VGCulture - Centipede Infestation Music

Nintendo Page - Centipede: Infestation
Atari Page - Centipede: Infestation
Source: Youtube Channel atari

After completing all the levels possible in New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS, I was left with no games to play on my new portable system.  I have purchased 4 games online and am patiently waiting for them to arrive in the mail.  So this past weekend, I decided to buy a game for a cheap price to hold me over until my games come in.  I decided to buy Centipede: Infestation as the classic game was one I liked playing at the arcades and it looked like an interesting arena shooter.  I have heard little about the game and comments about the game were mostly negative.  Still, I gave it a try and played it this weekend.  The art style for the story is cartoonish, which is fine by me; however, the in-game graphics were muddy, uninteresting, and frustrating.  The 3D really worked at some points where some of the flying enemies really felt like they popped out of the screen.  The voice acting is pretty bad in that it didn't match the reactions shown in the images.  The gameplay is drawn out and mostly boring with some special cases where some levels and boss battles were genuinely challenging and fair.  Still, I didn't have much hope for the game.  After playing up to a certain level, I started to notice the music.  It sounded like dubstep, yet it had some other elements within it that made it sound unique.  After a few more levels, I decided to plug in my 3DS XL to a plugged in speaker and plug in my nice headphones to get the music as loud and powerful as possible.  What I heard blew my mind.

The music isn't exactly memorable, but it was nice to listen to.  There is a mixture of dubstep, electronica, ethereal trance, and drum 'n bass yet the style sounded so familiar.  I looked it up and sure enough, the music was composed and produced by Jake Kaufman.  Wayforward Technologies have worked with Jake Kaufman in the past and I have heard his work enough to recognize his style a bit.  I have made mention of Mr. Kaufman in the past and I am surprised once more by his work on Centipede: Infestation.  The music is powerful, exciting, and something I can really listen to outside of the game.  I wish I could find some sort of example to share, but the game has been largely ignored by the industry and community alike with only a few gameplay videos and no soundtrack to download from anywhere.  The game doesn't even have a score on Metacritic.  Honestly, the music is too good for the game, but it's currently a redeeming factor that has persuaded me to at least finish the game.  Some of the music can be heard from the gameplay videos, but it doesn't really do it justice as the music is quite low and the sfx are quite loud.  It's a real shame that the music cannot be shared and spread to the gaming community.  It really deserves some attention.