Archives

One of the bigger complaints about Mass Effect 3’s endings was the lack of diversity between your three given choices (implied consequences aside). BioWare not only addressed this issue with the Extended Cut DLC, but also in its accompanying soundtrack which, like the EC, has been provided for free. Composer Sam Hulick, who contributed to… Read More »

Kasumi’s Stolen Memory consists of just four new tracks, and none are extremely impressive. I commend BioWare for being thorough enough to include new music for their Mass Effect 2 DLCs, however, and there are a couple of interesting pieces here. The first two sound far too similar, and they’re somewhat typical action/combat tracks at… Read More »

I’m not sure why Mass Effect’s music hasn’t been as lauded as it deserves. Perhaps it’s because other elements of the game are more immediately interesting (or controversial). I have another idea, however, that at least pertains to the battle music: combat is simply too intense. I don’t remember hearing much music during Mass Effect… Read More »

Editor’s Note: This album was released as two “digital discs,” and as such we have preserved the original tracklisting from the publisher. As games have become a billion-dollar industry, many are concerned that video game soundtracks will come to resemble movie soundtracks too much, destroying the unique “sound” of the game industry. Indeed, mainstream titles… Read More »

The Overlord DLC introduces four new pieces of music to the already large list of Mass Effect music. One might wish for more, but not when it’s this disappointingly bland. There’s not a single track in the Mass Effect trilogy that I would turn off per se, but the difference between the best and the… Read More »

The Atmospheric bonus album collects some of the less immediately noticeable and recognizable music from Mass Effect 2. Some of the tracks here employ segments or themes from well known ME pieces, but they’re not backdrops for major plot developments or thrilling action sequences. For most listeners, they’ll never graduate beyond the role of background… Read More »

The Symphonic series of performances and albums are already a well-beloved staple of live video game music arrangements. Those who have had the pleasure of attending the perfomances have had nothing but praise for both the performance and the arrangements. Symphonic Fantasies, in particular, was a fantastic recording of a fantastic performance by talented performers.… Read More »

Naoshi Mizuta has become one of Square Enix’s most prominent musicians in recent years, thanks in large part to his work on Final Fantasy XI. The game’s alienating nature as an online entry in the long-running franchise extends to its soundtrack, a collection of memorable compositions that are criminally overlooked. Though the Star Onions have… Read More »

Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom is a game that pleasantly surprised me. Sure, some people might snicker and refer to the game as “hock a loogie” or something like that, but they’re just mindless haters who never even played the game and probably should. Anyway, my sonic experience with the game was certainly not… Read More »

Skyborn is a steampunk-fantasy RPG by Dancing Dragon games, and although one would expect a steampunk soundtrack to be filled with percussive industrial sounds like gears grinding or smokestacks puffing, Skyborn defies those expectations with a primarily classical-inspired soundtrack, albeit with a few subtle nods to modernism. When you’re playing a good quality SNES-inspired JRPG,… Read More »

There’s been a lot of interest in LIVE A LIVE, at least among Square Enix’s current music (and music marketing) team. Almost all of the “SQ” arrange albums feature a track off of LIVE A LIVE, and there are two tracks from the game featured on the fantastic Shimomura orchestra album drammatica. One cannot help… Read More »

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was a pretty big deal for Square Enix. In many ways, it fixed the problems of XIII and made the game a whole lot more fun. This may have come as a surprise for some people. But, for me, the biggest surprise was its soundtrack: less serious than XIII, but still an… Read More »

What would be “Falcom Vocal Collection 7” (if I had my way and life were always consistent) is the latest, and in many ways the most consistently good, of the VOCAL series. Of course, it wouldn’t really be collection 7, since each of the VOCAL albums dips from the VCs 1 through 4. Let’s take… Read More »

I guess Falcom didn’t feel right continuing their Vocal Collections that they published in the ’90s with King Records. That four-volume set is lovely in its own right. But instead of naming his album “Falcom Vocal Collection 5,” they just restarted and simplified the album title to simply “VOCAL.” And guess what? It’s awesome. As… Read More »

On VOCAL 2, Falcom samples the best of “old Falcom” and “new Falcom.” Representing the new Falcom, we have almost exclusively the work of vocalist Kanako Kotera. Her voice is brilliant, and she represents the Sora no Kiseki trilogy as something of the series’ vocal mascot. She has four tracks on this album: “Dive into… Read More »

For some, it may be an unholy marriage, but in my mind, this game (and its soundtrack) come from a match made in heaven among developers. Atelier Elkrone is one of many side-story spin-off games in the Atelier series, but this one is different in that it’s a visual novel. Not only that, it’s an… Read More »

Just a quick revisit here. I listened to the Atelier Totori soundtrack before the game had even come to the US. Yeah, I’m just that hip. Importers unite, yada yada, etc etc. In that review, I expressed my extreme pleasure with Kazuki Yanagawa, who was learning not only to fit the paradigm laid by Ken… Read More »

The last game in the Arland trilogy, and the 13th main title in the series, Atelier Meruru packs in more music than any previous Atelier game. Proof positive: the soundtrack is three discs. The total time for the three discs combined is 3 hours and 30 minutes. That’s a lot of music. The soundtrack is… Read More »

Perfectly condensed. The full import OST for Atelier Meruru consisted of three discs. The first disc was the first five tracks of this disc (all the vocals), and then various karaoke/instrumental versions of each. Disc two had most of the “standard” OST. Disc three had some special tracks, including arrangements of themes from previous Atelier… Read More »

This is it, the Atelier that changed it all. At least, musically. Up to this point, Tsuchiya-san (who eventually went on to become a senior producer with Gust) was the lead composer. And he had not one, but two Kobayashis as his musical henchmen. It was with Atelier Viorate that both Ken Nakagawa and Daisuke… Read More »

This Atelier Meruru bonus soundtrack just makes me angry. Why not include this on the full OST? I mean, I get it. Bonus item for the people who bought the limited edition. Spiffy artbook, bonus music CD. But why is the bonus music entirely a full grade better than the rest of the soundtrack? I’m… Read More »

Mass Effect is a series near and dear to my heart, and a big part of that comes from the fantastic music that a large number of exceptionally talented composers have created for it. Memorable character themes collide with Blade Runner-esque sci-fi soundscapes, and what emerges has been some of the best space RPG music… Read More »

I don’t envy Russell Brower or any of the team that worked on the soundtrack for Diablo III. Following up on Matt Uelmen‘s legendary work on the first two titles in the series, in particular the iconic Tristram theme, can’t have been an easy task. Fortunately, Brower and co. have managed to craft a follow-up… Read More »

It’s so good, it makes me angry. No, not the jealous kind of anger. Though there is some jealousy in there too. This is the kind of anger that comes from being wrong—from when you thought there wasn’t much room for improvement, but clearly there was. Piano Opera Final Fantasy I/II/III was a much-needed addition… Read More »

The soundtrack to Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance is one of the biggest surprises I’ve had so far this year. Not because it’s good — I expected that much. What surprises me most about this album is instead how fresh and different it sounds while still retaining the essence of the series. Yoko Shimomura, Tsuyoshi… Read More »