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Behind the Score: Call
of Duty: Black Ops
Interview:
Sean Murray
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Call of Duty: Black Ops
Review | BONUS:
2009 Interview with Sean
Murray |
BONUS: Call of Duty: World
at War Review
The war effort didn't end
with the conclusion of
World War II. In
fact, a new war was almost
simultaneously born - The
Cold War. Warfare
had gone underground, but
the call of duty to serve
remained strong.
Join with us as we go with
them all BEHIND THE SCORE
OF Call of Duty: Black Ops. In
this edition:
- Photos from the
Black Ops recording
session
- SoundCast Interview with
composer Sean Murray
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
Game score
review
- BONUS Coverage:
2009 Interview with Sean
Murray
- BONUS Coverage:
Call of Duty World at War
Game score review
Review: Call of
Duty: Black Ops
 Just
Doing His Duty
Review by Marius Masalar
Whether or not it’s entirely fair to
do so, I often find myself expecting
the best scores from the titles with
the most familiar gameplay. In the
case of CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS, the
latest entry in the most popular
first-person shooter franchise of
all time, the game’s familiarity led
me to hope that where it would set
itself apart would be the music. The
plot’s twisting darkness and mind
tripping time jumps seemed to offer
plenty of opportunities for creative
interpretation, not to mention the
strong Russian undertones and the
usual military bravado found in this
kind of thing. With the stage so
conveniently set for him, SEAN
MURRAY shows us what he’s capable
of.
To help pull us into the game’s
complicated mindset, the opener
“Cube One” (1) introduces not only
the notion of the number stations
that are crucial to the plot, but
also the general instrumentation we
can expect — synths, distortion, and
percussion. “Eagle Claw, Pt.1” (2)
is the first real dose of music, and
it’s a tense action sequence.
Strings churn away under layers of
synths and manipulated drums. They
don’t have much to say, but they do
keep pace, and when the synth brass
enters three quarters of the way
through, we get some semblance of
theme to hold on to; it’s nothing
you’ll be humming, but it’s
serviceable. The minimalism
continues in “Mac-V” (3), a groovy
and evocative track that elicits
memories of Tron: Legacy with its
prominent synthetic pulses. Despite
some unexpected vocal and violin
flourishes, it fails to pull itself
out of the realm of cool background
music though.
The synth strings are back in
“Blackbird” (4), along with some
eerie guitar work and what sounds
almost like twisted throat singing.
MURRAY escalates the pace with a
tempo change midway, but the track
otherwise remains very static until
it reaches its end climax. “Pegasus”
(5) is the first time we hear the
orchestra offering something other
than a repeated pattern. Various
sections weave and clash to form a
propulsive atmosphere. Strong
synthetic percussion supports the
cue where needed, but manages to
stay out of the way. In “Dwarka”
(6), we get a dose of a slightly
ethnic feel from the airy processed
guitar, but the novelty quickly
dissolves back into tired string
ostinatos before we can celebrate.
BONUS Review: Call of
Duty: World at War
 Modern
World War Two Fare
Review by Marius Masalar
There could hardly have been more
pressure on the next game of the
CALL OF DUTY franchise. CALL OF DUTY
4: MODERN WARFARE boldly took the
franchise in a new direction with
it's engrossing storytelling and new
game features. It garnered the
praise of critics and gobbled
countless hours of addicts (myself
included). As successful as MODERN
WARFARE was, initial reaction to the
announcement of next CALL OF DUTY
game was mixed at best. First, the
announcement that TREYARCH would
assuming the development
responsibilities caused concern in
some, as CALL OF DUTY 3 didn't meet
their expectations. (I personally
sank more hours in COD3 multiplayer
than any other multiplayer game on
the Xbox 360 to date). Second, there
was a dull groan that echoed through
cyberspace as it was also announced
that this next game would be
returning to World War II era.
Third, not only would this be a WWII
FPS, but it would encompass the
Pacific Theater, which historically
has proven to make for far less
successful games than their European
theatre counterparts. Still, the
question that plagued my mind right
up until the launch of the demo was,
"Who is going to be scoring this
thing? Whoever it is, they have one
heckofajob ahead them."
Most reading this review will know
that it was MICHAEL GIACCHINO who
helped to launch the CALL OF DUTY
franchise way back in 2003. The
franchise went on to have other
notable composers like: GRAEME
REVELL, JOEL GOLDSMITH and HARRY
GREGSON-WILLIAMS, score subsequent
games of the franchise. That's a
pretty rich line up - one not so
easy to follow either. The key to
the musical direction for CALL OF
DUTY: WORLD AT WAR would be
Treyarch's choice of just what type
of game they would be putting out. A
return to the Call of Duty 2 or 3
style or something new? As it turns
out, composer SEAN MURRAY got the
scoring gig. SEAN MURRAY has
delivered a few games for Activision
in the past such titles as TRUE
CRIMES: NEW YORK CITY and TRUE
CRIMES: STREETS OF L.A.
Despite the fears of so many, CALL
OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR is being
touted as a success. Interestingly
(and wisely), Treyarch decided to
build on the many successes of CALL
OF DUTY 4: MODERN WARFARE, at least
in terms of the style of gameplay,
story development, achievements and
multiplayer features. In fact, some
would say that they actually
improved on some of the very things
that made MODERN WARFARE such a hit!
Rather than roaming the deserts of
the Middle East as a US Marine or
the much colder environments of
Europe and Asia as member of the
British SAS, this time you suit up
as a private in the US Marines
hopping from one, hot, Pacific
island to another, fighting off the
desperate and lethal Japanese army.
In that wonderful contrast that Call
of Duty is famous for, you
alternatively play another private,
but this time in the Red Army -
poised to take Berlin. Like its
predecessor, CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT
WAR is an entrancing experience.
Moving from mission to mission is
wonderfully addicting; however, the
in-your-face-brutality of World War
II, guerrilla-warfare is much more
sobering than the cold and, many
times, distant fighting of our
stealthily-evovled modern wars. So
WORLD AT WAR combines the best of
both worlds: the classic WWII FPS
gaming experience and the game play
features of Modern Warfare. And
backing all of it is SEAN MURRAY's
score.
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