Predators is Finally Here

Finally, the long awaited "sequel" to one of Arnold's classic 80's actionfest movies has arrived. Predators was announced in late 2008 early 2009 and was produced by Robert Rodriguez, who has stated in many interviews that he plans on doing something new with this movie. I tried to keep up with production updates as much as possible and maintaining spoiler free as well-- despite there being a copy of the script released on the internet before the movie even started filming. I will write a brief review and also keep the spoilers out of it as much as possible for those that haven't had a chance to see the movie yet. I apologize if some of this does seem like revealing information, but I'm not really giving much of anything other than what has been revealed in the trailers.

Here we go...Adrien Brody, yes Adrien Brody the pianist, plays Royce as the ex-military badass that is seemingly placed in some distant jungle game preserve, and soon discovers that he is not alone when he meets 7 other unfortunate souls who have the same predicament as he. This movie gets straight to the point with guns blazing, F-bombs dropped, and one-liners delivered by all the cast. After Royce meets up with the others they all come to the conclusion that they are all "Predators" in one sense or the other--Soldiers in combat, Assassins on the hunt, or just really bad dudes in general. After a few minutes of dialogue and several hundred feet of their journey they discover that something, or someone is tracking them. Royce for some strange reason other than Brody being the main star becomes the impromptu leader of the squad and decides that they need to figure out where they are and what they're up against. Unfortunately for them that's not what really happens as slowly they start dropping one at a time. Sounds familiar right?? Well, yes the formula is pretty much the same as the originals, but they soon find out that they are not the first people to be hunted in this preserve and that there is in actually, several things hunting them. Another interesting fact that sets this apart from the original is that instead of the heroic Special Forces group in the first movie, we get a rag tag group of people that have been picked because of the acts of violence that they were committing at the time of their abduction. They are not good guys that's for sure.

I'm going to stop where I'm at with the movie description to prevent revealing much more, but generally the plot is not tough to figure out and after the first 30 minutes the action has picked up and there is really only one thing that can happen at the end of the movie. I'm going to start with what I liked about the movie and what I hated about it.

One thing that I really liked---straight to the point. The opening of the movie starts out with intense action with almost no time wasted setting up characters. They build up the characters as they progress through their journey in the preserve. Next, I'll say that I liked the cast...all of them. Strangely enough you don't associate Adrien Brody with action movies, but he pulled it off awesome. I know the 80s movies were full of testosterone, muscles, and mullets....but Brody pulled off the Special Forces badass just as good as Arnold did back in the day. Instead of muscles, he fought with his brains and that's how he ultimately prevailed throughout the movie. The rest of the awesome cast consisted of Danny Trejo, Topher Grace, former UFC star Oleg Taktarov, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, and a couple of no namers that were really just cannon fodder. I feel that they all did an excellent job (It's an action movie, not exactly Oscar caliber performances are required) and were believable in their roles. There is one other big name actor that makes a cameo, but I will withhold his name so not to spoil his appearance.

The Predators---excellent. They were the same, but different as well. There is an interaction later in the movie that describes everything we need to know about these new bad guys and how they're different from the past Predators. Of course they don't have any lines of dialogue, but once we get the action of the hunt rolling, they really shine as the Predators in the past movies.

The Soundtrack---AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, Alan Silvestri was not available to work on this score, but John Debney stood in for him and performed an awesome homage to the original soundtrack. It just sounded perfect and intense...just like the original!!! (I have some gripes, but I'll mention them again in a minute)

Nods to the original were left and right. I personally didn't have a problem with them, but from what I've been reading elsewhere other people feel they went a little overboard with them and should've just done a few things and went on with original stuff.

Stuff I didn't like.

I'm not entirely sure how to describe this, but I really had a hard time believing some of the character's reaction to the situation. I know they are supposed to be really tough and badass, but for some reason none of them were really shocked once they discovered where they were and what was happening to them. They were just like "Woah, this sucks. We need to keep moving to find a way out of here."

They also had a seemingly endless supply of ammunition. I know this is an action movie, but they seriously never ran out of bullets. They had multiple skirmishes throughout the movie, yet none of them had a shortage of lead to feed the bad guys.

The Predator confrontations. It just seemed that they would attack then let off without pursuit. They are supposed to be agile and quick when hunting, but after the puny humans put up a fight they give up and let them run away. And towards the end of the movie they don't seem to live up to the hype and intensity that has built up during the movie. I was expecting some serious badass coming and killing the humans, but not so much.

The Soundtrack!! I know I just boasted how great it was, and it is but at times it was a little out of place and felt like it was out of sync. Not a huge deal to complain about, but it's enough to take you out of the scene which is not what a soundtrack is intended for.

Nods to the original. Yes I liked them and chuckled inside when they did happen, but they could've done less of them. It felt like they were trying too hard to impress the fans of the original. There are two big scenes of the movie, which are confrontations with the Predators that are almost an exact ripoff of a scene from the original. Hmm....for the producer to continually state that he wanted to do something completely different from the original, I just don't see it.

Overall I still really enjoyed this movie very much and it certainly takes its place amongst the Predator universe, but of course nothing beats the classic. It is in the lines of a direct sequel to Predator than the not so popular Aliens Vs. Predator movies. In my opinion it comes in second only to the original, but just barely outdoes the second Predator movie.

Car Detailing Series

I've been blogging infrequently for a good portion of 2 years now. And I just realized that I have yet to do a write up of this particular passion in my life--- my car. I don't drive a fancy Porsche or Corvette, but I do drive a car that is incredibly fun and handy. My 2008 STI, my All Wheel Drive baby. Not only do I enjoy driving the car a lot, but I also have lots of fun cleaning it....strange right??? Nah...I'm one of those people that take pride in doing things myself. So, I'm going to post a series of instructions on how to properly maintain your vehicle whether it is a Civic or a Dodge Caravan.

The first post will be how I go about cleaning my wheels. Now not every car has fancy wheels, but a person should still take the time to properly clean them every once in a while. You can go to Wal-Mart or Advance Auto Parts to get your cleaning supplies, but here is my list of products that can be found at www.detailersdomain.com:

3M Adhesive Remover

P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel Formula

A couple of buckets (soap, water, and to sit on maybe)

A "Boars" hair brush

Various Sponges

P21S Polishing Soap (go light on the clear coat parts this is an abrasive)

Menzerna 85rd
Menzerna FMJ

Some random microfiber towels (for the buffing and drying of wheels)

Cleaning Procedure:

1. Here is what I did first sprayed them all down with P21S Wheel Cleaner Gel formula. I let them all soak in it while I was working on the first wheel.

2. Got the soap bucket and the boar's hair brush started the brush the dirt and grime off the wheel.

3. After that was done I used the 3m adhesive remover to get rid of the bug/tar/leftover brake dust/grime and adhesive from the weights.

4. Rinsed off the wheels with a sponge.

5. Dry them good.

6. Used the P21S Polishing Soap on the clean wheel to polish them up lips, inner
wheel, face of the wheel. (go light on the clear coated parts)

7. Rinsed them down again with a sponge.

8. Dried the wheel good.

9. Polished the lips with some polish that is good for clear coat (Menzerna 85rd)

10. Used the Menzerna FMJ to seal up the inner wheels, face of the wheel, and
lips.

11. Repeat on the rest of the wheels.

For me to complete the above procedure takes roughly 2 hours from start to finish. Not everyone has to do it this way, nor do they have to use this specific list of supplies. The guys from Detailersdomain posted this on IWSTI, and I've been doing it exactly the same for roughly 2 years now and the wheels always look pristine for a good couple of weeks. I wouldn't recommend doing this more than once every couple of months as you can just rinse with soapy water and use a rag and tooth brush in between the in-depth cleaning.

How Mixed Martial Arts Needs to Change its Scoring System

So I've been an avid Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fan for a couple of years now. This includes Pride, Strickforce, UFC, Bellatore, and any other mixed martial arts league. Sometimes, fights will end up going to a judge's decision. Whenever this happens....there is an outrage of how the judges blew the fight for the person that lost. It is in my personal opinion that this will happen no matter what. It's risk that fighters take when they let the fight end like this.

However, like any sport, there is room for error when it comes to the judges making their decision. While I don't have a problem with people voicing their opinions with what is wrong with the judging system, I DO have a problem when said person doesn't have a valid suggestion for fixing the system. Judging in sports is never an exact science, and since the judges are human of course there will be mistakes.

I believe introducing a scoring system that has several methods for grading what happens in the ring. Cory Schafer and Nelson Hamilton have proposed a new scoring system to the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) for their review, and hopefully approval. They named it "Mixed Martial Arts Specific Scoring," or MASS for short. This new system consists of four changes to the traditional 10 point system that is still being used.

Here is a quick overview that is published in this month's issue of "Ultimate MMA" magazine. There is also more in depth description here: www.mmarefs.com

Change Number 1:

All rounds will be scored as follows:

A. 10-10 =Even round

B. 10-9.4 = Marginal advantage

C. 10-9.0 = Clear advantage

D. 10-8.5 = Dominant advantage

E. 10-8.0 = Overwhelming advantage

Although scores of 10-7.5 and 10-7.0 are possible, if the fight gets scored as this a fight this one-sided is usually ended by referee's stoppage by TKO.

Change Number 2:

Scores are based on the following criteria, listed in descending order of importance.

1. Damage inflicted

2. Effective striking and/or effective grappling

3. Cage (Octagon) control

Change Number 3:

When the referee determines that a near submission is in effect, he will signal this to the judges by raising his arm overhead until there is a tap out or until the submission is terminated. When scoring, judges should consider a near submission as effective grappling, and quite possibly, damage inflicted.

Change Number 4:

For the purpose of resolving draws, in addition to the three judges coring each bout, there is a designated fourth judge, the Table Judge. Table judges do not score the bout. Their sole responsibility is to tabulate all technical scores. Technical score totals are used to resolve all draws.

While this new system is still open to speculation, I feel that the creators are on the right path to correcting the current means of scoring fights. There is nothing wrong with the judges that still use the current scoring system, but in my personal opinion the flaws reside in the actual system. The system was designed years ago before the sport had a chance to evolve into what we have today. As with any other sport or office policy, revisions are necessary over time to keep up with the times and changes in the sport.

Blackest Night Checklist

For anyone that is interested in obtaining the Blackest Night books in any format, here is the complete listing of every book and tie-in related to the Blackest Night.

Prelude to Blackest Night

Green Lantern (volume 4) #39-42 (May-July 2009)

Green Lantern Corps (volume 2) #33-38 (April-August 2009)

Titans #15 (July 2009)

Soloman Grundy #7 (November 2009)

Blackest Night

Blackest Night #0

Green Lantern volume 4, #43-52

Green Lantern Corps volume 2, #38-46

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3

Blackest Night: Batman #1-3

Blackest Night: Superman #1-3

Blackest Night: Titans #1-3

Adventure Comics volume 2, #4,5,7

Booster Gold volume 2, #26-27

The Doom Patrol volume 5, #4-5

Justice League of America volume 2 #39-40

The Outsiders volume 5 #24-25

R.E.B.E.L.S. volume 2, #10-11

Superman/ Batman #66-67

Teen Titans volume 3, #77-78

Blackest Night: Flash #1-3

Blackest Night: JSA #1-3

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1-3

The Atom & Hawkman #46

Catwoman #83

Phantom Stranger #42

The Power of Shazam! #48

The Question #37

Secret Six volume 3, #17-18

Starman #81

Suicide Squad #67

Weird Western Tales #71

Green Arrow / Black Canary #30

Collected editions

Blackest Night (#0-8)

Blackest Night: Green Lantern (Green Lantern 43-51)

Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps (39-45)

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps (1-3)

Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps:

Volume 1 (Batman, Superman, Titans 1-3)

Volume 2 (Wonder Woman, JSA, Flash 1-3)

Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns (Shazam 48, Catwoman 83, Suicide Squad 67, Question 37, Phantom Stranger 42, Weird Western Tales 71, Atom &Hawkman 46, Starman 81)

Blackest Night Recap

With this epic DC chapter reaching its climatic finish, I can't help but write about my thoughts on the story based on what's been released up until this point. I'll start with my recollection:

The end of the Sinestro Corps War is in its conclusion. The Guardians Ganthet and Sayd tell the prophecy of the "Blackest Night" to the Green Lanterns of Earth (Hal, Guy, Kyle, and John). According to this prophecy, the existing Corps will be joined by 4 new ones---each driven by different spectrums of the emotions, and each represented by their own color (naturally). This would eventually lead to "The War of Light" which will then lead to the destruction of the universe.

In Gotham City, Black Hand removes Bruce Wayne's skull from his grave, and recites the Black Lantern oath...following this, Black Hand's ring begins to glow and light begins to emit from the eyes of Bruce's skull. The Guardians of Oa observe the War of Light, and admit that Ganthet and Sayd have been correct, but before they can act they are attacked by Scar who swiftly kills one of the Guardians and imprisons the remaining.

Thousands of black rings smash into the Green Lantern Corps' crypt, and formerly deceased Green Lanterns emerge as Black Lanterns. While investigating Bruce Wayne's grave in Gotham City, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are attacked by Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Ronald Raymond ---who are now Black Lanterns.

Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are joined The Atom and members of the Indigo Tribe during the fight against the Black Lanterns. At this time it is shown that the Indigo Tribe has the ability to separate the Black Lanterns from their rings, allowing them to be destroyed. Indigo 1 reveals that the only way to defeat the Black Lanterns is to rally all 7 of the corps together and find the source of the Black Central Power Battery so that they can recreate the "white light of creation" to destroy the Black Lanterns.

Meanwhile, the Black Lanterns break into the Hall of Justice. The Indigo Tribe departs while taking Hal Jordan with them and leaving the remaining heroes to fend for themselves until the Lantern Corps can find and eliminate the Black Lantern's power source. More Black rings arrive and begin to revive the deceased villains whose bodies' have been kept in the Hall of Justice. The Atom and Mera escape to meet with the Justice Society of America. Flash leaves and plans to tell as many heroes as possible the information they have learned about the Black Lanterns as well as the plan to defeat them. Atom and Mera arrive to find the Justice Society fighting Black Lanterns of their fallen comrades. During the fight, Jean Loring attacks Damage from behind, ripping his heart out causing the Black Lantern battery to reach full power.

Flash arrives in Coast City, where Scar transports the Black Central Power Battery. Black Hand then summons Nekron...who emerges from the ground followed by Black rings reviving the residents of Coast City. The JLA, Titans, Flash, Bart Allen, and Wally West begin fighting the Black Lantern army. Bart Allen tells them that Dove has the ability to destroy Black Lanterns with her presence (emitting a bright, white light).

As Scar attacks Wally West, Hal Jordan arrives with members from the other Corps -- Sinestro, Larifleeze, Atrocitus, Carol Ferris, Saint Walker, Indigo 1, Ganthet, and Sayd. Following this, Bruce Wayne's corpse is reanimated as a Black Lantern in order to gain a connection with the heroes who have been resurrected from the dead. Nekron claims responsibility for many heroes being resurrected and he will expose the Guardians' greatest secret. Nekron then commands Black rings to seek and connect these resurrected heroes --> Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Kid Flash, Superboy, Barry Allen, and Hal Jordan.

To escape the Black rings, Barry Allen runs faster than time and time-travels with Hal Jordan 2 seconds into the future leaving the rings with no targets and causing them to deactivate. John Stewart then arrives to warn Hal Jordan that every Black Lantern in the universe is en route to Earth and that all 7 corps need to unite every member to create the white light necessary to defeat them.

While the other corps are being summoned, Ganthet temporarily duplicates the ring's respective power of the emotional spectrum to help defend against the Black Lanterns until the other corps' members arrive. Many heroes are "deputized" as corps members in relation to their personalities ---Barry Allen becomes a Blue Lantern (Hope), Mera a Red Lantern (Rage), Lex Luthor an Orange Lantern (Greed), Scarecrow a Yellow Lantern (Fear), Wonder Woman as a Star Sapphire (Love).

The Corps leaders and new members fight against Nekron and the Black Lanterns, but begin to loose their footing and are unable to stop him. Shortly after the remaining Corps' members arrive and engage the Black Lanterns in the fight. Dove attempts to destroy the Black Lantern Battery, but is stopped by a figure coming out of it. In the battle, Nekron slices the throat of one of the Guardians and Black Hand uses their blood to form a symbol on the ground. He then says "Trespassor, Rise" followed by a cocoon emerging from the ground holding a figure in white. Ganthet then states that it is the Entity, living light bestowed upon the universe that created existence itself.

Nekron then reveals that life did not originate on Oa, but on Earth and that the Guardians lied about this to hide the Entity and justify their authority. At this time, Sinestro is enraged at the Guardians for their lies and stabs Ganthet with his ring. Hal Jordan realizes that the Entity is like Parallax, a "vessel that needs a pilot" to guide it into battle. As Hal Jordan flies towards the Entity, but he is stopped by Sinestro who claims that Jordan had his chance, and failed, with Parallax. Sinestro then flies into the Entity demanding its power and rises in a being of light stating that he will be the greatest Lantern of all while the Entity says "Thaal Sinestro of Korugar, destiny awaits."

And that is where we are left at. Right now I'm so impressed with how this story has been written that I just don't know what else to say or expect from Johns. He has been interviewed many times and has said it quite a bit -- that he has done his homework and plans to tie this story in with the DC books of the past. He doesn't want to wipe out anything that has already been done, but only to add to it and continue with a great story. Blackest Night #8 is arriving on March 31, and collections of the entire saga have already been announced to start shipping this summer. It has also been announced that the Blackest Night will immediately be followed by Brightest Day and will be written by Geoff Johns in 2010.

Another Reason Why Game Reviews are Bullshit

As a life-long Science Fiction fan and lover of all monsters/creatures of this genre I usually get all kinds of excited when a great movie is closing on release. Its also no secret that I'm an avid video game junky so when we get a combination of pure Sci-Fi on a video game I always have an instant joyasm. Not for a long time have I played a Sci-Fi game and the last one I can recall off the top of my head is the critically acclaimed Dead Space, which is technically a Sci-Fi / Horror mutant. While playing this game I was in pure heaven....best of all my favorite genres.

Roughly around the time of late 2007 I read about a game that was being created that would be an EPIC level of awesome shit packed into one neat little package, and this game was titled "Colonial Marines." Taking place in the universe of James Cameron's masterpiece movies, this rumor was enough to make every Aliens/ Alien Vs. Predator fanboy do cartwheels in excitement. Well, I guess it wasn't enough for the developers to fully pledge their allegiance and Colonial Marines was put on the backburner for a bit. Rumors are still floating that this game is still going to be released.

This is not a total fail because this meant that they had something else in mind --- a new Alien Vs. Predator game. This is fantastic news!!! This will be on all the major machines...PC, Xbox 360, and the PS3 consoles. After what seemed to be an eternity (ie. One year) this game is finally coming home next week on February 16. But, there is much doubt because of one awfully bad review that was published in a magazine I shall not name. Thankfully, other reviews are finally starting to sprinkle out that are much better and proving that one review to be a fluke.

Here are a couple quotes from the questionable review:

“The human marine section (he is speaking of the campaign here) is set up like a survival horror FPS. There are a few good scares within these corridors, but after getting locked inside a room and having to fight off a horde of Xenomorphs for the 100th time, the repetition drowns the experience. It doesn't help that your flashlight is as useful at lighting up dark corners as a laser pointer.”

~~~I'm not sure what he was expecting, and I'd like him to find a game that doesn't have this.

“Curiously, Rebellion's 1999 PC release Aliens Vs. Predator, was well received, but this update captures none of that game's unique spark. Instead we have a title trying to live off the fumes of two dormant franchises.”

~~Again, based on this statement I doubt he ever played the original PC games because the developers stated that they are using the EXACT style of gameplay with a few tweaks and improvements here and there.

“The Aliens campaign plays like a combination of the other two. Like the Predator campaign, it has stealth focus, and like the Marine campaign, it sucks.”

~~~Ok, sooo he's complaining about the Stealth gameplay??? Has he ever seen the Predator movies?? Umm....the Alien's primary attacks in the movie are based on stealth and surprise attacks. This is what builds the suspense and elicits the scares in the movies. Its only natural that the game makers would want to emulate this in a game that is attempting to have the same atmospheric tension.

I'm also going to include the game trailer and hopefully it'll entice enough and get you peeps salivating in anticipation.

10 Best Video Game Soundtracks

I have had a lot of downtime lately while searching for a job. To occupy myself I have been playing lots of video games and working out. While sitting in my room last night I started to think about the awesome music that has graced our presence in the games that we play. More often than not we don't even focus on the music or realize how great it is until after the fact. Many games have soundtracks that set the mood and atmosphere that is responsible for the greatness of the stories that are told.

Unfortunately many of the composers of these extraordinary soundtracks go unnoticed because they aren't "Pop" music that gets played on the public radio stations. Well thanks to AOL Radio and other sites that broadcast music online there is a way to listen to many of these incredible scores without having to actually purchase them. Of course, I hope that after listening to some of these songs that you'll be interested in supporting these composers by purchasing the soundtrack or their specific releases.

To help people with suggestions, I will provide a top 10 list of MY favorite soundtracks to search for and give a listen to. After the list I will also provide some other notable soundtracks that are great as well, just not on my favorites' list.

10. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS

Orchestrated by Kow Otani, music was only used during the battles with each colossus and during the cut scenes. The rest of the game contained no music while the protagonist traveled the land searching for the next colossus. In 2005, Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded the soundtrack as soundtrack of the year.

9. SILENT HILL 2

The amazingly eery music for this soundtrack was composed by Akira Yamaoka. He is well known for his contributions for many of the Silent Hill soundtracks as he is the sound director and producer of the soundtracks for the entire game series.

8. CASTLEVANIA: LAMENT OF INNOCENCE

Michiru Yamane has become famous for her music in many of the Castlevania games, but according to ratings on AOL Radio, Lament of Innocence is the best in the series. This soundtrack has an eclectic mix of styles that range from dance beats to classical music, and is perfect for the spooky atmosphere of this Castlevania game.

7. HALO 2

The actual score was composed by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatore, but volume 1 of the soundtrack contains all new music written and performed by popular rock bands such as Breaking Benjamin and Incubus.

6. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER

Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, and Koji Kondo collaborated for this soundtrack. They used pan flutes and uilleann pipes in many of the songs throughout the score, and several of the songs are used again in Super Smash Brothers' Brawl. Several of the songs in the soundtrack are also influenced from past Zelda music and the fuse together quite nicely.

5. METAL GEAR SOLID 3: SNAKE EATER

How can this list be complete without MGS3?? This soundtrack consists of 2 discs and contains music from various artists. Harry Gregson Williams, Norihiko Hibino, Cynthia Harrell, TAPPY, and Starsailor collaborated on this OST for a mixture of orchestral, chorus, and techno beats. This soundtrack is an example of how atmospheric music can make a great game Excellent.

4. KINGDOM HEARTS 2

This one is a crowd pleaser. While the majority of this OST was composed by Yoko Shimomura, the main theme song, "Passion," was performed by Hikaru Utada. The music in the opening and closing of the game was performed by Kaoru Wada and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

3. DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 2

No, I'm not joking. This soundtrack is one of those rare oddities that you don't realize how great it is until well after the fact. This was composed by David Wise and Stephen Hurst, and has been well reviewed with raves for it's "majestic" and "serious" sounds.

2. MODERN WARFARE 2

I know, I know the game isn't even 6 months old. But my reason for this soundtrack being so high on my list -------- HANS ZIMMER. Infinity Ward pulled out all the cards for this game. Hans Zimmer has been making and producing soundtracks for movies forever. He's multi-talented and has won numerous Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Grammy Awards for his soundtracks. Many of his works are memorable for integrating electronic music with traditional orchestral arrangements.

1. FINAL FANTASY 7

Yes, I'm a fanboy. This game is the one that started it all for me. I'm ashamed to admit that this is the first Final Fantasy game that I ever played. After playing this game I got hooked and have played every one since. This OST spanned FOUR discs, and was the first in the game series to include a track with digitized vocals. Many Final Fantasy fans consider this soundtrack to be Nobuo Uematsu's greatest musical achievement.

~~~Notable mentions. Here's a small list of other game soundtracks that I find very great, and would definitely make the list if I did a top 20.

Metal Gear Solid 4

Shinobi (PS2)

Chrono Cross

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Little Big Planet

Halo 3: ODST

Final Fantasy 9

Chrono Cross