Game music of the day: Parasite Eve

Welcome to GamesRadar's daily blast of all things pertaining to the ever-growing field of game music. Each post will introduce new sounds, games, composers and fan-made remixes of gaming's greatest aural achievements.

June 25, 2010

Game: Parasite Eve

Song: Somnia Memorias

Composer: Yoko Shimomura

Parasite Eve is one of my favorite games of all time, and the soundtrack is a big part of why I remember it so fondly.

Yoko Shimomura's compositions aren't just well-suited to the game; they also evoke their own powerful imagery. Theme of Aya sounds like the light reflected off a rain-wet NYC street in the dead of night, and Theme of Mitochrondria is pure primordial ooze. Today's selection, Somnia Memorias, brings these two contrasting worlds together. In it you can hear the sophistication of the big city mixed with the dampness of a rainforest brimming with mysterious life. It sounds delicate and deadly at the same time.

It may seem too obvious to pick the ending credits of a game as my favorite song, but nostaglia overrides all in this case. I remember running to the computer the second the credits finished rolling to frantically check if the ending song was available on Napster. It was, and I listened to it on repeat on my Aya Brea-skinned Winamp for like a month.

If you've never played Parasite Eve, I would argue that it's one of the few PS1 games that still totally holds up despite how admitted ugly the gameplay looks by today's standards. I guarantee if you watch this intro you'll have a hard time resisting buying it off Amazon RIGHT NOW:

Dooooo ittttt

Game music of the day: Killer 7
Everyone remembers it for its bizarre visuals, but its soundtrack was also stellar

The Top 7... Tasteful game heroines
Videogame girls treated with dignity and respect? What an idea

The Top 7... Games based on books
The written word, made more betterer by gamification

Life is nature's way of keeping meat fresh.