Selected Themes From The Battlefield Series

Most of the soundtracks I listen to are from games and films that I have never seen and sometimes have never heard of it, but am willing to listen to the music. No, I have not seen Interstellar, or Inside Out, or The Dark Knight, or The Force Awakens, or... a ton. I guess I don't watch a ton of films or play the games.

I can say that I have played four of the games that I will be talking about today. 

The Battlefield series is a popular military first person shooter. It aims for a more realistic, modern experience (after Battlefield 2), and in my opinion, makes the military shine. There are several releases in the beginning, but the major ones are what I will be focusing on. 

The most interesting thing about the Battlefield series is that the main theme is somewhat carried through the series in some form. The first time I heard that epic theme was in London Philharmonic's The Greatest Video Game Music. This is all the way back to Battlefield 2 from 2005. I am not sure if this theme was first introduced here or with the first installment since the soundtrack is hard if not impossible to come by. 

This theme is exclusively orchestral with no artificial sounds outside of the orchestral. The percussion beat that creates most of the theme is copied by the strings while the brass focuses of the rest of the theme and blending everything. At this point, game scores begin to truly become great. The complexity of this score is astounding for just a game. 

Mikael Karlsson recreates this theme in Battlefield: Bad Company with some variations in percussion, and simplifies it with the cello and viola shaping the theme. This matches the rest of the score which is more new music that gives only two instances where the theme appears. In PMW Battlefield 4, it sounds more like what is to come in Battlefield 4. 

Bad Company 2 gives the theme a break and takes a new turn, only to reappear again in Battlefield  3. While more electronic, is adds a more epic feel and modernizes it while maintaining the basic ideas. Just like the Bad Company series, this game, and the fourth after it, provide a rich storytelling experience that is well written and sets the series apart as not just a shooter, transcending anything that Call of Duty has offered after the Modern Warfare trilogy. This was one of the most exciting campaigns I have ever played. The music is very interesting (remember that thing about "modern art"?) and intriguing, somewhat repetitive, but not bad. 

Now when Battlefield 4 comes around, everything great becomes greater. The theme starts off a bit slow, but when that familiar theme explodes (and it does), you get chills because it is so epic. This theme is heard at the end on the campaign when you and your heroic team reaches the final conclusion and is about to save the world from global conflict by taking down the enemy once and for all. Although the rest of the soundtrack inherits the modern, electronic sound, I find it less distracting and more balanced and enjoyable. 

Battlefield 1 is out now and with more excellent music that I will surely encourage you to listen to, as it goes back to its early roots. More on this later, so stay tuned!