Okay, so maybe the Harry Potter Quidditch game was a sillier game to write the music for. But in terms of games with soundtrack releases, zOMG! takes the award for “most unexpected Jeremy Soule project.” Mr. Soule is generally open to composing for anyone who makes the offer and has a game that suits his style of composition. And he’s also been a hero among free-to-play-MMOers, because of his extensive work on Guild Wars and its expansions. But the game is called “zOMG!” I just can’t get over that. It definitely encapsulates everything that’s right and wrong with ‘net communities. Creating derivations of Internet slang (OMG = Oh My God, the “z” comes from people sloppily hitting the left shift key) is what makes virtual community unique. But that may or may not make it a good starting place for a videogame.
The game, produced by the good folks at Gaia Online, now allows community members of their site to play a proper, quest-based MMORPG. To help build a strong presentation for the game, they hired Soule to record over 25 melodies for the game. And considering Soule’s excellent track record (Morrowind, Oblivion, Icewind Dale), Gaia Online was able to, at the very least, ensure that people would be drawn into the game based on the music.
And while Soule is keen on using some of his standby orchestral techniques, I’ve never quite heard a score like this for any game before. It may not be his best work, but it is one where he, perhaps, learns to take himself less seriously. And in that space, we find something shiny and wonderful, if only because it’s so fresh and new. After the jump, check out our full review of zOMG! the Soundtrack. (more…)
