Our Game Soundtrack of the Year 2012 is Journey by Austin Wintory. This beautiful orchestral soundtrack is at times tense, dramatic and thrilling while managing to convey a range of emotion through its subtlety and delicacy. It has such an integral part in what made Journey an unforgettable experience for so many that it seems neither the game nor the soundtrack could properly exist without the other.
Journey was perhaps an obvious choice. We’ve been championing it since the game’s release in the early springtime and we’re not the only ones. Amid so much critical acclaim, Journey has recently become the first game soundtrack ever to have the honour of a Grammy nomination.
It wasn’t a runaway winner though, as part of the voting process we considered a range of soundtracks – both original scores and compilations. The only criteria for nomination was that the soundtrack featured in a game that was released in 2012.
The wonderful music from Mass Effect 3 wasn’t too far behind in second place. That’s hardly a surprise, Clint Mansell’s (Requiem for a Dream) involvement alone almost guarantees quality but several composers also returned from their work on Mass Effect 2 DLC to complete the third game in the series’ dramatic score.
Third place went to Halo 4, with a musical score by Neil Davidge (Massive Attack).
Here’s our top five represented as a bar chart.
And here’s the final ranking of every game soundtrack which received at least one vote.
- Journey
- Mass Effect 3
- Halo 4
- Sound Shapes
- Velocity
- Asura’s Wrath
- Dishonored
- Super Hexagon
- Max Payne 3
- Rayman Origins (Vita)
- Metal Gear Solid HD
- Fez
- Kindgoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Loxstokk
I’m surprised to see Hotline Miami missed out on the top 10. It would have been my number 1 this year, closely followed by Mass Effect 3 (one of the more appealing aspects of what I thought was an over rated game). I am happy with Journey winning though – an amazing aural experience and definitely my number 3!
TSBonyman
A worthy winner, some really beautiful tunes – in fact one of the tracks alone would nearly be enough to get my vote for SOTY.
rht992
Stunning game and soundtrack. Worthy winner. Mass effect wouldn’t have been the same without its soundtrack either.
Its a late entry but Far Cry 3’s soundtrack is also amazing.
recurv
Wow, awesome! Thanks folks :D
XisTG
Fair win. Rayman Origins also had an incredible soundtrack, as did Max Payne 3. But I think that while those two games had a good soundtrack to go with the game, Journey’s music stands well outside the game :)
KeRaSh
Wow, I didn’t expect Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to be on that list. I really enjoyed playing that game. It will be forgotten by most in the coming years but some of us will remember how much fun this game was.