Videogame music

Game Music, Indie Music, Reviews

Rodina OST (Review)

March 24, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Rodina OST (Review) Share this Rodina OST (Review)

An indie game that seeks to capture the joy and excitement of exploring deep space? Okay, consider me interested. Rodina is an indie project created by Brendan Anthony, the founder and sole member of indie developer Elliptic. This science fiction game takes place in a procedurally generated world that allows you to seamlessly travel from one planet to the next. Players can travel through space, engage in space battles, discover planets, land on the planets, and explore them outside of the ship. While the game is still in a sort of early access or alpha state, it has the core concepts and gameplay well presented. Think of it as a project similar to Minecraft. Starting off small, but continuing to be built and improved with the support of a dedicated player base. That at least seems to be the hope of the developer.

While Brendan Anthony is programing and adding to this game as a solo gig, there is one other contributor to this game. This would be composer John Robert Matz, who has written an original score for Rodina. Matz has had previous experience on game soundtracks. You may recognize him for his collaborative work on the Gunpoint OST, an album which we recently reviewed here on OSV. He certainly has his work cut out for him in this ambitious game title. Does he manage to pull it off? Read on to find out. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Super Mario 3D World OST (Review)

March 21, 2014 | Richard McDonald | 3 Comments Share this Super Mario 3D World OST (Review)

Ever since Super Mario Galaxy, Mario music has really pushed the frontier of what game music can be at its best. In my mind, the music from Super Mario Galaxy was on par, no, better than most film music! Mahito Yokota composed a distinctive soundtrack that expertly enhanced the gameplay, while at the same time perfectly working as music in its own right. Super Mario Galaxy 2 continued this tradition and The Legend of Zelda – Skyward Sword is possibly the best game soundtrack ever composed. So; when I sat down to listen to Super Mario 3D World, it was with the expectation of another beautifully performed, expertly recorded and wonderfully composed soundtrack that I have come to expect from Yokota. And to an extent, I was not disappointed.

However, when I started listening to the music, I was initially disappointed. I can tell that the track list follows the appearance of the in-game music, and as a result, the first 2 tracks are short, simple and not very inspiring. The music really gets going with “Super Bell Hill,” track 3, with what will be the main theme of the game, and sets the Big Band/Jazz/Electronic style of the music that is a slight departure from the fully orchestral Super Mario Galaxy. I’m not too sure about the main theme myself. It’s rehashed endlessly throughout the game, and I feel it’s not strong enough to warrant the level of attention it gets. However, the track is pleasant and upbeat, and it is nice to listen to. “Cave” is a cool remix of the “Underground Theme” from the original Super Mario Bros game and I love it when the live brass comes in at the drop, 0:51. (more…)
Chip Music, Featured, Indie Music, Reviews

The Glory Days (Review)

February 24, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on The Glory Days (Review) Share this The Glory Days (Review)

With the help of Kickstarter, another chiptune album has been brought into existence. Most people probably know Jimmy Hinson (a.k.a Big Giant Circles) and his music from games like Mass Effect 2 and Call of Duty Black Ops 2. It might surprise some people that in addition to the game music he writes, he also composes chiptunes. This latest album, The Glory Days, is a new collection of original pieces written by Hinson. The Glory Days was funded through a very successful Kickstarter campaign that far exceeded its original goal. Not only did the Kickstarter hit the goal of $5,000, but every single stretch goal was met as well. The Kickstarter receiving over $60,000 in pledges, allowing Big Giant Circles to hire several remixers and fellow game composers to help construct an extra remix album for release at a later date.

The Glory Days is a sequel to Hinson’s first album of original music, Impostor Nostalgia. This original album was a collection of music written by Hinson and featured several music remixers and composers. The concept behind Impostor Nostalgia was that while the music mimicked the sound and energy of chiptunes from older videogames, the music itself was original work that was never featured in any game, past or present. It was a cool experiment and generated some excellent new tunes. This time around, Hinson is flying solo with this sequel album, The Glory Days. Like the first album, this one aims to celebrate the sound of older game tunes while enhancing it with modern synth and electronic sounds that weren’t available years ago. Does Big Giant Circles pull this off on this second solo album? Read more to find out. (more…)
Game Music, Indie Music

Threes OST by Big Giant Circles is now available!

February 10, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | 1 Comment Share this

Jimmy “Big Giant Circles” Hinson has released his soundtrack to Threes!, the hit iOS puzzle game. The album contains the original track,”Threes is the Bees Knees,” from the game, an alternate and unused version of the same track, and an extra unused piece that he wrote for the project. It’s a small set of music, but definitely a must have if you’re a fan of the game. To sweeten the deal, the soundtrack is currently available with a pay-what-you-want price tag. Not a bad deal for a 3 track album. If you enjoy the game’s music or enjoy some light and soothing jazz tunes, check out the album on the Big Giant Circles Bandcamp page.
Game Music, Indie Music, Reviews

Legend of Dungeon OST (Review)

February 10, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | Comments Off on Legend of Dungeon OST (Review) Share this Legend of Dungeon OST (Review)

In continuing our coverage of some of the notable soundtracks from 2013, we are taking a look at some of the indie soundtracks that slipped under the radar. There was one that caught my eye fairly early this past year. The game Legend of Dungeon is another indie title that started from a successful Kickstarter. Developed by Robot Loves Kitty, a team comprised of Alix Stolzer and Calvin Goble, the game is a rouge-like dungeon brawler that can be played by up to four players in local co-op. The gameplay is fairly straight forward. Like many rouge-likes, you explore a randomly generated set of dungeon floors which become increasingly difficult as you progress. Your actions are limited to jumping and using a selected item from your inventory. You pick up experience, currency, and items as you delve deeper into the depths of the dungeon. For this project they brought on composer David Dirig to help create an appropriate atmosphere for Legend of Dungeon.

What really grabbed my attention with this game was the way the music was handled. Much like the dungeon setup, the music is different every time you play. It’s more complex than having a random track that plays every time you start up. Each time the game is reset, a new set of instrument tracks are chosen. In other words, a different collection of looping instrument patterns are randomly selected and combined to create a new piece each time you start a game. For example you may have a game session where the music consists of a piano track, a synthesizer track, and a bass track which play in sync with each other. To take it a step further, each instrument responds according to your proximity to items, objects, and enemies in the game. This use of dynamic music (music that responds directly to the player’s actions) helps create a relatively new experience every time you play. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Desktop Dungeons OST (Review)

January 24, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | 7 Comments Share this Desktop Dungeons OST (Review)

As we continue into the new year, we at OSV have decided to take a look back at some of the albums that we missed from 2013. Starting today, we will be covering some of the albums we missed in addition to newer content. The first of these is the soundtrack to the indie title Desktop Dungeons. The game is a tactical dungeon crawler that focuses on exploring randomly generated maps, in rounds that take around 10 minutes to complete. The dungeon gameplay has complex tactical elements, but also works like a puzzle. Primarily, you have to figure out ways to maximize the efficiency of your abilities and limited resources in order to make it through the dungeon alive. It started out as a freeware game but received further development and was eventually released on Steam last year. Our two composers for this soundtrack are Danny Baranowsky and Grant Kirkhope. Now for anyone who is an avid videogame music lover, that may be all you need to hear in order to be sold on this album. Grant Kirkhope is the well known composer of games including Banjo-Kazoie, Goldeneye 64, and more recently Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Danny Baranowsky, another equally talented composer, has written for games include Super Meat Boy, Canabalt, and The Binding of Isaac.

It’s always interesting to see what happens when multiple composers come together on a single project. Both Kirkhope and Baranowsky have their own unique styles of music writing, so I was curious to see how their music would contrast against one another. Would they try to blend their styles of writing into a consistent whole or would they intentionally use their contrasting styles to create more variety in the game score? The soundtrack features pieces that are individually written by the composers and a fair number of pieces that they collaborate on. If you’re familiar with either composer, you’ll be able to pick out elements of their music writing in this album. You can hear Kirkhope’s catchy melody writing, much in the vein of his Banjo-Kazoie music, and Baranowsky’s driving rhythms and unique melody writing style can also be heard throughout the album. (more…)