A Definitive Genre (of Music) (Patreon)

Why do I kinda love NFS Unbound's soundtrack but label Heat's as unabashed garbage?

For reference, this is my Hip Hop playlist compared to Industrial…

It's not my go-to genre.

Do you have distortion, fuzzy electronics, and bass riff? 

Yeah? 

I'm there.

I'm that predictable. 

It's been a preference for me since discovering Celldweller as a twelve year old, and has only gotten more obvious as a twenty eight year old. Lots of the songs I've got in that Hip Hop playlist are some of my favorites of all time, but for every one that I add, there seems to be four or five Industrial, Metal, Hard Rock songs I add.

NFS Unbound helped narrow that gap a little bit.

It only took one play session before I went online and added 12+ songs to that Hip Hop playlist from the game, tracks from all over the world too, from the USA to Ukraine, Poland, Germany, China, and more.

It didn't take long to realize something though.

Most genres appearing in this game are ones that also featured in the previous game, NFS: Heat… a soundtrack that, well, you already know.

Is it purely me being more open minded?

Does two years really make that much of a difference?

Well, it can, but I don't think that's what the situation was this time. Based upon re-listening to Heat, there's a difference in styles here that impacts Need for Speed, and I think should go well beyond this franchise.

Simply put, NFS Heat, is whiplash.

Because the game's set in basically Miami, Ghost Games attempted to give an "international Latin flavor" with Machine Gun Kelly, Logic, Post Malone, and Jaden Smith…

Okay, that's unfair, there's plenty of smaller artists that don't seem so… Instagram, though the tone between them is similarly disjointed.

I like Nvdes' Rock & Roll… except it's sometimes immediately followed up by the upbeat Disco beat of Turning It Up For The Sunshine, and the drum and bass of Impish's Hive all in the same race.

My brain feels like this gif…

What NFS Unbound has that NFS Heat doesn't, isn't just a higher quality in the songs themselves, but cohesion in them; to the point where even songs I’m not all that crazy about listening to on their own such as A$AP Rocky, blend in perfectly with the rest of the game's consistent style.

What's brilliant though is that it's not for a lack of variety. Sure, on the surface, it's 90% Hip Hop, it doesn’t have House, EDM, Drum and Bass, Rap, Synthpop, Reggae, and a composed dramatic score, but it's got the most diverse selection of Hip-Hop I've witnessed in years, maybe ever.

It's the best of both worlds.

My ears pick up the notable differences in approach to music that Ukraine's Kalush has compared to Clipping, but doesn't feel like I’m suddenly playing a different game.

What I mainly respect is that like a lot of Unbound's most unique elements, it's distinct and confident. This doesn't seem like a desperate attempt from suites to give every demographic possible of purchasing this game a minimum of two songs they might enjoy in the 60+ they'll despise and replace with a Spotify playlist.

It feels like each song was placed with the same care and attention to detail as the rest of the game's creation.

I'm thinking... if I can get this much enjoyment from a soundtrack that was never intended for someone like me, then I want them to maintain this commitment. If the next game in the series calls for something like my twenty hour Industrial playlist, hell yeah! I'll head bang until my neck breaks. If it calls for Funk, Synthwave, Electronica, etc...

Cool!

Stick with that as well!

I'm not against Radio in games, I adored Cyberpunks original songs for its stations, but in-terms of the approach that games like Watch Dogs, NFS Payback, and more used, of including bits and pieces of everything… I think Unbound has made me done with.

Just accept you're not going to get everybody, and especially with the ease of programs like Spotify, there's not much point in pursuing them. Just build a soundtrack that suites the game's visions, and the people complaining it's not their favorite genre of music?

I'm saying this as someone who on paper, got fucked.

Fuck em.