Namco Bandai is really good at copying ideas*. Whether it’s Tekken chasing Virtua Fighter’s tail and then giving it a good chomping or Soul Edge teaching SNK’s Samurai Spirits what weapon-based fighting looks like in three dimensions, it’s fair to say that quite a few of Namco Bandai’s hits borrow liberally from other sources. But to be even more fair, ‘is really good at copying’ might as well be ‘improves upon’. Both Tekken and the Soul Series developed a depth not matched by their rivals – in narrative, character development and, of course, music. So when Namco Bandai took a stab at the wildly popular Monster Hunter model, announced Sakamoto Maaya as one of the voice actors and gave the role of scoring to Go Shiina, it was almost a given that God Eater would devour the PSP market whole.
Okay, that was the last ‘eating’ pun. I promise. Because what you really want to read is whether or not Shiina, who hasn’t carried a full-scale soundtrack on his own since Tales of Legendia, is up to the task. No single person has scored a Soul game or a Tekken, and even some of the greatest Final Fantasy soundtracks have had their share of composition delegation.
We analyze just how far one man can push the sonic boundaries after the jump. (more…)
