifying and surreal- the way they build things up along with the knowledge that all your efforts to stop the nuke will be for naught really contribute to what's probably the strongest ending in the HL series.)
So I got to thinking, what ending themes does TTLG like?
Some of mine:
Opposing Force (obviously)
Metal Gear 2 through MGS3 (haven't played MGS4)
Silent Hill 1 and 2
Gunman Chronicles (mediocre game, great ending theme)
others?
rachel on 24/7/2008 at 10:35
Uh? The way I remembered OF, you actually defuse it and the ending is the fight with that big lizard thing near a portal... :confused:
(Admittedly I haven't played it in years so memory may be fuzzy on this)
Matthew on 24/7/2008 at 10:42
The ending theme of Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space sticks in my memory, though not as memorably as the stirring intro music.
nicked on 24/7/2008 at 11:42
Quote Posted by raph
Uh? The way I remembered OF,
you actually defuse it and the ending is the fight with that big lizard thing near a portal... :confused:
(Admittedly I haven't played it in years so memory may be fuzzy on this)
You
defuse the nuke, but then the door locks behind you and the g-man turns it back on. After killing the
geneworm, you are taken away in an osprey by the gman and the nuke goes off in the distance.As for end themes, they're usually crap in my experience. Half-Life had a pretty good ending theme that gave you a sense of completion, but it wasn't exactly mozart. I think developers should strike deals to get relevant commercial songs on the sound track like with films - it would probably make the credits better to watch.
Livo on 24/7/2008 at 11:43
Quote Posted by raph
Uh? The way I remembered OF,
you actually defuse it and the ending is the fight with that big lizard thing near a portal... :confused:
(Admittedly I haven't played it in years so memory may be fuzzy on this)
[spoiler]You defuse it, but the bomb is reactivated by the Gman; you can actually see him doing so in the game before you go down the lift. After you defeat the final boss, it goes off[/spoiler]
EDIT; instaposted by nicked
Shadowcat on 24/7/2008 at 12:02
Archimedean Dynasty.
The music as the credits rolled was a great reward for completing the game, and I replayed the final mission over and over just so I could sit back, close my eyes, and listen to it again.
Every time I encounter one of those disappointingly brief end-game cinematics, I always wonder why they didn't put some of their money into getting a composer to create something longer that actually feels like a satisfying reward for so many hours of play.
N'Al on 24/7/2008 at 12:10
* waits for someone to mention Portal, and for the thread to explode *
addink on 24/7/2008 at 12:30
Quote Posted by nicked
I think developers should strike deals to get relevant commercial songs on the sound track like with films - it would probably make the credits better to watch.
Please don't say things like that. The only reasons 3rd party songs are added to the credits are commercial ones, it's got nothing to do with enhancing the experience. If they were trying to enhance the experience they'd get the composer to write a fitting score.
I seriously doubt the director of a studio film has much say in which tracks get tacked on.
Sure there are directors that purposefully use existing tracks (Lynch comes to mind, sometimes he even has the songs he picked playing on the set) but then the songs are selected to fit the scene and be part of the experience.
I've got too many soundtracks that feature some awkward, ill fitting song amidst an otherwise perfect score.
Think Moby and Bioshock.
Kroakie on 24/7/2008 at 13:24
The only two which ending themes stick out in my mind are Max Payne 2 and The Witcher. Gears of War deserves a mention as for some reason I found it hilarious, but I wouldn't call it a favourite.
Oh yah and Portal.
