Preview: No Man's Sky's Infinite Soundtrack

The game that has been turning head since it was announced in 2014 is the action survival game that is set in an open universe, No Man's Sky. This game is also set to release in June of 2016 on PlayStation 4. When I say open universe, I mean that the is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets to explore. That's right over 18 quintillion different planets that has there own ecosystems, climate, animals, and topography. The game designers, Hello Games, didn't individually create each planet, but created a program that produces a procedurally generated universe. The program creates a planet then puts the according plant and wildlife on the planet that would fit the ecosystem and does that 18 quintillion times. Sean Murry, Hello Games Managing Director, was quoted on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert that even if a planet was discovered every minute we would all be dead before every planet would be discovered and personally that is an incredible and mind exploding thought.

The accompany and infinite universe, Hello Games hired a post-rock band named 65daysofstatic and Paul Weir. The idea behind the music in this game is 65daysofstatic would create melodies, loops, textures, and sounds and Paul Weir put these into a program that would randomly create a music to accompany the gameplay. On top of all that the music would also change in the game when approaching different terrains and whether the player is in high or low danger. The members 65daysofstatic was quoted by The Guardian saying that the idea that people could visit these planets that no one in the world has ever been to before and hear a version of the song that no one else will hear and we haven’t heard before, is so exciting.

Since the game is not released yet there are only a few samples of the music that No Man's Sky has to offer. There is a song that will be on the soundtrack that was released and 65daysofstatic played at a PlayStation Experience 2014 and gave the audience and example of what the soundtrack might sound like. So check those out if you are interested and I will update this again when the game is released. Thanks for reading and keep on jammin'. 

Banjo-Kazooie's Ever Changing Soundtrack 

It's June 29, 1998 and Rare, then Nintendo exclusive game designer, released their first 3D platform collectible hunting game for the Nintendo 64. The most comparable game that existed at the time would have been Super Mario 64. Banjo-Kazooie stars a duo of a bear named Banjo and a bird named Kazooie and their quest to free Banjo's sister, Tooty, from the evil clutches of the witch Gruntilda. Banjo and Kazooie have to hunt down puzzle pieces to create picture so they can slowly unlock the entrance to Gruntilda's castle and free his sister. Banjo-Kazooie was rated highyl by reviewers and still has a special place in gaming history, with it most recently being re-released on Xbox One of a collection of Rare games.

Banjo-Kazooie's soundtrack was revolutionary for the time because of depending on what you were doing in the level the music would change and the legend behind this idea was Grant Kirkhope. In an interview with Gamnesia, Kirkhope was quoted as saying that the developer wanted the music to be like that of the Lucas Arts Monkey Island series would the music would fade in and out depending on where you were in the game. Kirkhope started as a composer for Rare two years before did the Banjo-Kazooie music. Kirkhope has worked on such games like GoldenEye 007, Viva Pinata, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z and coming some Yooka-Laylee, a Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor. After Rare's purchase by Microsoft, he really wanted to expanded his horizons as a composer and left to be a composer for hire.

I will be talking about three song in this article and of the three, two of them have multiple versions that play a different places throughout the level. When these songs play throughout the level the only different is usually an instrument change and increased or decrease in speed. The song are "Treasure Trove Cove", "Mad Monster Masion" and "Final Battle Music." 

The level of Treasure Trove Cove is accompanied by the song of the same name. The level is beach and pirate themed and is completely surrounded by water. The music in the level is mainly island musical instruments like steel drum and bongos with xylophone, but as you travel around the area the music will change. When you enter water and start swimming the music is more subtle as if you actually dunked your head in water and listened to the music playing. As you approach a character named Capt. Blubber the music will change in the same music, but more flute and accordion than islander percussion instruments. The last evolution in the song is when approaching a giant crab named Nipper the music gets much faster and intense like most boss fights. This song and all of its variations are some of my favorite in the game.

The last level I will be talking about that has variation in it is the "Mad Monster Mansion." The song sounds just like a spooky haunted house music from Scooby-Doo complete with the organ, owl sounds and almost haunting moans. Much like Treasure Trove Cove, when you go under water in Mad Monster Mansion makes it more subtle and recreates in the water sound. The music also changed when you enter the haunted mansion, cemetery, and church. As before this is my second favorite songs.

The last song I will be talking about is the "Final Battle Music" and it doesn't have any variations. The main theme of that song is closely related to the song in the Wizard of Oz when there is the tornado. The similarities are even stronger because most of the fight Gruntilda flies around on her broom. The song also has song banjo music playing admits the epic music to signify Banjo fighting the evil.

I used to play this game all of the time when I was younger, but I sadly never 100% the game. The music was truly one of the funnest parts of the game that inspired of the intense moments that fuels the game. The soundtrack you can find on YouTube. Thanks for reading everyone and keep on jammin'.  

 

Far Cry Primal's Gritty and Natural Soundtrack

Set in the 10,000 BCE in central Europe, you control hunter Takkar of the Wenja tribe. As Takkar you must help your tribe survive in Ordos from rival tribes like the Udam and the Izila and from the animal because humans were not at the top of the food chain. The gameplay is FPS like the other games in the series, but there isn't any modern weapons in the game only weapons that can be crafted from things found in the environment like clubs, spears, bows, and rocks shaped into knives. Far Cry Primal was released by Ubisoft on February 23 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and on March 1 on PC.

The game designers of Primal really wanted the entire experience of the game to be authentic to a time so they hired composer Jason Graves to make them a soundtrack. In an interview by Ubiblog with Jason he was quoted as saying that Primal was a different experience in every way for all of the other games that he has composed for. Graves has worked on all of the Dead Space series, Tomb Raider (2013), Until Dawn and many more. 

To truly capture the feeling of the setting of the game, all of the instruments that Graves used on the soundtrack were out of materials that existed at the time period of the game. Some of the instruments that he used were bamboo, clay pots, dirt, gravel, plants, stones of various sizes, stone flutes, horns made out of horns and a special instrument called the Aztec Death Whistle. Graves wanted to make sure that none of the instruments was non-metal and natural. 

I will talking about three songs that show the variance in the music that Grave created for the game. The song are "Heart of Ordos", "Survival of the Udam", and "Wadijam Izila." 

The "Heart of Ordos" is the main theme for your Wenja village. This song doesn't have as much percussion as the other song and has some stone flute and horn sounds which adds a feeling a of comfort because it is your base of operation in the game. Graves was quoted as saying about the song that its supposed to remind the tribe the idea of ancestry and those who have passed. 

The next song, "Survival Of The Udam," is based on the tribe of the same name Udam. The Udam tribe is the game as very large fierce fighters that are painted with red war paint. The song goes along with the description of the tribe. The music is very guttural, slow and very brooding. There are also some simple male grunting sounds. The song is also very simple when I comes to the natural instruments because the tribe was stronger more than they were creative.

The last song "Wadijam Izila" is for the Izila tribe. This tribe has a strong religious like worship of the fire and sun. They cover themselves in blue paint and like to use more ranged weapons than the Udam because they are not as hulking as the Udam. The Izila tribe relies on spears, bows and there own creation of firebombs. Graves made the music in this song very fast and softer to represent the idea of these fast footed warriors and spread through the song is the use of the Aztec Death Whistle. The Death Whistle when used can create a sound that close to that of a human screaming and the instrument is shaped like a skull to add effect. Those screams add a feeling of fear into the music and that is one of the weapons that the Izila use because they can not meet straight head on in a fight. 

Primal's soundtrack truly shows that fantastic musicians and composers can create music even with the simplest of instruments and Jason Graves knocked it out of the park. I enjoyed this song even more because it came with the deluxe version of the game. This soundtrack opened my eyes into Jason's career as I discovered that he made the soundtrack to some of my favorite games. If you want to check out the soundtrack you can listen to the whole thing on YouTube or buy it on iTunes or Amazon as well. Thanks for reading everyone and keep on jammin'.

Fez's Multidimensional Soundtrack

Fez is an adorable indie puzzle platform game that will switches between 2D and 3D perspective in order to maneuver around the environment. The main character, Gomez, must travel around the world and collect golden cubes and cube fragments to restore order in the universe. The game has risen to critical acclaim from many different video game news outlets and has been ported to a variety of systems including PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and 4. 

Fez's soundtrack was created by Richard Vreeland otherwise known as Disasterpeace. Disasterpeace used soft synth pads and reverb for the soundtrack to create a 80's synth vibe. He would also use bit-crushing and tap warping effect on the music to create the idea of space and time breaking during the gameplay. Disasterpeace was quoted by Kotaku saying he worked on this game at night for 13 to 14 months. After this Disasterpeace would go on to compose other games like The Floor Is Jelly and Hyper Light Drifter and the horror movie It Follows.

Fez's soundtrack much like other great video game original soundtracks are based on being super cinematic and react to players movements and location. The music on this soundtrack is very atmospheric and well fits the game vast environments and incredible artwork. I will be talking about two songs that truly show the level of atmosphere and feeling the soundtrack can make people feel. The songs are "Adventure" and "Glitch."

"Adventure" is the first song you will hear when you start into the game and it is this cheer little tune that fits how the game opens to this colorful, bright and quirky game. As you 2D platform around as Gomez in his world this music will accompany you. This song perfectly goes with the idea of not necessarily standing out in the moment as this great song, but works as a whole with what is happening on the screen to create a cinematic moment.

"Glitch" is the perfect example of what I mention previously about a song that has been distorted on purpose to invigorate the idea of time and space breaking down all around you when you are playing. This sounds in this song just sound off in slight ways, seems like parts are missing and like it skips like a vinyl record. It can sound slightly creepy and make you uneasy at times when it moves when cheery calm music to skipping and off sounding music.

I have supported Disasterpeace's music since this game came out and am excited to hear what he did for his next soundtrack for Hyper Light Drifter. If you really love the sound of synth you can find the soundtrack either on YouTube or buy it from his BandCamp page as well. 

Pokemon Red & Blue's 20 Year Old Soundtrack Still Rocks

Pokemon Red and Green were released in Japan on February 27, 1996 and September 28, 1998 in the US. Pokemon is a Role-Playing Game (RPG) in which a player will capture Pokemon and use them to fight to earn gym badges and become the region champion. The game was published by Nintendo and was available on the Game Boy. These games in 2004 would under go a remake for the Game Boy Advanced and as of today is available for the 3DS Virtual Console in its original form. I will be taking about the soundtrack from the original game not the remake.

The man responsible for the soundtrack of this game and all of the other Pokemon games is Junichi Masuda. Masuda has also directed 10 out of the 25 main series Pokemon games. He has been working for the Pokemon's game developer Game Freak since the beginning.  Throughout the companies rise he also has moved up to now be on Game Freak's board of director and is one of few employees that approves or rejects Pokemon designs. Masuda said with an interview with Game Radar that most of his Pokemon music was inspired by classical musicians like Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich and Gustav Holst. You can hear in the soundtrack the small classical sound to big orchestration pieces. I will be talking about some of the most memorable songs in this game, but because of its RPG nature the songs are short because when they play in game they will repeat because that is how the song is designed.

The first thing you notice when you turn on your Game Boy is Game Freak's logo and then the music starts and you see two Pokemon battling on the screen and its "The Opening Theme." The Pokemon, Gengar and Nidorino or Jigglypuff depending on the game version Red or Blue, are trading blows and the music builds as Nidorino or Jigglypuff goes in for a damaging attack. Right as the music finishes swelling and goes into the main theme the screen changes into the title screen. The music that plays before the title screen during the battle is intense and changes to triumphant on the title screen.

The next themes that I will talking about are all the different battle themes that exist in the game. The reason these songs are all together is because these songs all start the same. The battle theme that you will hear the most will be the "Vs Wild Pokemon Theme." This song will be play every time you run into a wild Pokemon in the tall grass. The next theme will play when you run into a fellow Pokemon trainer, 'Vs Trainer Theme." The last two battle themes I will mention are "Vs Gym Leader" and "Vs Last Battle Rival." These themes as I listed them go from least intense music to the extremely intense music of the final rival battle in the game, which is the toughest battle available in the game. All of these themes also share similar music ideas through them as well as how they start.

The last theme that I will be talking about is second most theme that you will hear throughout the game, the "Pokemon Center Theme." A Pokemon Center for those you who haven't played are places throughout the game that can heal your Pokemon to full health and revive them if they have fainted. The song is very sweet and almost nursery like music. This theme is the most memorable for me because I would constantly be here in the game because this healing was free.

Masuda has not repeated any of the battle themes throughout all of the Pokemon games and he wants to make them all feel special and distinct. This was one of the first series that I really feel in love with when I was younger and I still have affection for it today and with the next generation of Pokemon announced we can be sure that Masuda has a soundtrack ready to amaze. The original soundtrack is hard to buy but you can listen to it on YouTube or buy the remake version of it on iTunes. Thanks for ready everyone and keep rocking.

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon's Neon Oozing Music

Blood Dragon's teaser trailer was released on April Fool's Day to the internet's confusion. People debated if it was real, until the publisher Ubisoft confirmed its authenticity two weeks after the trailer. Blood Dragon is an expansion of Ubisoft's game Far Cry 3, but has a completely different design and story. Blood Dragon pays homage to 80's action movies by having over the top characters with cheesy one liners, a retro-futuristic world and neon colors everywhere. The game is a First Person Shooter (FPS) in an open world environment. The games was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The plot of the game can be described as stop the bad guy, get the girl, and save the world and the protagonist name is Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt. Dean Evans, Far Cry developer, was quoted saying to GameInformer that the overall attitude for the project was shock and awe.

The musicians that Evans reached out to do the soundtrack was Power Glove. Power Glove is an Australian band that is under the genres electronic and synthwave. Synth music was the best choice for this game because synth music was heavily used in 80's movies. Evan said that the soundtrack was the first completed part the the game. Power Glove would send Evan songs during development and the songs would be exactly what they asked for. Evans said about Power Glove is that one of those glorious things about working with people who are into the same thing is they instantly click and get it.

I have a personal love for 80's action movies and how cheesy and over the top they are the soundtrack for the game is perfect. I will be talking about a few of the songs that make up the soundtrack. 

The first of these songs will be discussing is the theme to the game called "Blood Dragon Theme." This theme is actually what you would expect to hear when the title of an 80's action movies comes on the screen. The song is heroic, upbeat and fast paced. The song has layers for beats on beats with some electric guitar in the background between building up beats. 

The next song is title "Sloan." Sloan is the name of the bad guy in the game so this his theme.  This song plays then the player gets their first close introduction to the antagonist. This tone of the song is dark and evil with low toned sounds. There are fewer layers in this song and the song is more reminiscent of a 80's horror movie with mystery in the sound. 

The last song that I will be talking about is "Resurrection." This song plays in the final confrontation in the game after Rex is injured, but overcomes his wounds to fight. The song starts very quiet and simple, but then leaps into a repetitive beat that makes the player feel powerful because the beat doesn't stop throughout the rest of the song even as more and more layers. This is one of my favorite songs because of how layers just keep compiling and compiling. 

This soundtrack is on my short list of video game soundtracks that I listen to and it is definitely worth. This game was one of my favorites for just running with a theme and sticking to there guns and the soundtrack drastically helps. If you want to listen to the entire soundtrack you can find it here on YouTube or purchase you can it on iTunes or Amazon if you really like it. With a rumored sequel on the way, why not pick it up. Thanks for readying everyone until next time keep jamming. 

Undertale: A Soundtrack With "Determination"

Might be minor spoilers in here, Warned

Undertale is the most recent critically acclaimed indie game that the internet and myself have been obsessing over still even after its September 15, 2015 release. Undertale was created, written, designed and composed by Toby Fox with additional artwork done by Temmie Chang. The gameplay of Undertale is similar to two of Fox's favorite games Super Mario RPG and The Mother series. These games are all RPGs, if you didn't get that already, and Undertale is designed to look like these games did on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Undertale is the story of a human child who falls into the underground world of monsters where the child has to make a choice on how proceed through the underground. Undertale is so beloved because of its story and characters and how they interact and how the game changes up on how gamers traditionally play RPGs, which it was why it got the attention it deserves.

The most powerful aspect that Undertale that uses to enhance the gameplay is the soundtrack. Undertale has over 101 total songs on the soundtrack and each song was created by Fox. Each song on the soundtrack has a specific place that it was played in the game and in those moments you can feel joy, sadness, silliness, victorious, or fearful. The video game/pop culture site Kotaku named Undertale one of the best soundtracks of 2015. Since there are 101 songs, I will be covering a few that are mine and fan favorites.  

The first song that I will be talking about is titled "Bonetrousle." "Bonetrousle" plays in the boss fight of one of my favorite characters Papyrus. Papyrus is a skeleton who lives in the underground with his brother Sans. Papyrus is the goofy, flamboyant and very kind and all he wants to catch you so he can be promoted to Royal Guard. "Bonetrousle" has a very serious beat at first, but the rest of the song is bouncy and silly, much like Papyrus himself. An interview with Fox on website The Existential Gamer quoted Fox saying that "Bonetrousle" was composed before Undertale, but was absorbed into it because it fit so well.

The second song I will talk about is simply titled "Dummy!". This song the boss theme to a boss fight were you fight a possessed dummy call Mad Dummy. The music has a strong sound to the 1920's-1930's jazz swing sound to it. This song isn't just a song designed to loop over itself when over it is a true complete song which is slightly different than most of the songs on the soundtrack because most are about a minute song that can be looped forever and still sound great.

The last song I will be talking about is my favorite one on the soundtrack and it is "MEGALOVANIA." This song will play when you fight Sans, the brother of Papyrus. Sans is the complete opposite of papyrus, he lazy, likes making bad puns and can be eerily serious at times. This boss fight is the toughest in the game and the soundtrack shows that. The song has hyper rock music playing to keep the player on his toes because this part needs complete concentration. Fox, like "Bonetrousle", had created this song before Undertale, but unlike "Bonetrousle" he had used it in other places before. He used it in a game hack he made of EarthBound call "The Halloween Hack" and the game "Homestuck." 

Fox's soundtrack for Undertale has left its mark on the internet because if you search YouTube for a specific song will find that song covered in various styles ranging from metal to jazz. If you are interested in purchasing the soundtrack you can by it from bandcamp. 

Thanks for ready everyone, and if you have any suggestions put them in the comments below! Have a rocking day!