Music can make or break a game for me. I’m the type of gamer who MUST have the music on, even if I’m playing an MMORPG in a zone I’ve been to a thousand times. When I walk in on people playing games with the music off, I become flabbergasted and spluttery. Gaming without music is inconceivable to me, and perhaps is a clue as to why I’m so keen on games like Guitar Hero and Rockband that are entirely based around the music.

My most recent reminder of my weird obsession with good game (and movie) music came a couple weeks ago when I was playing an early build of the new Prince of Persia (which will be in stores this week). During every momentous story transition, I was swept up by the kind of epic, classical-style music that gets high school orchestra nerds all hot and bothered. I wasn’t an orchestra nerd in high school, but I have been playing classical piano since I was 4, so that kind of epic stuff is right up my alley. Some of my favorite composers of this kind are Jeremy Soule (Baldur’s Gate II, Morrowind, Oblivion, etc.), Jason Hayes (many of the World of Warcraft tracks), John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc), James Horner (Braveheart), and Joe Hisaishi (Princess Mononoke). The new Prince of Persia has some tracks that would make any of those composers proud. And since I’m raving about their work, I should mention that PoP’s soundtrack was composed by Inon Zur and Stuart Chatwood, dudes/gals I’ve never heard of but who apparently have some legitimate talent.

Classical, orchestral music isn’t the only kind of music I like to game to, of course, and my excitement over PoP’s tracks got me to thinking about my other favorite game soundtracks. It would be impossible to mention ALL the game music I’ve gotten excited about in the past, so to keep things simple, I came up with 10 of my all-time game music favorites. I’ve intentionally left out the Guitar Hero or Rockband set lists because those deserve a separate discussion entirely (for the record, my favorite is still the original in Guitar Hero 1). The 10 I have listed here are soundtracks (or main tracks) that are the best at enhancing the game play experience and overall immersion.

• Okami: Traditional Japanese style crossed with adventure music.
• Katamari Damacy: Jazzy Spacey Japanese Supersonic Awesome!!!
• Final Fantasy VII: Both epic and memorable. The Aeris theme still haunts me.
• World of Warcraft: The most ambient soundtrack on this list, but better than any other at creating rad atmosphere without getting on your nerves when you hear it for the 8,346th time. Nevermind that some of the stuff is kind of Enyaish. Everyone is in the mood for Enya every once in a while, whether or not you are willing to admit it.
• Braid: I only played this game for 10 minutes before desperately searching the net for the soundtrack. It’s full of traditional celtic themes that suit the game perfectly.
• any of the GTA car radio song lists: full of great songs and the format makes for a more interactively fun and immersive gaming experience.
• the main Halo theme: I’m in love with the main, intro track more than the rest of the Halo soundtrack combined, but that one track is legendary enough to warrant a spot on this list.
• Elder Scrolls theme in both Morrowind and Oblivion: Again, I’m mostly a fan of the main theme, not as much about the entire soundtracks, but the main theme sets the tone. I listen to this when I need an extra boost of motivation.
• Lumines: a funky, jazzy, electronica-esque soundtrack that is so essential to the game it’s easy to imagine that the music might somehow be tied to the puzzle mechanic.
• Bioshock: I might look back on this later and decide that it’s a random addition, but that 40’s and 50’s style music in that underwater dystopic setting successfully creeped me the heck out.

There are plenty of reasons to play the new Prince of Persia, like the smoothest platformer gameplay I’ve played in years, not to mention the unbelievable graphics and art style which, if I get started on, I’ll get all Okami-style-cel-shaded-watercolor fangirl about. But if you’re a fan of good in-game music, check out the new PoP to see why I might end up putting it’s soundtrack on that Top 10 list someday.  Prince of Persia is out this week (in stores by Thursday), but in the meantime, chime in on the forums and tell me which in-game music is YOUR favorite.