Showing posts with label Assassin's Creed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Assassin's Creed. Show all posts

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Brief Continuity in Assassin's Creed

One of the best things that can be brought to a game or film series are the various aspects that connect them all. While the idea of a continuing story counts to a certain level, it goes (and should go) much deeper than that. When I think of Star Wars or Indiana Jones, John Williams comes up. He created the incredible continuity of both of the franchises, and he continues to work on them.

This continuity helps immerse us, draw us closer, and allows the audience create a special bond with the film or game. The consistency of the writing the script is just as important as themes. When some writers may get replaced, someone else takes one a new role, etc. there is risk of falling away from the original project and stray from the path intended and paved from the beginning. 

While my experience with the Assassin's Creed series of video games is lacking, I have noticed that there has been some amount of continuity. Ubisoft created a whole world that attempts to tell a story that took place from the beginning of time and progressing through history until present day. While interesting, it is a bit far fetched. 

One of Ubisoft's most recent installments to the franchise is a trilogy that is deeply integrated into the story. The first begins in China, resumes in India, and ends in Russia. They are so well connected, yet take place several years apart from each other. 

There are subtleties found in the games. The original Assassin's Creed theme written by Jesper Kyd appears in Assassin's Creed Chronicles China, but it is possible to miss. It is heard during one level, but instead of an instrument playing it, you hear on of the guards whistling the tune while you sneak past him. This same theme is re-composed as the theme for Assassin's Creed Rogue. It is fairly simple, but is very catchy and memorable. 

Listening to the most recent soundtrack release to the series, Assassin's Creed: The Best of Jesper Kyd, I noticed the theme appearing frequently. Having never really heard the scores for the first few installments I was unaware of this theme. The first time I heard it was during the score for Rogue, then in Chronicles China by means of whistling as mentioned above. 

Since Jesper Kyd scored the first bunch of games in the series, he had plenty of time to solidify this theme in the series enough to make it significant. It makes sense for Ubisoft to have this theme mentioned in the Chronicles Trilogy since they take place around the same time as the first few games where it first appeared. 

There have been several composers that have broken up this continuity, writing their own unique themes and sounds into it. For this reason The togetherness of the games fades away the closer they are to present day. 

The Assassin's Creed series has been a product of excellent music, and with all that said, I must say that it features some of the best game music I have heard. What is your favorite Assassin's Creed soundtrack?

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Prominent Themes: Assassin's Creed Series

The Assassin's Creed series has some incredible themes that I am astounded by. They easily are the best in video game history.

Jesper Kyd composed the music for the first and second as well as Brotherhood. I honestly am not a huge fan of this music, but it does in fact fit the period of the game very well, which take place during the middle ages/Renaissance period.

Jesper Kyd returned for Revelations, which spiked my interest. This music is much better, especially since Lorne Balfe was brought on to work on the multiplayer content. Generally, high expectations are put on film composers, so being a composer mostly for films, Lorne Balfe lived up to my expectations on his work for this score.






He must have done a good job because he returned by himself for the third installment. This is where the music begins to get really good. The theme that Balfe set in the beginning of this score is just amazing.



A small project that came with Assassin's Creed III for handheld gaming systems is Liberation. Winifred Phillips scored this game and met the high quality sound that Lorne Balfe put on the III name in the series.



Brian Tyler scored the fourth major installment named Black Flag. This game takes place around the same time and place of Pirates of the Caribbean when pirates were one of the biggest threats. The score is very calming and does not reach the high intensities that is common with Brian Tyler. It does its job very well, making me think of the ocean and the Caribbean. I enjoyed this entire score from beginning to end.





The next two installments come together: Rogue and UnityRogue was scored by Elitsa Alexandrova while Chris Tilton (Volume 1), Sarah Schachner (Volume 2), and Ryan Amon (Bonus Tracks) scored Unity. To start, Rogue has a very well written theme that portrays the frigid temperatures in the new American colonies. Chris Tilton takes on the violent French Revolution with fast spiccato and impressive intensity. The interesting thing about these two is that there are slight hints of the theme from Rogue  hidden inside some of the music to Unity. Chris Tilton's music is by far better than the other music produced in Rogue and Unity.




The latest installment of the series takes place during the Romantic Period in London, titled Syndicate. While I do believe that Austin Wintory's music for this game does fit the setting perfectly, the overpowering violin at times can get a bit obnoxious. Of course, this is probably the style of music that was popular at the time, so I still applaud his work, just not so much outside of the game.



Friday, November 21, 2014

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag by Brian Tyler

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was released just over a year ago. Brian Tyler composed the score for the game. I think that the theme establishes the Caribbean/pirate feel quite well. It is definitely one of my favorite videogame themes.

Here is the main theme along with some additional music that incorporates the different themes Brian Tyler composed throughout this score.




Now aside from the instrumental music, there is some music with lyrics, well, because they are pirates! Here is Randy Dandy, a real fun song that can help break your moment of seriousness. There are more sea shanty songs like this one found in the Complete Edition of the soundtrack.




What are your thought's on this score?