If you’re someone who embodied that Charlie Day quote from Always Sunny and played video games until your eyes bled, it’s fair to say that games probably shaped a lot of your interests and traits in your formative years.
They will have shaped your gaming genre preferences, along with your tastes in various other forms of media, including your tastes in music.
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Standout video games have always had incredible soundtracks to help elevate the quality of each respective experience, and thanks to this, a lot of the songs featured have shaped our tastes in music.
But just in case you haven’t played all these tracks on a loop, here is where you can find and enjoy them all.
For clarity, we will only be considering games that are at least 10+ years old. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have had the time to shape our tastes all that much. Also, we will only be choosing one example per franchise, even if the series has a lot of awesome soundtracks.
10Gran Turismo 4
Pedal To The Metal
Gran Turismo 4
While it may not be as high-octane as theother racing serieson this list, Gran Turismo is easily the most authentic racer on the market, and that authenticity extends to the various soundtracks on offer, as each feels like a selection of awesome driving songs.
However, the soundtrack, at least in my humble opinion, that would have you cranking up your in-car radio would be GT4, which had some serious bangers.
This one had some epic tracks in the background of each race, likeKaiser Chief’s I Predict A Riot, along with standout names like Jimmy Eat World, James Brown, Queens of the Stone Age, and more.
However, perhapsnothing sums it up better than the feeling you get when you fail a license challenge, and Yello’s Oh Yeah plays, almost mocking you. It is equal parts frustrating and hilarious.
9Need For Speed Underground 2
Bodykits & Top-Tier Hits
Need for Speed: Underground 2
Need For Speed is a series that just keeps going and going, kind of like how the Fast and the Furious movies somehowfind a way to keep churning out sequels. You know what you’re going to get, but there’s something inherently enjoyable about them regardless.
That said, one thing that isn’t predictable is the soundtrack, and the NFS kings in that department were the Underground titles.
Despite the pure enjoyment that comes with Lil Jon’s Get Low, NFS Underground 2 just about edges it withsmooth tracks like Riders on the Storm, as well as killer songs from the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Rise Against, and SpiderBait.
There’s not a single track that will be cooler than your neon under glow and spoiler combo, but it’ll come pretty damn close.
A Cult Classic
While the FIFA and EAFC games have a poor reputation on account of being a series that barely changes from year to year. Which is a deserved reputation, by the way. One thing that does change every year and offers variety in abundance is the soundtracks from one game to the next.
With so many to choose from, it’s really hard to actually choose just one. FIFA 2004 was an underrated one. FIFA 12 and 13 were superb, and the run from FIFA 15 to 17 was sublime. But I’m going to throw a curveball and go for FIFA 06, a gem among FIFA games both for the gameplay and the tunes.
FromDoves' Black and White Town and Bloc Party’s Helicopter, to more eclectic hits like Welcome to Jamrock and Cobrastyle,it really had a little something for everyone. FIFA 16 runs it very close for the sheer volume of bangers, but for me, it’s about quality, not quantity.
7Burnout Paradise
Two Tickets To Paradise
Burnout Paradise Remastered
Burnout as a series has always been pretty good value for high-octane tunes, as you need top-tier anthems to inspire players to cause as much motor-fuelled carnage on screen as possible.
But due to Paradise’s blend of exploration, stunts, racing, and wreckage, it’s the best of the bunch due to the layers the soundtrack can provide.
You have fitting hits like Paradise City, more Jaunty tunes like Stand and Deliver and Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend, and naturally, you have heavy songs to help fuel the carnage like My Curse from Killswitch Engage.
It’s a veritable treasure trove of rock and punk royalty, that makes ripping it up in Paradise City a blast.
6GTA San Andreas
Grove Street For Life
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The GTA series has always been a great way for gamers to absorb various different musical genres. Mainly because the game has a series of dedicated radio stations you can tune into that cater to just about every taste out there; however, I would argue that none understood the assignment better than GTA San Andreas.
Set in Los Santos, mirroring LA during the drug wars, suitable rap tracksfrom names like 2Pac, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Big Daddy Kane, and Ice Cube, to name a few.But rap isn’t all that’s on the menu.
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For country, you have bops like All My Exes Live in Texas. For classic rock fans, Hold The Line and Barracuda were in the mix. Or if you were more of a soul brother, you had Boyz 2 Men coming at you with some Mowtownphilly.
Nothing but hits and the ability to fixate on the genre you love, all while seamlessly causing chaos in-game. Truly revolutionary.
5Guitar Hero 3
Sick Riffs & Licks
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
While rhythm games may not beanywhere near as popular as they were back in the day, we shouldn’t forget just how much of a strange hold that Guitar Hero briefly had on the industry. For a minute there, you couldn’t move forweird musical instrument gaming peripherals.
The hype has died down significantly, but the effect these games had on our respective Spotify playlists lives on, and by far, Guitar Hero 3 was the standout of them all.Offering classic rock jams like Slow Ride, Rock and Roll All Nite, and Hit Me With You Best Shot, to name a few.
But you had something to suit all tastes,with Pearl Jam representing Grunge, ZZ Top bringing the blues, and DragonForce offering whatever the hell Through The Fire and the Flames was.A star-studded line-up, and one that felt damn satisfying to rock out to.
The THPS Killer
While the Skate series can’t come close to matching a certain upcoming skating franchise on this list for musical excellence, it has to be said that it has its own charm and style that demands that players stop and take notice.
While the original EA Skate title is a bit of a relic in terms of gameplay, it punches well above its weight in the soundtrack department with wall-to-wall hits.
You have the smoothness of Green Onions, followed up with the bop that is Cheap Trick’s Surrender, and the hits don’t stop here, as you have Band of Horse’s The Funeral,which is the one I remember most vividly while owning spots and entering the hall of meat.
It’s one of those games that arguably haven’t aged great, but the awesome tracks make this one a little more palatable, so I would still recommend it to all the shredders out there.
3Fallout New Vegas
With The Big Iron On His Hip
Fallout: New Vegas
The Fallout Series has been, from a musical standpoint, a huge champion of the mid-1950s era, as this was about as hip and trendy music got before the bombs fell in this re-imagined history of America. However, despite the hardship that nuclear fallout brings, the one upside is that all the tunes featured are timeless.
The whole series has superb selections of retro tunes. However, Fallout New Vegas is the clear winner for me, as the assortment of country hits this title provides are so damn catchy it’s near impossible not to smile as you bob your head along while mutilating a Super Mutant.
Whether it’sBig Iron, Johnny Guitar, or Heartaches By The Number, the Mojave has something blaring out of a nearby radio that you will fall in love with.Allowing you to shake it while your spurs go jingle jangle jingle.
2WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007
When Worlds Collide
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007
I’ve often referred to the kind of music that features in WWE video games as ‘I own a wolf T-shirt’ music. But, don’t misunderstand, I love the stuff. From Breaking Benjamin, to Skillet, to Avenged Sevenfold, I dig it all. Which may be in part thanks to the Smackdown Vs. Raw series.
2007 was, by some distance, the best of the bunch as far as soundtracks are concerned, with bangers likeLil Scrappy’s Money In The Bank to usher in the new match type and heavier hitters like Lonely Train by Black Stone Cherry.
However, the standout tune by far was Three Day’s Grace and The Animal I Have Become, a song that seems to be all but made for The Animal Batista, who was the man of the moment in the WWE at the time. A killer set list, and one of many for the WWE gaming collective.
1Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2
Bangers And Boardslides
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
If you didn’t know that this one would be our outright winner from the start, more fool you, as this is about as nailed-on of a number one as there can ever be. The Birdman’s series or arcade skaters have all featured punk, rock, and indie hits that capture the anarchy and the misfit nature of the skating scene.
However, if you forced me to just pick one soundtrack, it would have the be that of the original. Despite the fact that the original had the likes of the jaunty, timeless hit Superman by Goldfinger, THPS2 was stacked with hits.
With standout tracks like When Worlds Collide and No Cigar, as well as the star power of household names like REM, Rage Against The Machine, and Papa Roach, there are few other Tony Hawk titles that can even compare.
I think THUG2 definitely also deserves an honorable mention, but the sequel to the series' breakout success is our pick of the bunch.
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