Gaijin Games recently launched their BIT.TRIP LOVERS Game Music Bundle, a great deal where you can get all the BIT.TRIP soundtracks for dirt cheap. But hold on, what is this? If I fork over $10 or more, I get access to the soundtrack of BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien! How can I say no to that deal? I have been playing the game for a little while, so an excuse to listen to these awesome tracks is a welcome opportunity. 

The soundtrack features 17 songs. First off, we have the Runner2 theme, which plays on the title screen and in various variations in the menus. Just as in the BIT.TRIP soundtracks before it, Matt Harwood does an awesome job of changing up the arrangements so they fit the scope of a soundtrack. In case of the Runner2 theme, it is slightly longer than the one found in the game, and has a proper end.

The level tracks are, of course, the stars of the show, and the approach on these tunes is clear. The intros build to something cool, and let you a look at each level in a different way. If you listened to the example track Gaijin Games released early in development, you may already be familiar with the feeling I am describing. The other song from world one, "Cloud Titans," makes you feel as if you are prepping for a huge undertaking. This is the exact same thing I felt while playing the levels, so it's great to see it reflected in this way. The music flows similarly to the levels, but the changes in its undertones makes it click.

As soon as the music for Emerald Brine begins, I am already fully sold on the soundtrack. "Welcome to Brine Time" opens in a calm and relaxing manner, as a hard beat slowly kicks in. The music starts to transition, and finally ends up going all out. The elegant shifts between various parts made me bob my head, and I started getting in the zone. "Cetaceous Old Saw" follows, with soft and pleasant sea sounds, when all of a sudden a guitar comes in and turns it into a tropical party. "The Supernature" does something similar, starting with jungle noises and adding some mysterious sound effects. A piano starts playing and all the other instruments start to come into place. "Whetfahrt Cheesefunk" opens slightly quicker, then drops into some funky sounds as the true colors of the level kick in.

The music of the fourth world, Mounting Sadds, is quite different from the rest. The world contains much darker levels, and features a lot of industrial sounds. This is how the music in the song "Sadds" starts, but soon a darker undertone pulls through. Some notes are more uplifting, though, and at some point we get even a nice Runner theme. "Moldy Drops" is a bit more dubstep-y, with sounds that shift to a darker format. As the title may suggest, there are a few drops in there, so be ready to headbang. 

As we approach the music of the last world, we go back into much brighter sounds and find ourselves with a rocking tune in "BIT.TRIP." The song builds steadily, and brings a feeling of adventure. The final level song, "Re-Fusion," is much more playful, with later parts signaling that the end of the journey is approaching.

"Cloud Titans" and "BIT.TRIP" are the ones I keep on repeat, though all the tunes serve as fitting interpretations of the levels. The soundtrack also includes five retro-styled musical bits by Disasterpeace, made for the Famicom challenges in the game. They haven't been changed up, and are just 30 seconds long, but they work just as well on repeat. The final song that plays over the credits (roughly a minute long) doesn't seem like much, but it mixes different musical elements of all five worlds into a neat surprise. I wish it was longer, but it is a pretty neat little tune.

So there you have it, my thoughts on the soundtrack of BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien. I hope this has inspired you to check out the soundtrack for yourself and, of course, the game itself.