Search - Jack Wall, Sam Hulick, Richard Jacques :: Mass Effect Original Game Soundtrack

Great work from a great publisher!

Aldo Del Toro | America | 11/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As fas as video games go, rarely are they every truly epic, Mass Effect is one of those rarities. Simply put, it is a work horse of size and story, the soundtrack, shows the same traits. Orchestral and digital, an amazing coordination of styles and emotion interweave to deliver one of the most emphatic and enthralling audible ingestions you could have bouncing in your brain matter. Not to be missed."

Great soundtrack for a great game

Timothy Dodds | Sydney, NSW Australia | 08/22/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I think that people looking at this soundtrack will take little convincing to buy it. Like me, they probably thought that Mass Effect was absolutely brilliant and, at some stage, realised how much they liked the original music as well. Game soundtracks can be a bit weird - often not sounding as well on their own as when you actually played the game. Fortunately, the Mass Effect OST is mixed and sequenced well enough that it retains the qualities of its in-game counterpart.



However, it isn't without fault - when I went through it the first time (and a few other reviewers have already pointed this out), I was a bit shocked to realise that a few music pieces are missing altogether. These are mostly the minimal, ambient pieces you hear in different parts of the game, as well as some of the generic music you would hear when you were visiting the game's many unchartered planets. This is unfortunate, because I actually liked some of these pieces of music more than the main quest and primary mission themes.



Furthermore - and, again, others have pointed this out - the tracks mostly feature only one 'loop' of each stage in the compositions. So, all those intense little musical moments that would occur throughout a major combat setpiece (as in track 14: 'Protecting the Colony') seem very short here. Another example is track 3, 'Eden Prime' - a fantastic ambient composition that, at 1m 34s, is far too brief, and hardly does justice to the quality of the music.



I am making the Mass Effect OST sound really disappointing when, truthfully, it is far from. However, it seems as though a second disc would have allowed the producer to put all of the game's music on here and, on top of that, extend the compositions a little so it functions more as a stand-alone album, rather than a 'best of' compilation. All that aside, it is one of the best game soundtracks in years, and it is always great to see game music commercially available.



In short, buy it if you are a fan of Mass Effect, and loved its music. I'm a bit hesitant about recommending it to anyone else, however."

Recommended for fans of the game and 80s sci-fi soundtracks

Alexander Rose | Chester Springs, PA, USA | 12/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Well I haven't bought a videogame soundtrack in years but after playing through Mass Effect I had to pick this one up. Nothing different here than what you get in the game but you do get all 37 tracks used in game, and they obviously sound alot clearer and richer when they aren't being masked by laser and biotic effects :P



A great CD if you like the game soundtrack, or even if you haven't played the game also recommended for fans of moog style 80s synth sci-fi soundtracks (think Escape from New York, Assault on Precinct 13 etc.)

"