Eve Online is monolithic. It is huge in its complexity. It is one of those rare MMO's that has staying power in the face of games like WoW. Eve had always intrigued me, both in its play style and in its progressive nature, to let the players dictate the general atmosphere and path of the game and to turn PVP in to a capitalistic art form. So I gave it a try after hearing that the developer, CCP, was going to make players suffer the consequences of falling for a scam. And I lasted less then a week before being overwhelmed remembering that I dont like the non-active combat of MMO's. And a year later, once again, some new thing that happened in the word caught my eye so I tried again. And lasted about a week. Then, in this past year, I heard about one of the most major in game corporations was toppled through a clever act of in game sabotage. And CCP was going to allow this to continue.

"A game that has consequences," I thought for the third time. But this time, I was going to go in prepared. I was going to do research and figure out how to actually play the game. I decided this time to start doing research. So I browsed the wiki and instead of doing research, I looked at all the cool ship designs and imagined myself piloting them through an asteroid field while attacking pirates. Then I stumbled onto the soundtracks page. And I had an epiphany.



Eve Online might have the single best OST of all time. I love the music of the SMT: Persona series, I love the music of OutRun and Sonic, and there are many other games where the music always gets me. But Eve. Eve's music was different.



Eve's music consists of a unique genre. It is ambient, but the use of percussion and 1980's-esq droning synthesizers (like something out of Blade Runner or Alien) in conjunction with the theme of space exploration paints a vast soundscape. On Last.fm, I have seen the genre simply called "Space." How appropriate.



But Eve's music isn't just perfect for the game. Again, like Persona, it is listenable in real life. However, while the majority of Persona's soundtrack is good for a sunny day or music while driving, Eve is great for thinking. The songs are relaxing and so far, have gotten me through at least two rounds of finals. They are the perfect study music. Upbeat enough to keep you interested, but subtle and relaxing enough to not be distracting. Seriously, I don't know how I would have survived my finals if it had not been for the Eve Online OST.



So after the spring semester finals, I decided to be proactive. I found out one of my friends has been playing Eve for a while. We hung out, and he literally directed me through the opening tutorial, and further, directed me as to the proper way to level up skills. The gameplay still has a lot to go to grow on me personally, as I need to remember that it is not all about the space combat, but the fact that I know what Im doing, combined with my new found confidence that I will actually be of use to some corporation makes the game much more enjoyable. Having a mentor definitely helps as well, as he got me into a corporation with the expectation of me playing. I'm nearing the end of my free trial, and this time, I think I will stick with the game.



By and large, one of the highlights of being in the game is the contextual music. While exploring space, you end up with relaxing and slower paced songs, and as soon as you hit combat, in comes songs with distortion guitars and harder percussion, as well as more active synth work. It truly speaks to the writing of the music that whatever song is playing seems absolutely perfect for the situation. It was a bit of a wake up call when I first hit combat and heard a song that had been primarily associated with studying come in and kick up the pace while I was destroying some pirates in an initial training mission. Seriously, if you like ambient music at all, or you just want some tracks to chill out to, do yourself a favor, and check out Eve's music. As for me. I will be training my skills in game and trying to earn a legitimate missile boat.

Seriously, check out Eve's music, http://www.eveonline.com/download/music/