Thursday, March 8, 2012

Hump Day Music: Leaving Earth

Sorry, I did not put this post up after work last night.  I got home and decided to play some Mass Effect 3.  The next thing I remember is it being 2 o'clock in the morning and I really needed to get some sleep.  It is incredible how Mass Effect 3 can just draw a person like me in for hours at a time.  I got the Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 3 on Tuesday.  Included among the art book, the special edition comic, the lithograph and N7 patch is a download for Mass Effect 3's official soundtrack.  After having to wrestle with BioWare's social site to confirm that I indeed owned the Collector's Edition of Mass Effect 3, I downloaded the beautifully orchestrated soundtrack for this epic RPG.  I have not gotten a chance to listen to the entire soundtrack yet, but the tracks I listened to are phenomenal pieces of music.

Out of all the tracks I have listened to so far, my favourite is Leaving Earth.  This beautiful track plays when Commander Shepard and the Normandy leave Earth during the Reaper invasion.  As the Normady pulls away from the Vancouver dock, Shepard watches as the child tried the help broad a crusier, which upon take-off is blown out of the sky by a Reaper.  Right there we see sadness on Shepard's face as he cannot do anything to save that innocent child and innocent population of his home, Earth from the Reapers.  It is a tragic piece that uses the piano to really hit that sombre feeling and the huge tuba blasts to emphasize the Reaper's laser blasts.  Still keeping the sombre tone, the ending of the track embues hope as it the volume rises for a bit then fades out for the end of the track.  Leaving Earth is just one example how the developer's at BioWare expertly use music to engross the player in the story and heighten their emotions.  Honestly hearing this track play while watching the corresponding scene, it was hard not to feel sad and a little useless as there is nothing at this point and time that we can do to save Earth.

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