While a cue like "Fleeing the Catacombs" might then lack the sheer punch of let's say "The Radar Train" from Medal of Honor, it makes up for this through its greater sonic variety and lighter sound that gives single instruments more room to breath and climaxes the chance to truly stand out. "Fleeing the Catacombs" is a splendid example of Giacchino's compositional development: greater changes in dynamics and orchestration than on Medal of Honor, a leaner overall sound, and a richer thematic emphasis. The selections from Underground impressively demonstrate Giacchino's versatility and, while elegantly incorporated into Allied Assault, are in no way a simple rehash of Medal of Honor.
The imminent dread of potentially being buried under the ocean' suffocating weight is heightened further when tolling, foreboding chimes enter the soundscape. "The U-Boat" does a marvellous job at musically painting an image of its location through its oppressive brass chords, whining suspended violins and a slowly rolling melodic idea for the strings. The material on this cue remains fragmented and brusque string figures maintain a feeling of unease even when the main theme makes itself heard, before the music then ends in nocturnal mystery. "Approaching Colditz Castle" represents Medal of Honor's mellower sounds with an opening that features almost an idyllic clarinet solo and noble horns. "Attack on Fort Schmerzen" sports a more subdued stealth atmosphere, which is based on a tense four note woodwind motif that exuded the fear of dangers lurking in the shadows. But Giacchino's score isn't only about the booming sounds of conflict and its well-balance mix of action and atmosphere is reflected aptly through Allied Assault's selection of tracks from Medal of Honor. Particularly "Panzer Attack" and "The Jet Craft Facility" are stand outs: the first piece through its unrelenting, brutal secondary motif that also befits Allied Assault the second composition through its dramatic nature that culminates in a jubilant conclusion which heralds the hero's victory over the enemy forces. The great, rip-roaring fun of Medal of Honor conveyed by some of the more raucous tracks from that soundtrack presented on this album. Still, there's no denying that the selections from all three scores are excellent here. And as with all Medal of Honor compilation releases, there's no exclusive material on this album. This in turn diminishes the album's chances to deliver a representative, well-rounded overview of the music Giacchino created for Medal of Honor, Underground, and Allied Assault. Equally inevitably, the album includes all of the new tracks from Allied Assault, which skews the record's track selection toward this particular release. Firstly, this is simply because the album, by necessity, only covers the first three of Giacchino's Medal of Honor scores. Of the three existing Medal of Honor compilation albums, Allied Assault is certainly the least essential one. In 2005, EA Games digitally released Allied Assault's new material on a separate mini album, which essentially superseded the earlier album release reviewed here. On this one-hour release, which was only available as part of the Allied Assault Deluxe Edition, only 17 minutes were new material composed for Allied Assault. The resulting gap both in the game and on Allied Assault's first score album was filled with tracks from Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor: Underground.
This is not so much to do with the quality of his work for the game, but more with the fact that Giacchino didn't write much new music since he was busy creating the score for Medal of Honor: Frontline around the same time. On album, Allied Assault has always been a bit of a black sheep among Michael Giacchino's Medal of Honor scores.
Another quality work, the game continued the franchise's winning streak with critics and audiences alike and is still quoted as one of the highlights of the Medal of Honor series.
Medal of honor allied assault theme series#
The Medal of Honor series went the other way after its 1999 debut, the franchise only appeared on home computers in 2002 with its third instalment, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. Up until the mid 2000s, most first-person shooter franchises would follow the same path: debut on PC, then at some later stage be ported to a gaming console system.
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