Even though Monday had several E3 Press Conferences by the industry giants like Microsoft, Sony, EA and Activision, in reality E3 didn’t really begin until today. So, starting today I’ll post one song a day of some of my favorite intro music from some of my favorite video games through the years. The first song will close off today’s E3 coverage and comes from the game which got me hooked on The Elder Scrolls rpg franchise.
The latest “Song of the Day” is from the third game in the TES series called Morrowind. The song is the main theme for the song and it’s title is “Nerevar Rising”. This track, like all of the music in the Morrowind soundtrack, was composed and arranged by Jeremy Soule who has become one of the top composers of music for the video game industry. I just love how this song begins with the deep drum beats which then fades into the background as woodwinds and strings come in gently. By the one-third mark of the song even more strings arrive in the form of violins. It’s when the song hits the halfway mark when percussion comes back to the forefront to join woodwinds and strings to combine and create an epic sound worthy of a fantasy epic adventure about to begin.
I still listen to this intro whenever the urge hits me and it still raises the hairs on my arms and shivers up my spine at just how epic it sounds. As an added bonus the song makes a reappearance in the end of the game once the player has achieved his goal and finished the game. It’s pretty much the same music but with some added sections.
One of the titles which I look forward to losing several hundreds of hours playing is the fifth entry in Bethesda Game Studios The Elder Scrolls role-playing game franchise: Skyrim.
I’m proud to say that the previous game in the series I had spent nearly a total of 1500+ hours playing using several created characters over a span of 6 years. I would say that 3/5 of that total time was played within 6 months of buying Oblivion. The developers of Skyrim are promising fans of the series no less than 300+ hours of gameplay (though they didn’t specify if that means just the main storyline or also includes side quests and such) so that’s a comfort to hear.
This role-playing game series has always been known for it’s very expansive and complex world which allows it’s player to roam it’s confines however they want. It’s this open-world gameplay dynamic which makes this game and the series, in general, such a favorite with gamers worldwide.
Lead designer for Bethesda, Todd Howard, gave G4TV an in-depth look at Skyrim. The videos you’re about to watch has Howard showing the extreme and beautiful detail rendered by the game’s new graphics engine in the Creation Engine. He also shows just how some of the changes in combat, skill leveling and the type of creatures the player will end up fighting makes this latest entry in The Elder Scrolls series the best to date.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has a set release date of November 11, 2011.
What can I say about this game other than….GODDAMN!!
Yes, I am beyond super-excited about THQ and Relic Entertainment’s latest Warhammer 40K title. The two have been doing a great job with the RTS Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War franchise so this third-person action game is a nice change of pace and quite a gamble.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine looks to be similar in tone to Epic Games’ Gears of War series except for two major differences: 1. this game won’t be using any cover game mechanics and 2. the game’s color palette looks to go beyond browns, grays, red and black. The trailers shown at this year’s E3 by THQ look to be using in-game graphics and little pre-rendered animations. Always a good sign when the trailers shows graphics of how the game will actually look when being played.
I’ve known about this game since it was first announced at last year’s E3 and have kept up with all new info that Relic and THQ have released since then. One piece of news that was quite a surprise but also awesome to learn is that British actor Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes, Kick-Ass, Green Lantern) will voice the main playable character.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine has a release date of somtime around September 2011.
PS: For those who have no idea what the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe is all about the video below gives a quick idea of what some of it is.
In 2010, THQ and Vigil Games released what ended up being one of my favorite games of that year in their roided-out homage to Legend of Zelda with the post-apocalyptic action-adventure title Darksiders.
It wasn’t just the Zelda-like platforming and puzzle-solving gameplay that made it fun, but the wonderful art direction the game took by designing the characters and creatures from the original artwork of Vigil Games founder and all-around badass comic book artist, Joe Madureira. The first game was all about taking on the role of War (one of the Horseman of the Apocalypse) as he tries to clear his name after he’s set-up by evil forces unknown into initiating the Biblical Apocalypse too soon thus destroying humanity. The game ended with him finding out who was at fault and getting his vengeance medieval-style, but his name is still not cleared which leads up to the story of this sequel.
This time around players will control one of War’s brother Horsemen in the form of Death. There’s still not much details if there’s going to be changes to the Zelda-like platforming and puzzle-solving gameplay or will Vigil Games just tweak some of the complaints about it from gamers both supporters and detractors. All I can say is that if it was a blast to play as War I’m wondering just how badass it will be to play as Death.
Darksiders 2 is set for a release around 2012 (maybe around 12.21.12?)
Well, it’s June, and as usual I’m getting behind in music. There is a lot more to keep up with this year than the last, and I’ve only downloaded 30 new releases so far. Hopefully that will change over the summer. Allow me to kick off three months of more active music reviews with my top five albums of 2011 thus far.
5. Moonsorrow – Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa
Moonsorrow have a lot of material out there, and suffice to say I haven’t heard enough of it. I am used to really long songs in black metal, but not in folk, and I always find myself treating them like the former, playing their albums for ambient effect and paying close attention only where the music reaches out and demands it. I’ve listened to all 30 minutes of Tulimyrsky 19 times apparently, and I don’t remember it. Likewise, I forgot they’d released an album this year until I was browsing last.fm and discovered that I’d listened to it 13 times.
So take that for what it’s worth. This album has four full songs with a few 1-2 minute tracks in between. The two middle ones of the four are decidedly more catchy, whether you want to call them better or not. Moonsorrow may never move me as successfully as Finsterforst did copying their style on the underrated masterpiece Zum Tode Hin, but nevertheless here is an album I will probably never tire of, even as I never fully embrace it. I want to call it my fifth favorite of the year so far, but it’s so difficult to place.
Their songs are too long for youtube, but this video fits in the vast majority of track 5, Huuto.
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4. Korpiklaani – Ukon Wacka
Another year, another Korpiklaani album. Since 2003 they’ve released seven. That’s 83 songs that all sound pretty much the same and are all either about beer, drinking beer, being out of beer, having a hangover, or killing your hangover by drinking beer. But while they might not be folk metal’s most poetic troupe, they are hands down the most fun of the lot.
Ukon Wacka doesn’t really have any down time. From start to finish it’s a consistently enjoyable, catchy album. Sure, every song could have appeared on every other album without being out of place, but unlike on many of their others you’ll never find yourself skipping tracks. And like on Karkelo, they saved the best track for last, encouraging you to stick around:
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3. Altar of Plagues – Mammal
I never really talk about White Tomb. I got it the first day it leaked and have listened to it dozens of times since, but it’s not something I feel inclined to sing the praises of. With the exception of the first few minutes of Watchers Restrained, there was never a point where I could tell people wow, you’ve got to hear this. It’s something a bit more personal–the sort of thing I like to play when I’m working late and really need to concentrate. It’s got a slow brooding energy that you can just feed off of. It empowers the listener without ever demanding much attention. Mammal can be described similarly, but should you choose to shut off the lights, sit back, and just soak it in, you’ll find it has a lot more to offer than their first album. I’ve only listened to it five times so far, but I feel confident placing it among the best. Here are the first 15 minutes of the opening track:
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2. Krallice – Diotima
Here we get into the albums I consider true masterpieces. Krallice have pioneered a sound that few artists are physically capable let alone creatively inclined to emulate. But their last album, Dimensional Bleedthrough, was a bit of a disappointment. Last.fm claims I have listened to it twelve times, and I’m here to tell you I don’t remember the slightest thing about it. While it might have been more technical and refined than their first release, it lacked those standout moments that made songs like Wretched Wisdom and Forgiveness In Rot so unforgettable.
Diotima reclaims the beauty and emotion of their first album, and couples it with the mind-bending technical skill and complexity they have further developed since then. This is easily my second favorite album of 2011 at the moment, and may in time lay claim to the top slot. I highlighted Telluric Rings last week, so allow me to point out my other favorite, the title track. The lead guitar from 5:30 to 7:20 will leave you speechless.
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1. Falkenbach – Tiurida
I was both shocked and disappointed to see this album go almost entirely unnoticed. I mean, Vratyas Vakyas is the second most important figure in the history of folk and viking metal after Quorthon. Yet even on wikipedia’s quite inclusive article on metal releases in 2011 it goes unmentioned. This would be excusable were it the washed-up product of an artist past his prime, but Tiurida is my favorite album of 2011.
The only complaint I have read is that it’s too repetitive, but that’s exactly what Falkenbach is meant to be. There’s a difference between repetitive and generic, and he has always been far from the latter. Indeed, it was my fear that Tiurida, his first release in six years, might lack that creative genius present in all his prior works and compensate by at last substituting some stylistic variance. But Vakyas never lost his edge, and has here created his best work since En Their Medh Riki Fara fifteen years ago. Let the glorious opening and closing tracks speak for themselves:
Through the Shattered Lens 