Friday, March 14, 2008

Medal of Honor: Frontline Soundtrack Review (Part 1 of 3)

Medal of Honor: Frontline (Part 1 of 3)

There comes a point in an artist’s life when they know they’ve put out a piece work that is probably one of their best works ever created. For Michael Giacchino, MOH: Frontline is probably it.

Before composing Frontline, he worked on two other scores from the WWII videogame series. Critics hailed both scores as being some of the best music ever produced for videogames. However, Giaccchino proved them wrong by making his third scoring project for the series one of the best score in movies or videogames period.

Using his the strong brassy John Williams style of scoring, he was able to build on themes from the first two games and add brand new themes into the mix as well. I mean Williams’s style has been felt since the first game, but it is strongly felt in Frontline. Saving Private Ryan is probably Giacchino’s strongest influence.

Giacchino took Frontline a step further by not only having a choir in his music, like MOH: Underground, but he made the choir an important part of the music tapestry of the overall score. Adding a young boy as one of the main soloists in the score is a stroke of brilliance that hasn’t been duplicated in videogames. It’s videogame music that rises above the background and takes a life of its own.

As I stated before, Giacchino doesn’t simply throw aside all of his former themes from earlier in the series, he actually improves upon them. We hear the themes return like old friends that were gone for a period of time.

End of Part 1

4 comments:

Blayde said...

If it's as good as you say it is, im gonna have to find myself a copy...

Semaj said...

I highly recommend this score for anyone just getting into movie/videogame scores.

I think it's one of the best scores ever to come out of the videogame market.

Yvonne Tran said...

I love this soundtrack (although I like the Allied Assault main theme better).

My faves are Operation Market Garden and Arnhem - the last one's so beautiful.

Michael Giacchino is a genius.

I look forward to the rest of your review!

Semaj said...

I really love Arnhem, and After the Drop. (I'll have my fave track in the 3rd post)

Plus, I'm really enjoying his new music for Lost this season.

 
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