It is not until the 37 second mark that the main melody comes in, and even then, it is not the kind of epic march theme one might have expected. Instead of a strong melody bursting forth, we hear some odd sounds that are of an unusually high quality for a Super Nintendo game soundtrack they gradually seem to get louder, and three repeated drum beats work their way to the fore alongside them, while, simultaneously, we hear a far away choir, which somehow has the effect of sounding like the wind, and is very atmospheric indeed. From listening to this first track, we get an idea of what the rest of the soundtrack will consist of, and it already begins to conjure up the image of the bleak world that I have already described. It might be due to this experience, or perhaps the fact that he was probably the most popular of the four composers of the time, that he was chosen to compose the main theme, "Gun Hazard". Although his previous work on the Final Fantasy series was often centred around having melodramatic themes reflect the epic storylines, his legendary scores for the fourth and sixth instalments showed a flair in his narrative craft moody themes such as "Opening Theme" and "Catastrophe" from Final Fantasy VI are two such examples. Body Nobuo Uematsu's ContributionsĪrguably, Nobuo Uematsu knew what he was getting himself into more than the rest when he agreed to work on the soundtrack. In both cases, on the whole, we see them move away from the more light-hearted sound of previous works, and delve into the depressing world of Front Mission: Gun Hazard. This is not to say that Hamauzu and Nakano do not intrigue, as they certainly produce some fine tracks for this album too, but I love the artistic progression we get to witness in the two lead composers. A point that really interests me about the album is the way in which we get to hear the development of the styles of Uematsu and Mitsuda, in particular, and it serves in both cases as a prelude to their next major works, Final Fantasy VII and Xenogears. What we are presented with in the final Front Mission Gun Hazard Original Sound Version release is something special, which really does not get as much recognition as it deserves. Clearly, the tale is a dark one, and the four composers, by signing onto the project, promised to make an appropriately grim, militaristic score. Throughout the game, the player slowly finds out more and more about the powers that control the world behind-the-scenes and ultimately make a treasonous stand in the name of peace. With these names on board, at least the music was certain to be a hit, regardless of the nature of the game.įront Mission: Gun Hazard itself is based in a world of misery and political unrest, wherein a dark organization referred to as 'The Society' manipulates governments to start fruitless wars for their own profit people fight on false pretences, kill, and die, all for the purpose of serving this single group's heartless schemes. In retrospect, there are few partnerships that could have been quite as pleasing as this one: Nobuo Uematsu, at his peak following Final Fantasy VI Yasunori Mitsuda, who had recently made a name for himself through the Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version (which featured Uematsu too) and the two relative newcomers at Square, Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano, each of whom have made a significant impact on the industry by their own accord of late. For one thing, the genre is somewhat more akin to a side-scrolling shooter, as opposed to an RPG, and the production team is fairly different although artist Yoshitaka Amano drew conceptual designs for the game once again, a whole new set of composers was drafted in to take care of the music department. True it was released soon after the original Front Mission, and supports the same franchise name, but it is quite different if you look beyond the surface. To call Front Mission: Gun Hazard a sequel would be slightly inaccurate. Front Mission Gun Hazard Original Sound Version :: Review by Aevlossįront Mission Gun Hazard Original Sound VersionĭigiCube (1st Edition) Square Enix (Reprint)
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