The Essential Games Music: Vol. 1 is a collection of 13 tracks (representing 42 min, 38 sec worth of music) from the gaming industry.

This is designed more as a taster for those who aren't actually huge fans of game soundtracks. Hard core fans will already have bought the scores for games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3; Gears of War 3; Halo 3; and Final Fantasy VII.

I couldn't work out what the criteria for inclusion was. At first I thought it was a 2011 compilation... but there are older games also included. So was this supposed to represent the best of the most well known games? If that's the case why was there no Tomb Raider or Sonic the Hedgehog music? And why was Modern Warfare 3 included while the far superior theme to Modern Warfare 2 was absent? Why was Uncharted 2 included instead of Uncharted 3? Why have Assassin's Creed 2, instead of the more impressive score for Assassin's Creed Revelations?

'One Winged Angel' (from "Final Fantasy VII Advent Children") isn't even from the game; it's the reworking of the theme for the CGI movie. What is interesting is the inclusion of The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros, which start out as their original 8bit versions and then transform into updated tracks.

It's a rather odd collection of themes, and while not the original recordings, London Music Works come pretty close to making sure this is a near to the source material as possible. And in most instances, unless you compare both versions side by side, you won't be able to tell the difference.

Track listing:

01 - Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - 'MW3 Theme'
02 - Gears Of War 3 - 'Gears Keep Turning'
03 - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 'Nate's Theme'
04 - Assassin's Creed 2 - 'Ezio's Family'
05 - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - 'Arthas My Son'
06 - Halo 3 - 'Finish the Fight'
07 - Final Fantasy VII Advent Children - 'One Winged Angel'
08 - Battlefield 1942 - 'Theme'
09 - The Curse Of Monkey Island - 'Theme'
10 - Final Fantasy VII - 'Staff Roll'
11 - Turrican II: The Final Fight
12 - The Legend of Zelda (8bit version)
13 - Super Mario Bros

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Darren Rea