Metal Gear Solid 4: Official Soundtrack - Review

THREE DAYS TO GO!!!!!

So it begins.... the flooding of my blog of MGS4 related stuff. Some might argue that has already happened but now I'm making it official!! First up is the soundtrack. I don't really do this kind of review, in fact the last music related reviem I did was Rammstein's Volkerball some time back. Anyway, to this review.

What's important to remember about Metal Gear games is that they are more than just games. I've mentioned countless times that Metal Gear is more an experience than anything else. Since cut-scenes became viable - circa the beginnings of the Playstation - each Metal Gear game has offered an incredible cinematic experience. Each game is up there with Hollywood blockbusters, with Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty earning the unofficial title "The Hollywood Game". As such, it is only appropriate that these games have a soundtrack to match. For MGS2, Kojima and his team brought Harry Gregson Williams on board, famous for scores for films like the Shrek Trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, Veronica Guerin, Kingdom of Heaven amongst others. Since then he is now famous for his three Metal Gear tracks aswell!

The addition of such an accomplished composer brought the Metal Gear games to a level beyond anything else. So much so that he was brought in to work on the Game of the Year Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

Below is the track list:

Disc 1
01 Old Snake 3:52
02 Love Theme 7:07
03 Gekko 2:53
04 Haven Troopers 3:40
05 BB Corps 3:43
06 Drebin 893 3:29
07 Vista Mansion 1:32
08 Laughing Octopus 2:19
09 Breakthrough 3:09
10 Endless Pain 2:46
11 White Blood 2:49
12 Call Me Hal 3:01
13 Midnight Shadow 2:58
14 Paradise Lost 4:13
15 Great Escape 2:14
16 Desperate Chase 2:57
17 Raging Raven 2:34
18 Confrontation 3:10
19 Mobs Alive 3:24
20 Violent Ceasefire 2:08

Disc 2
01 Next-Gen Control 4:40
02 Crying Wolf 2:10
03 One More Reboot 1:41
04 Sin 1:44
05 Atonement 4:48
06 Infinite Loop 3:35
07 Everything Ends 2:30
08 At Dawn 3:30
09 Screaming Mantis 2:38
10 Guns of the Patriots 4:05
11 No Place to Hide 2:36
12 Sorrow 3:50
13 Full Circle 1:38
14 Everything Begins 4:25
15 Father & Son 2:29
16 Metal Gear Saga 4:19
17 Here's To You 5:48
18 War Zone 1:28
19 A Rebellion Rests 2:44
20 The Hunter 2:05
21 The Hunted 2:00
22 Forced Hand 2:08
23 Under Curfew 1:49
24 Unmanned Army 1:28
25 Cold Memories 1:35
26 For Liberty 1:58
27 Surrounded 1:59

I guess it's hard to say what it sounds like in words, but if it means anything it will please any fan. The first thing that's striking is a lack of a song titled "Metal Gear Solid 4 Theme" - which featured in all its predecessors. It has been argued that "Love Theme" is the official theme song, as it has been the one most prominently featured in all the trailers. "Metal Gear Saga" is the more familiar Metal Gear song, which in this instance seems to be a culmination of each Metal Gear theme song from the last three games.

We can take a lot from it though. For instance, the list (if chronological) would suggest that you fight the Beauty and the Beast unit in the order of: Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf and Screaming Mantis. The "Father and Son" track is also interesting, could that be Snake and Big Boss, or perhaps Raiden and his son? Who knows! The "Gekko" track is already one of my favourites. If that music plays everytime a Gekko leaps onto the scream I think I might just be biting my nails in terror!

I guess that's all I can say really other than to recommend that if you can, go to Youtube and input the track title. In all likelihood someone will have made a video for them all. I know a good few of them are there already.

Stay blogged for more MGS4 related news, coming soon to a Master Engineer of Sigmar's Realm space near you!

~The Damo