And here's another one for you, delivered by Providence herself by the entirely legitimate means of the Official S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Facebook group - the complete downloadable soundtrack of Shadow of Chernobyl.

It includes the main menu theme and a variety of twisted ambient tracks strongly remniscent of a more.. diseased.. Fallout.

Twang is exactly it. Or more literally 'Bwaaaaaaaaang (ting, tang ting tong)', but I won't be so pedantic as to press the issue. Twang is the right word for the car song. And Dream Town is absolutely beautiful. You remember discovering Modoc to that music? I believe Modoc, the dying town, was the only place that played in F2.

Vats of Goo has an undeniable quality, but I have a softer spot for City of the Dead - it's an absolutely beautiful piece of horror ambience. Not pleasant to listen to, but powerful. I'm more interested in what music can do, than whether or not what it does is pleasant, I guess. Music is a toolbox used to work on the mood. Necropolis was made by that music... Damn, that town was way too small. Do you remember the Map image for it? It made me ache to explore the entire burnt out city...

Only a little bit, I'm afraid.  Let's have a listen while I read it again and see if it becomes clearer.

Ah, a quick bit of browsing found me this… No, I'll check it before I share the download. *taps fingers repeatedly while waiting for the download [Image Can Not Be Found]*

Well, blast. It's a fan-made rearrangement of the Thief Soundtrack, not the original. Seems like the DarkEngine buried its music deep and no-one ever managed to dig it out. However someone did get a hold of one of Eric Brosius' original discs and uploaded the full System Shock 2 Soundtrack! 😀

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SOO1EQJO – Enjoy. Command 2 is my personal favourite, from memory.

Well, back on the original topic, I think I'm starting to get what you mean. Brosius uses a lot of percussive 'noise' in his music, a very natural set of sounds, and that has a fair bit in common with some of Mark Morgan's techniques on the Fallout Soundtrack. I wouldn't say it's all that noticable or something I'd noticed as distinct myself, but I can at least say you're not completely insane, Pike 🙂

Fallout's is the very heart of Ambient Music. It's neither so simple and quiet as to be pure Ambience, nor rhythmic or forceful enough to be truly Music. It's both, balanced perfectly to provide something a little catchy, something that moves you – without moving you far enough to interfere with your enjoyment of the game.

STALKER follows the same path, although not quite so skilfully.

System Shock 2 doesn't go anywhere near this path, and instead has a techno disco interspersed with angry cocaine fuelled RAGEDISCO BATTLES! [Image Can Not Be Found]