Mass Effect 2 Review.

Mass Effect 2 Description:

• Amazon Sales Rank: #556 in Digital Music Album
• Released on: 2010-01-19
• Running time: 6943 seconds

Customer Reviews:

Mass Effect 2 gets a serious score…
In movies, TV, and games there are basically a few types of music. You get incidental music, which is exactly that, tends to be based around a singular focal point. Ambient music, which is oft to repeat. Or, conversely you get a full orchestral score that spins its own story (and you can implicitly understand what’s happening from listening to the music alone).

Mass Effect, the original had the first two types, Mass Effect 2 has the latter. If you compare the two works, you’ll notice that the pieces are much shorter in the first version, more for ambiance, and prone to repeat. I am assuming the runaway success of ME1 caused them to rethink their musical choices for ME2, and as a result, the accompanying score is much more like what one would get see from a Hollywood motion picture — fuller music, more complete pieces, and a better workout of the orchestra in a true musical sense.

As of writing this ME2 isn’t out yet, so I can’t say how the pieces are used w/in the product itself, however judging by the quality of music, Bioware demanded a much greater attention to detail and quality for the sequel. I can’t say I’m familiar with Jack Wall, except that he did fine work on the prior release. Jumping from 1-2 minute ambient pieces, to 9 minute pieces such as “Thane” is not an easy task and requires profound talent on the part of the composer. Classical musical composition of an entire score, within context, is not an easy task… Which is why there are only a very small handful of composers employed by Hollywood for their motion pictures, the skill set is very demanding.

If you like “video game music”, i.e. shorter clipped pieces (similar to ME1, or the pieces in Dragon Age), this soundtrack will come across quite differently. These really are entirely self contained pieces, with a beginning, and an end, and no intent to fade or loop. This much more closely resembles the score to something much bigger, closer to traditional classical pieces with grand scale.

The album itself is loud, as one would expect from a Sci-Fi, suspense, action score. As a result you aren’t going to get the mellow ambient work found in most of the ME1 score (similar to the corridor music on the Normandy from ME1). The dynamic range is very good, goes from quiet to very intense, and it will shift quickly.

The mix of instruments appears mostly string/electronic. Horns are also present, but high string intensity seems to be the norm. There is also significant diversity among each piece. For example, the Soundtrack to Star Trek was of high quality, but tended to carry common musical themes between tracks and thus could wear on the listener. Jack Wall managed to start fresh and each piece has its unique signature (which impressed me and is ridiculously difficult for nearly 2 hours of original music).

Also, there are a few tracks that feature a nod back to ME1, and include a repeated theme from the first game. Namely “The Attack”, feels like it came right out of the first game before heading into new and uncharted territory. “Normandy Reborn” also contains a bit of the “Normandy” (or Mass Effect) theme and gives a nod to what came before.

Overall: This is an exceptional bit of music for a video game. I’d consider it equal to (or better) than a lot of output from Hollywood in 2009. However, in that regard, you need to think of it as a significant musical work, and not anything typically heard from a video game.

Frankly, I’m darn curious how much money they spent on ME2 production — if the music is anything to go by, the budget probably went through the roof compared to the original. They pulled out all the stops on this one.

A unique outstanding musical experience!
Whether you are a fan of the Mass Effect series or not, this soundtrack is very pleasurable to listen to beginning to end. Just like the game will be, I expect no less. This game will be one of the greatest games of all time if not the best. It is that good; take a listen to the previews and you will know. Simply amazing!

Very Unique and Awesome!
I agree, this is definatly a must have album! If you liked the first Mass Effect soundtrack you WILL want this one! Jack Wall has presented yet another extraordinary soundtrack for another soon-to-be extraordinary game!