“Will the circle be unbroken, by and by? By and by?
Is a better home awaitin’ in the sky? In the sky?”

Such a great little moment in a game full of them. It almost makes me tear up a little knowing the ending.

So I finished Bioshock Infinite last night, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the ending.  To say it is an incredible work of art is an understatement.  But in the same way that Watchmen truly only works as a comic, it really only works as a video game, which I think only adds to its brilliance, and it’s unfortunate that so many people will dismiss it on that basis alone because it deserves attention and time.  The design, voice acting, animation, music, story, characters, and sheer attention to detail; everything fits together to create such a unique experience, and not since LOST have I been so heartbroken to see something come to an end. “We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.” Truth.

DOWNLOAD HERE!

Here we are, a brand new shiny mixtape of some more completely bad-ass videogame music. Videogame music has always been unique in that, for the most part, the composers don’t have to worry about overpowering dialogue or sound effects to the same degree that film composers do. Historically being a medium of very limited visual capabilities, entire worlds and emotions have to be evoked almost entirely through music in a way that hasn’t really been done in movies since the silent film era (especially in games older than the past decade).

Even with modern movies: Hobbits trekking over sweeping vistas as Howard Shore’s epic music trumpets their journey towards Mount Doom, or Batman intently flying the instrument of destruction away from the city as Hans Zimmer’s strings swell along with the hearts of the citizens, eulogizing Gotham’s hero; those moments are relatively few and far between, where in videogames, these often occur in long stretches, filled with music to set the tone for what is happening where dialogue is absent. From the death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, to first stepping foot into Tristram village in Diablo, it’s the music, often technologically limited, that make these moments so memorable.

Songs including everything from all eras are present, and I’ve topped it off with a piece from last year’s Journey soundtrack, which holds the honor of being the first videogame soundtrack to be nominated for a Grammy (though not the first to deserve it), pitted against Shore, Zimmer, and John Williams…who knows where this will go in years to come.

So whether you’re skill grinding for experience points at school, or gold farming at your job. Boss fighting giant spiders at home, or casually going about your normal walking animation. Take a moment to “stay a while, and listen.”

Songs
Menu - Starfox 64 [N64]
Title - Zelda: Ocarina of Time {Orchestrated} [N64] (01:52)
Home - FEZ [X360] (05:50)
Field - Ni No Kuni [PS3] (07:23)
Katamari Stars - Katamari Damacy [PS2] (10:56)
Scroll Stage - Turok 2 [GB Color] (13:23)
In A Snow-Bound Land - Donkey Kong Country 2 [SNES] (15:16)
The Sunlit Earth - Shadow of the Colossus [PS2] (18:21)
Wings of Kynareth - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion [PC] (19:46)
Home At Last - EVE Online [PC] (23:09)
Secret of the Forest - Chrono Trigger [SNES] (27:35)
The Sight of Spira - Final Fantasy X [PS2] (32:17)
Knock Knock - Hotline Miami [PC] (35:02)
Dog’s Theme - Kid Icarus: Uprising [NDS] (39:04)
Romanesca - Braid [X360] (41:19)
Elvish Piper Academy - Dustforce [PC] (43:43)
Alive Inside - The Walking Dead [PC] (46:30)
Hero’s Theme - Final Fantasy Tactics [PS1] (48:55)
Xizor’s Palace - Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire [N64] (50:03)
Batman: Arkham City Main Theme [PS3/X360] (51:35)
Apotheosis - Journey [PS3] (54:12)

Get the previous videogame mixes here: Red Version, Green Version, Blue Version, and Yellow Version