Ace Combat 04 ~Shattered Skies~ Original Soundtracks

Ace Combat 04 Shattered Skies, the latest game of Namco's 3D flight shooting series, delves into backgrounds like an old war film; its worldview sets in 2004, though. This serious narrativity reflects on staging such as cutting in text and even voice of radio contact during control a military aircraft oftentimes. The relationship between events and characters comes to the front intricately. Every scene is supported the realistic setting. Certainly, the music contributes the expressively shooting game with a dense soundscape.

The soundtrack leads fierce and yet cool harmony that Tetsukazu Nakanishi, the AC04 sound director, settled. It consists of a determined brass and a tense strings supplemented by various distorted beats with a steady tempo. (This is an amazing inversion. Because it almost conjures up no image that the previous game, Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere, created - futuristic techno, although, he showed the way for it.) For instance, "Tango Line" begins with an uneasy hybrid of wiggling sound and ethnic effects. In "Safe Return", high-pitched strings fade in as if the birds fly highly to the sky. "Emancipation" puts a hopeful yet sad melody with a cracked percussion. They can imbue profound dramatics to players. Also he indicated the leitmotif, the opening track "Shattered Skies" bringing, to meld in different melodic lines ingeniously. It results unifying the whole disc without repetitiveness. In his songs, it exemplifies the fantastic flowing "Stardust", the courtesy "Escort", the epic "Whiskey Corridor". But the most impressive among them is the tracks that use the wailing guitar so as to add spice to the gravitas atmosphere. In this case, "Sitting Duck" serves liveliness contrasting to glowing trumpet, and "Farbanti" uplifts the killer guitar solo.

The main structure guides collaborators' compositions as masterful as aforementioned tracks. Keiki Kobayashi focused on an orchestral aspect much more. "Operation Bunker Shot" takes a bristling baseline. Marching drum comes in; they all mingle together for the climax that introduces strongly strumming harps with loud cymbal and gong. It is a pure symphonic experience. Moreover he brought a mixed chorus in four voices in "Megalith -Agnus Dei-". The track that is used final stage sublimates an oppressive passion into an absolute dignity. This is one of the most marvelous decisive battle music that I have ever heard in any game.

On the contrary, Hiroshi Okubo emphasized a percussive statement with some tight forces. "Lifeline" opens up with a moody harp phrase that gradually brings in stolid strings layer beneath syncopated beat heavily. "Breaking Arrows" accelerates with an ethnic drum from at the middle, and takes the leitmotif sneakily at some passages. However, in his kinetic works, there is an exception - the ending theme "Blue Skies", in which a cheerful guitar guides a mild piano accompaniment at calm tempo. He showed soothing arrangement to set off against Stephanie Cooke's gentle and slinky vocal.

This acoustic feel is progressed further by Katsuro Tajima for storyline segments called "side stories". He served a warm and yet sorrowful atmosphere with live instruments. Using acoustic guitar duo, "Prelude" weaves a lamenting melody, while "The Bird Spread Its Wings" attaches slightly brighter sound. Their performance strikes a sympathetic chord. Although all his six tracks are heterodox of the soundtrack, they give subtle shading to the CD's brass-going nature.

As far as sound quality, the album exhibits richness of programming and song structuring. PS2 capacity allows thick and long music that gives various progressions and long-lasting one loop. Some of them continue over five minutes. Moreover it takes near three minutes to go into a culmination passage usually. It might be lazy and even dull, if you are in a restive mood.

Aside a couple of boredom, every track itself can prevent from being filler with magnificent composition and imaginative sound combination. This mastery would grow on you, unless you are totally turned off by militaristic movie music. Overall, Ace Combat 04 Shattered Skies Original Soundtracks packs an elaborate narrative quality that befits independent listening as well as game using.