I remember getting Sonic and the Black Knight two years ago at Christmas, and having the violins playing as I clicked on start was just incredible. I didn't realize it then, but I was listening to, what could possibly be, some of the best music I will ever have listened to ever. Although it didn't start with Sonic and the Black Knight, I hardly paid attention to the music in that game until recently. It wasn't until I had a dream about a beautiful piece of music, so much so I couldn't remember a single note, all I could remember was Sonic, and lights, lots and lots of coloured lights. I then looked up songs from Sonic Unleashed, learned about Crush 40, and there it was, some awesome music. Since I'm here, I'm going to tell you about the music from the Sonic games, but only the vocals. I'll also keep to explaining the game play and such as low as possible.

Oh, and this CONTAINS SPOILERS. The spoilers are light, but if you haven't played the Sonic games up to Sonic Colours, and care about the story line in a way, then read with caution. I will score these vocals based on how good they are to listen to their own, and how they are with the game play. So without further ado, lets look at the main songs from the Sonic games.

Sonic Adventure, Sega DreamCast:
This game was decent, with slippery controls and glitchy layouts, and what could be the start of an obnoxious hedgehog, it captured the hearts of Sonic fans, even if it had fishing in. And some fans say E-102 gamma slowed down the game play, which is odd, considering fishing is a skill that requires patients (Big the Cat! Fishing! What sonic game has fishing?!?). The game had six different character, with each their own ending. I was disappointed when I saw E-102 gamma's ending, only to be brought to a close with his theme. This killed the mood entirely, I didn't feel that his death was bad, where as if there was some sweet and sad music instead of his theme, then the ending credits would have a more powerful effect, but I digress. The music is awesome. The main theme Open Your Heart by Crush 40. You hear it at the title screen and at the very last boss, Perfect Chaos. The song tells the story of Perfect Chaos rising with the negative power of the Chaos Emeralds, and how your stopping him, which makes the perfect mood for an epic final boss. The song on it's own to listen to is also great. 8/10

Sonic Adventure 2, Sega DreamCast:
Oh boy, now this is a Sonic game. It took everything that made the first one great and perfectly tuned and perfected it, they also too everything that didn't work (i.e. fishing), and just threw it away. I regard this as one of the finest Sonic games to exist to date, even if the  final ending was corny and cliche. This featured several vocals that were mainly themes of all the Characters. Songs such as "I am the Eggman" and stuff matched the character almost perfectly, even if some of those songs are awful to my ear (any song from the Knuckles stages, but that's my option). However, there are two songs by Crush 40 in this game that stand out. The first is Escape from the City, played on the first level, which matches the scene well, but it also gives a secret message. This is really saying "see the country side, explore new places, etc." There are a lot of these messages in their songs, as we will see later. The other song, is Live and Learn when you fight the BioLizard, my favorite song of all time.
This some is epic. No, it's more than epic. Somehow, no matter how many times you listen to it, it still has that rockin' beat that never gets old, and I mean never. I've listened to it over 100 times, and it's still as awesome as ever. Top that with an epic boss, epic game play for that boss, and have everyone root for you and speak over the music....it just creates an amazing mood. "Escape from the City" and "live and Learn" are both great songs on their own, with the latter a great piece to cover any boss fight. 9.5/10

Shadow the Hedgehog, Nintendo GameCube:
Ok, this might not be a Sonic game where you play as Sonic, but Crush 40 made some songs here and I thought what the hell. I have never played the game, and I was told not to, with the aspect of Shadow having a gun - although the idea was awesome - the game was executed poorly. This too had quiet a few vocals, but I want to look at the main ones. First we have the title screen "I Am all of Me", a dark song with some R&B aspect to it. Although there wasn't much of the R&B in it (thankfully), to me it ruined the mood it created, but quickly regaining it's glory with the chorus. Then there is "Never Turn Back". Having watched my brother play the final boss, the Doom guy, and having killed him, the song plays. Tthis song starts with some very sweet piano music, then revving it up to some hard rock. I suppose the songs was meant to speak about Shadows personality, which worked with the most part of it. They are also not bad to listen to on their own. 7.9/10

Sonic Heroes, Nintendo GameCube:
Again, I never played this game, only watched my brother play it, so I can't talk about the game play or controls. I had no interest in this game, really. The title screen music (Sonic Heroes) is decent, but not the best song by Crush 40. It's when you fight the Metal Overlord that the theme "What I'm Made Of", that you should look forward to. Seeing this music play as the final boss was on created a mood that literally said "Let me show you what I'm made of! You won't get away with this!" which is always a good mood for a final boss. 8.4/10

Sonic Unleashed, Nintendo Wii:
Now here we go, this is where it all started for me. Although it doesn't have any vocals from Crush 40, it does have some awesome music in. Although the day stages were nice, reverting from 2D to 3D, in which both were going back to old roots and gave it some epicness, the night stages were a bit of a drag, but at least the controls for both times were fluid. The first song you hear is an instrumental version of "Endless Possibilities" as you fight Perfect Dark Gaia, which creates a nice mood, just not the right mood, if you understand that. Then, as you defeat him, and the last cut-scene happens, the credits roll and the vocal version of "Endless Possibilities", by Bowling for Soup, plays. And might I just say, I could not stop listening to this when I first heard it. To me, it was like the best song ever (until I heard Live and Learn). I remember playing the credits over and over to listen to it. The message is simple: Explore places, go to different countries, etc. Much like "Escape from the City", in fact. The lyrics are a little cliche to say the least, and it's because of that I feel it's a guilty pleasure when listening to this, but it really is a great song.
The next song that plays in the credits is "My Dear Friend" by Brent Cash, which is a sweet slow song that goes well with the fact Chip, having made friends with Sonic, had to leave him (giving only a ring as he leaves) to sleep for 1 million years or something like that. I have no problem with this song, apart from it might have been more effective to have played this song in the credits first, then Endless Possibilities, but hey, they are both great songs, so who can complain?

Sonic and the Black Knight, Nintendo Wii:
This song might not have had the best game play (with the gimmick of Sonic wielding a sword), and it kinda defined what Sonic was, but if there is one reason to play this game, then it's the music, and then seeing Shadow as Sir Lancelot (which overjoyed me, it truly did) Plenty of songs done by Crush 40 here, and great ones at that. The title screen music "Knight of the Wind" was a real upbeat tune that got you into wanting to hack and slash through every evil creature that was in your way. Not sure what the lyrics are meant to mean, but I like them. Then there's "Through the Fire", which goes well with he situation in hand, "Fight the Knight", which again, goes well with the situation in hand,  and "With Me", when you fight the final boss, some queen of the underworld or something like that. "With Me" was created by Emma Gelotte & Tinna Karlsdotter, but the game ad a cover by Crush 40. This song created the correct mood to be in when fighting the boss, which is spoiled slightly by the sword speaking, but it's no big deal. The song gives you the feeling that it has to end, this must stop, which makes an awesome boss battle, and a somewhat moving environment.
Then there is "Live Life" by Crush 40, played when you defeat the very last boss. A very touching soft rock song that gives a very powerful message: Live Life, as the songs title suggests. This is better than "Endless Possibilities". I swear, I almost get motivated to do something when I listen to this song. It is a masterpiece. This game had very impressive vocals, and is very consistent with them, and for that reason, I'm giving it a score higher than Sonic Adventure 2: 9.7/10

Sonic Colours, Nintendo Wii:
Keeping back to classic game play with speedy levels and an odd gimmick, the game play is decent. Yet, the music isn't what i expected. It's ok. "Reach for the Stars", the opening screen music, was disappointing and weak compared to other songs. At first, I thought that Crush 40 ran out of musical geniuses, until I found out that Crush 40 didn't make this. It was by Cash Cash, same as the credits music "Speak with your Heart" (another disappointment to me, and somewhat weaker). At first, I thought it was considered a gaming sin to not have a Crush 40 song in a Sonic game, until I found out that Sonic Unleashed didn't have one either, and that had great songs in it. This however, is not bad, but I feel could be a lot better. 6/10

Conclusion:
Songs from the Sonic games have touched my heart in many ways. The epicness they offer outside the games is just incredible. I really just play the Sonic games now just for the music, and hope for something amazing. I hope that Crush 40 will make a masterpiece better than "Live and Learn" and "Live Life" put together. It might not happen, but a man can dream, a man can dream....

Haha. I know exactly what you mean. I love the music in the new generation Sonic games. I loved Open your Heart and a lot of songs from Sonic Adventure 2 so much that I looked up lyrics They are epic. Exactly what you can only wish for in a game.

I love the Sonic HEroes theme and a few songs in Sonic Colors.

The Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog theme songs were my favorite.

Allow me to copy something I used in one of my reviews as it sums up my opinions of the audio in these games...

"The key thing with the audio is that, like many games following similar tones, is that it is bright. Just like all video games with generally bright sound tracks, it follows the same advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is mainly that it gets the player into an almost adventurous mood, but the disadvantage is tolerance. This is applied to both the music and sound effects."


Albeit this isn't as true in some games, but that is the general tendency I noticed...the audio can be so bright at times it can be too bright for its own good.

Redrunelord : And in what way do you find them to be too bright with? The lyrics? The style of music?

Darkpower508 : A bit of both...I always found for video games lyrics can be distracting, but that is just me. I think it is more to do with the overall tone of the instruments. Depending on the game in question, it isn't necessarily bad but...not quite to my preferences. I will confess a love of Sonic and Knuckles 3' soundtrack but that is more subjective there.

Redrunelord : Ah, I see where your coming from. I do agree that some of the best music in video games are just the instruments (Megaman, Castlevania etc.), which wouldn't do to have vocals in. But I find that the lyrics somehow add something to the intensity of the game play, but maybe that's just me as well. To be honest, I'm not sure many other games could pull of the same thing so well.