I think a major problem these days are games are getting samey, and so is the music.
So who wants to name some games that had a memorable soundtrack to them?

The jukebox in Bioshock still haunts my dreams and the sequence when "Sander Cohen" gets mad at you uses the exact same music as the final "bell tower" fight scene in the 1989 Batman movie. So those things stand out.

Other than that, not really. Although "Condemned 2" often uses big breaks of silence to really great effect.

Either Ocarina of Time for N64 (Koji Kondo) or Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for PC (Jeremy Soule)

Metal Gear Solid series has an excellent soundtrack. Point of proof, just listen to the final song from MGS1. Just beautiful.

MGS 3

just for Snake Eater...

I know I've seen this topic before, but couldn't find it in a search...huh...

Anyways, it has to be Bioshock. 50s Avant-garde music mixed with period popular songs in an art deco environment...it was so shockingly different and so well done that it will be the gold standard for music in games kind of like Bernard Herrmann is still probably the greatest film composer because of what he did differently.

I think the Halo series has a truly immense soundtrack which helps the game a lot.

Id say either Bioshock or Halo series. Plus Castle Crashers has an awesome soundtrack considoring it was made by the Newgrounds community!

boom boom rocket....again...for the 3rd time..

Earthbound, Shadow Hearts 2, Vagrant Story, Chrono Cross, Katamari Damacy, Bioshock, and Mass Effect are my most played game soundtracks.

Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse.

If a Guitar Hero: The Beatles comes out you all know it'd be that.

Definitely system shock 2. The mixture of darkly mysterious ambient corridor sounds and high energy messed-up drumm n bass freaks me out so much it makes me want to stand on a chair and scream like a french maid.

For extra effect, put the high tempo tracks on an ipod, put on some skates, get a bike or use your skateboard and just imagine you're being chased by shodan's minions. I've never gone that fast before.

A lot of recent games seem to have great soundtracks. Castle Crashers and Bionic Commando: Rearmed (Live Arcade games) have amazing music. Too Human has great audio despite other issues with the game itself. GTA* of course. Fallout 3 from what I've heard has a lot of good older styled music.

I haven't put too many hours in yet, but Uncharted: Drake's Fortune has a pretty good audio track so far.

The Prince of Persia series has great released soundtracks (from Stuart Chatwood primarily), and unexpectedly Red Steel on the Wii had some gems on its soundtrack despite being a mediocre shooter.

Stubbs had an amazing soundtrack. If only they PLAYED IT IN THE GAME beyond a couple radios laying around. :(

Condemned had great audio, although it was more general audio then actual music from what I remember. On a related note, Siren: Blood Omen on the PS3 has pretty damn good ambient sound as well.

Soul Calibur IV is notable for having some of the worst audio I've heard in years. It's aggressively bad. Mostly the voice acting, but the other audio isn't anything special either.

Now a lot of the games mentioned so far have got good soundtracks, but I'm still surprised no one's mentioned the Alone in the Dark soundtrack. Sure, the game was absolute shit (it doesn't take a schizophrenic Australian game critic to figure that out), but I actually think that the soundtrack was one of the best......ever! The composer, Olivier Deriviere I think his name is, has this uncanny ability to make outstanding scores for games that turn out to be absolute crap (see ObsCure 2 for references), but his work shouldn't be ignored for that reason. Alone in the Dark has a brilliant soundtrack, and I'll stand by THAT t'ill the grave!

Guitar Hero 3, duh.

Kross:
Stubbs had an amazing soundtrack. If only they PLAYED IT IN THE GAME beyond a couple radios laying around. :(

But then you wouln't have heard the main attraction, the zombie hoard chant of BRAINS!!

TheGhostOfSin:
Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse.

If a Guitar Hero: The Beatles comes out you all know it'd be that.

I would cry of Guitar Hero: The Beatles came out.

I respect the Beatles for what the did for music, and with their fan base, I wouldn't be surprised if a Beatles GH came out, but I have never been able to hear what they did so special, even considering the time. Just not my style.

However, looking at their music, I don't think it would translate well into GH because the guitar work, while interesting in some spots, isn't to intricate or fast, the two major things GH tends to lend itself to.

Jet set willy!

mgs,final fantasy VII,XENOGEARS,DQ8,COD4,Half-life 2,jet set radio future

Guitar hero doesn't count because it isn't a sound track, it is the game itself!

I personally think Halo or half life 2 because they have music that I actually listen to on its own. I think that if a sound track is so good that people listen to it outside of the game then it is a winner in my book.

Ignoring my main obsession (Guitar Hero series and Rock Band), I usually regard Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 as being responsible for my entire taste in music... which sounds a lot more restrictive than it is. That game got me interested in a couple of bands and it all went from there, rapidly expanding in all directions, like some extremely fast-growing pretentious weed, into every imaginable kind of thing.

Honourable mentions go to Oblivion (nice background noise, doesn't get in the way), Bioshock (what you all said above) and Braid (just, lovely).

Perfect Dark for the N64 had a great soundtrack. Also F-zero N64 too, that was one of my favourites, especially the real-instrument album version they released. One of my favourite albums ever. Anyone who likes that kind of music should seriously get it somehow.

Done before.

Halo.

The best soundtrack is!

C&C Red Alert

made by Frank Klepacki

Sypro the Dragon series with Stuart Copeland's awesome scores, and Beyond Good and Evil. BGaE was the first gaming soundtrack I DLed. It was so cool.

ETA: Oh, and Portal. :D

Best soundtracks:
Total Annihilation - Jeremy Soule's best work, which is saying a lot. Even the quiet songs are catchy.
Braid - Perfect fit to the game, catchy, and never feels unnecessarily repetitive.

Best individual songs:
Halo - Main Theme
One Must Fall 2097 - Main Theme
Red Alert - Mechanical Man

Bioshock has excellent sound design, but the original score is pretty boring.

I'm probably a noob for saying it but.. SSBB. It might not have the best origional soundtrack but the sheer amount of excellent remixes makes it one of the best for me.

Metroid Prime/Zero Mission. i love everything about those games, especially the music.

Plus Brawl, there's so much, you're bound to find a few tracks you like.

Stuff I actually listen to regardless of if I'm gaming or not -

Red Alert 2
Halo 2 OST

The Black Mages' take on FF music.

The original Mega Man games for NES (primarily 2 and 3) have outstanding soundtracks.

If I feel nostalgic, and I start to play one of those games, the music comes back to me like it's 1990 again. I only know how to describe it as some weird 8-bit 4-track synth-metal.

Halo, which has been said multiplke times, or most star wars games because they use the star wars music. Which rocks so hard, rocks cannot rock as hard as it rocks. Same for Indiana Jones. John Williams is a genius.

I'd go with Final Fantasy VIII; one of the few soundtracks I've actually went on to buy after I'd beat the game.

A close second would be the soundtrack to Fahrenheit, just for the atmosphere.

Metal Gear Solid, the whole series has great music, but this one from the first game stands out as my favorite:

The best is yet to come

TheGhostOfSin:
If a Guitar Hero: The Beatles comes out you all know it'd be that.

Or Guitar Hero: Jimi Hendrix. If that ever comes out I swear, I'll finally cave and buy a next gen console.

HitMan: blood money (jesper kyd)whenever I feel someone following me I always here the Vegas theme or the Amb. Zone music play in my head.

either the origional Call of Duty or Medal of Honor...