And Advent Rising!
Mention a “video game music tribute album” and the first thing that usually comes to mind is a tribute to an old-school Japanese franchise, likeThe Legend of Zelda,Chrono Trigger, orFinal Fantasy. Y’know games that working composers in their ’30s would’ve played growing up.
American Pixels, the result of five years of work by composer Mazedude and his collaborators, is a bit of an outlier, not because of its interest in American-made games (there are plenty of tribute albums to those these days), but also to its game selection. You’ve got arrangements for music fromSkyrim, but also a number of productions you wouldn’t necessarily remember for their music, likeSam and Max, Maniac Mansion,andAdvent Rising. Or at least,Idon’t remember those games for their music (and in the case ofAdvent Rising, for anything at all), but I have it on good authority that I’m a philistine, so what do I know.
The album is available for sampling and purchase on Bandcamp, so you can check out its odes toBioShock 2,DC Universe Online, and evenPuzzlejuiceover there to make your own decision.
