Action Adventure Archives - The Greatest Game Music

Aquaria Soundtrack – Review

Aquaria Soundtrack, Alec Holowka / Ian Holowka, 2007

By 2009, the indie game resurgence had already begun to make its mark on the gaming market at large. However, indie games’ impact on game music took longer to materialise. Existing digital distribution channels like iTunes and other online music stores didn’t cater to these often tiny projects. In this environment, the release of the Aquaria soundtrack was a watershed moment for Western indie game music. At the time, a 2CD album release for a Western indie game soundtrack was unheard of. Publisher Infinite Ammo’s courage was duly rewarded. Like the game, the Aquaria soundtrack met with an enthusiastic response from critics and gamers alike.

One thing that helped the Aquaria soundtrack break through is that the game placed music front and centre. It all starts with the ‘verse’, a twelve-note melody that the game’s developer and composer Alec Holowka came up with. Using the verse theme throughout the soundtrack, Holowka realised it was actually well suited to become a major plot point and gameplay mechanic.

[Read more…]

Blast Corps Soundtrack – Review

Blast Corps Soundtrack, Graeme Norgate, 1997

Developer Rare arguably rose to fame and world-wide success with its Donkey Kong Country trilogy. However, it’s usually the Nintendo 64 era that is considered Rare’s golden age – no surprise, as the company seemed incapable of not churning out classic after classic for a while. That winning streak began with Blast Corps, released just in time for the console’s launch in Europe. The title was based on an idea by Rare founder Chris Stamper, who for years had wanted to make a game about destroying building – simple as that. Beginning production in 1996, a team of just four developers (sometimes expanded to seven) fitted a gameplay concept around this idea: a nuclear missile carrier was out of control and steamrolling ahead on autopilot. The player controls an array of sometimes bizarre vehicles (including a giant one-armed robot with a rolling attack) to clear the way.

The result was met with almost universal acclaim. Blast Corps was a beautifully idiosyncratic game, combining puzzle, racing and all-out-action elements into a wholly original package. Sales – around one million copies – ended up lower than the development team had expected. However, Blast Corps remains one of the most fondly remembered N64 games, thanks to its flawless level design and tough-as-nails yet always fair difficulty curve.

[Read more…]

Erik the Viking Soundtrack – Review

Erik the Viking Soundtrack, Neil Baldwin, 1992

It’s a shame that Neil Baldwin wrote his two best NES soundtracks for games that in the end were shelved. At least game music fans discovered Hero Quest‘s excellent score once the game’s developer released the ROM online. On the other hand, Baldwin’s second cancelled project Erik the Viking was pretty much unknown. That is, until Baldwin posted the soundtrack on his website Duty Cycle Generator.

Action adventures like Erik the Viking require a fair amount of world building, and in this undertaking, the music has to pull its weight too. As such, the Erik the Viking soundtrack required Baldwin to create a more varied and larger score than what he had previously written on the NES. He rises to the challenge quite formidably, as Erik the Viking pushes Baldwin’s music into previously unexplored territory.

[Read more…]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Soundtrack – Review

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Soundtrack, Jeremy Soule, 2002

The Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets soundtrack is easily the best of Jeremy Soule‘s five scores for the franchise. It also benefits from a better album presentation than Soule’s other Harry Potter soundtracks. Only eight minutes of notable material are missing from the album release, which thankfully excises a lot of ruminative underscore. In fact, Chamber of Secrets is Soule’s most satisfying fantasy soundtrack. Yes, that’s a big claim to make, considering his work on franchises like The Elder Scrolls and Guild Wars. But Chamber of Secrets achieves a consistency of quality that Soule’s more bloated scores don’t accomplish. He doubtlessly deserved his 2004 win of the BAFTA Games Award for Best Original Music for Chamber of Secrets.

Soule’s designation as “the John Williams of game music” has always had more to do with hyperbole and facile comparisons than with actual musical parallels. For example, Soule seems almost entirely disinterested in the elaborate thematic structures that shape so many of Williams’ works. However, there’s no denying that at his best, Soule is able to create a lavish orchestral sound broadly reminiscent of John Williams’ works in the science fiction and fantasy genre.

[Read more…]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Soundtrack – Review

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Soundtrack, James Hannigan, 2009

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix turned to be industry veteran James Hannigan’s breakthrough work – a delectably luscious orchestral game score that topped Jeremy Soule’s previous contributions to the franchise and could proudly sit aside John Williams and Patrick Doyle’s Harry Potter soundtracks. It’s no surprise then that Hannigan’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack doesn’t change the winning formula. Hannigan’s follow up work is as riveting as Order of the Phoenix, but it does introduce a few noteworthy changes.

The most important thing first: Half-Blood Prince once again features near-symphonic depth in its orchestrations and counterpoint. And of course, once more its melodies are gorgeous, full-bodied creations. Like Order of the Phoenix, it’s a work that sits very near the top of orchestral game soundtracks. The most significant difference between Half-Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix is a greater sense of scope and scale. Outside of its roaring battle cues, Order of the Phoenix mostly pivoted between light-hearted mischievousness and hushed nocturnal wonder. The Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack tips the balance in favour of a sweeping sensation of adventure.

[Read more…]