Originally published at Music4Games.net
Petroglyph Studios recently released Universe At War for SEGA. If you’re not familiar with Petroglyph, the studio is made up of former Westwood employees who brought us the brilliant Command & Conquer games in the past. Petroglyph is also home to another notable ex-Westwood employee, one Frank Klepacki who brought us so many memorable tunes from the C&C franchise. Even those who don’t know his name, know his works (or have at least heard “Hell March,”) without even playing the games. Universe at War is definitely a return to those roots, with wicked guitar riffs and crunchy chords, synthetic bumps and abrasions, smothered in spacy pads and ethereal choirs; the music will definitely transcend the game for which it was designed. You should download them now.
http://universeatwar.filefront.com/file/;85202
Seriously. Go download the soundtrack right now and see if I’m not lying here.
http://universeatwar.filefront.com/file/;85202
End of review.
Ok, for those who haven’t been convinced properly to download the soundtrack yet or even for those who are in fact listening along right now, I’ll expand.
Petroglyph Studios recently released Universe At War for SEGA. If you’re not familiar with Petroglyph, the studio is made up of former Westwood employees who brought us the brilliant Command & Conquer games in the past. Petroglyph is also home to another notable ex-Westwood employee, one Frank Klepacki who brought us so many memorable tunes from the C&C franchise. Even those who don’t know his name, know his works (or have at least heard “Hell March,”) without even playing the games. Universe at War is definitely a return to those roots, with wicked guitar riffs and crunchy chords, synthetic bumps and abrasions, smothered in spacy pads and ethereal choirs; the music will definitely transcend the game for which it was designed. You should download them now.
http://universeatwar.filefront.com/file/;85202
Seriously. Go download the soundtrack right now and see if I’m not lying here.
http://universeatwar.filefront.com/file/;85202
End of review.
Ok, for those who haven’t been convinced properly to download the soundtrack yet or even for those who are in fact listening along right now, I’ll expand.
Frank Klepacki.
The guy deserves his own paragraph. I have always been fascinated by the one man audio projects…Trent Reznor, Stevie Wonder. Frank’s job is a different one in many aspects, but he’s all the same a wizard at what he does. Frank had the task of creating three different, yet cohesive, scores for each of the factions in Universe at War: the evil Hierarchy invaders, the high tech manifestations of Novus, and the questionable omnipotence of the Masari. Not only did he create a dozen tracks for each faction, but he also designed the sound fx for the units and produced the dialog. This creates a special cohesiveness and awareness that some games with multiple audio team members may not always achieve. You could argue that it may also enable a very narrow scope seeing as it came from only one guy. I say as long as you got the right guy with a flexible mind you’re alright.
The Hierarchy is my favorite of the three faction’s scores. This bias is mainly blamed on the unabashed return of “the rock”. Some freaking sweet guitar tracks were produced here and really drive the Hierarchy tracks forward. It’s about time really, and certainly fans have been long clamoring to hear something akin to Klepacki’s work on the C&C franchise, that pulsing mix of rock, electronica, and some funky beats here and there. Rest assured, it’s a real return to form here but much more refined, and even mature. This feels like Frank unfettered, at home with the music that pumps him up to raid an enemy base, stomp on a few battalions with a Habitat Walker, and generally blow shit up. My favorite tracks from Hierarchy are of course the mood setting “Damage King”, the wicked tension created in the dual guitars of “Anticipating”, and again featuring some awesome, dual guitar harmonies in the pulse-pounding, razor-synthed “Prepare for Oblivion”.
Novus music is definitely a lot more synth heavy. Klepacki isn’t one to rely on static cues for too long before they change into something here, add a little something there. There is some guitar, but it’s definitely mixed in light as the role of an accompanying instrument. For Novus particularly, I don’t know if he just get’s bored with a particular set of bars and has to mix it up after every phrase, but the sonic paths he chooses every 8 bars keeps things fresh and no doubt leads to a lot of fun experimentation that will make it into the final mix. This really helps a lot of what could be very static synth loops into quite dynamic and articulate pieces of gameplay. Favorite tracks here are definitely the frantic synth lines of “Modern Design”, the funky glitch instrument in “Electrode”, and a very powerful presence found in “Resources”.
The Masari tracks are a fantastic addition to the fray. The Masari are an ancient race arisen from the sea to save us all from the warring Novus and Hierarchy. The music is a fine contrast, relying on more orchestral techniques and choirs. Actually, Masari maintains a great organic quality that the others don’t, and probably shouldn’t have, fitting right in with the theme of the faction and their part in the story. A must listen is “Divine Intervention”, which is just an amazing song filled with majesty and power. It was nominated for Best Original Vocal – Choral track by the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) and in my opinion should have won. Easily one of the best tracks of the year on probably one of my new favorite soundtracks of all time.
The guy deserves his own paragraph. I have always been fascinated by the one man audio projects…Trent Reznor, Stevie Wonder. Frank’s job is a different one in many aspects, but he’s all the same a wizard at what he does. Frank had the task of creating three different, yet cohesive, scores for each of the factions in Universe at War: the evil Hierarchy invaders, the high tech manifestations of Novus, and the questionable omnipotence of the Masari. Not only did he create a dozen tracks for each faction, but he also designed the sound fx for the units and produced the dialog. This creates a special cohesiveness and awareness that some games with multiple audio team members may not always achieve. You could argue that it may also enable a very narrow scope seeing as it came from only one guy. I say as long as you got the right guy with a flexible mind you’re alright.
The Hierarchy is my favorite of the three faction’s scores. This bias is mainly blamed on the unabashed return of “the rock”. Some freaking sweet guitar tracks were produced here and really drive the Hierarchy tracks forward. It’s about time really, and certainly fans have been long clamoring to hear something akin to Klepacki’s work on the C&C franchise, that pulsing mix of rock, electronica, and some funky beats here and there. Rest assured, it’s a real return to form here but much more refined, and even mature. This feels like Frank unfettered, at home with the music that pumps him up to raid an enemy base, stomp on a few battalions with a Habitat Walker, and generally blow shit up. My favorite tracks from Hierarchy are of course the mood setting “Damage King”, the wicked tension created in the dual guitars of “Anticipating”, and again featuring some awesome, dual guitar harmonies in the pulse-pounding, razor-synthed “Prepare for Oblivion”.
Novus music is definitely a lot more synth heavy. Klepacki isn’t one to rely on static cues for too long before they change into something here, add a little something there. There is some guitar, but it’s definitely mixed in light as the role of an accompanying instrument. For Novus particularly, I don’t know if he just get’s bored with a particular set of bars and has to mix it up after every phrase, but the sonic paths he chooses every 8 bars keeps things fresh and no doubt leads to a lot of fun experimentation that will make it into the final mix. This really helps a lot of what could be very static synth loops into quite dynamic and articulate pieces of gameplay. Favorite tracks here are definitely the frantic synth lines of “Modern Design”, the funky glitch instrument in “Electrode”, and a very powerful presence found in “Resources”.
The Masari tracks are a fantastic addition to the fray. The Masari are an ancient race arisen from the sea to save us all from the warring Novus and Hierarchy. The music is a fine contrast, relying on more orchestral techniques and choirs. Actually, Masari maintains a great organic quality that the others don’t, and probably shouldn’t have, fitting right in with the theme of the faction and their part in the story. A must listen is “Divine Intervention”, which is just an amazing song filled with majesty and power. It was nominated for Best Original Vocal – Choral track by the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) and in my opinion should have won. Easily one of the best tracks of the year on probably one of my new favorite soundtracks of all time.
I’m scrambling to find harsh criticism, but I’m not sure why. There are minor things here and there that I question, but they’re questions that can be easily answered, and nothing off-putting. At first I was going to go off on Frank Klepacki’s drums. See, Frank is a drummer, a very good drummer. In fact, he may consider himself a drummer first although he can shred some wicked riffs out of that guitar. Some of the drum lines are a bit low key and I simply expected so much more from a drummer. After playing the game a bit more, I think if the drums were any more articulate there would be some sonic confusion. Whether this feature was intentional or it simply evolved, it shows how much you can trust Frank to crank, and when to just keep it steady for gameplay’s sake. That being said, I would have loved some drum solos for some Hierarchy tracks…maybe I’m asking for too much.
There’s a lot to sum up here. You should have already downloaded the soundtrack by now and you’ll be making your own opinions soon. Or just go with mine, that’s ok with me. I read another review that mentioned how they were tired of rock soundtracks for sci-fi games and that just made my stomach turn. If anything, there isn’t enough original, non-licensed rock in games these days, let alone sci-fi games (which usually feature orchestral or electronica). Believe me…I like, work for a company that is all about game soundtracks, you may have heard of it. Furthermore, the UAW soundtrack isn’t just about rock, and anyone who played through the game or at least downloaded the tracks would realize that. C&C fans will definitely be eating this up, and there is definitely some homage quality going on here. To me, this is Franks groove, he knows it and he loves it. He’s just sharing the love and there’s nothing wrong with that.