3 out of 5

Label: Naughty Dog, Limited Run Games

Produced by: ?

The PS3 generation was where I first noticed video game soundtracks as a potential separate entity from the game. This was the era of blurays and streaming; it made “sense” that the sounds would experience an upgrade, and as soon as I was buying / seeking some scores on their lonesome, the game landscape was changing, and then places like Steam were a offering up soundtracks as bonus purchases, and boutique labels catering to VGM scores put on vinyl or cassette popped up.

This, of course, helped open my eye to what many always knew: that video game music has always been amazing, and maybe even moreso with previous generations where limited tech fueled creativity in a different way.

Years on, and I’ve had the opportunity to blow past simple nostalgia for tracks of yore, and appreciate their depth on their own. But maybe there’s still a gap: arcade origins up through the 16-bit era gets a lot of coverage, as has that aforementioned PS3 era up through a modern one; so where is that transition period from cartridge to disc – the formative years of the PS1 and 2? Here, again, I’m sure I can get schooled by those in the know. But I’ll let the Jak 3 soundtrack serve as my first main introduction to how much goodness there likely is in this era as well.

If earlier soundtracks were somewhat defined by their limitations, and the modern era by none at all – easier access to recording tools and synthesized instrumentstion, mixed with an ability / desire to look back and bring in classic influences with today’s sounds – the early 00s, as imagined by Josh Mancell and Larry Hopkins, were a time of making an impression: the score for a long-eared dude and a made up creature to bop off of enemies in a 3D platformer is downright epic and cinematic, while also owing to the boppy tunes of the platformers that came before.  This latter bit doesn’t feel as much like a tribute as it does a nagging memory, though: the chugging industrial beats that drive most of Mancell’s tunes have an underpinning of goofy adventurism – flighty cartoon melodies that add sunshine to the gloom. Which is an excellent mash-up! The mix and match of playfulness and danger ends up being the perfect complement to a game that, tonally, splits the same way. That said, it may also prevent any strong themes from being established for particular areas: yes, you can hear focuses of harder beats for some places, the melody in others, and things get amped up or down in intensity, but it’s a long score that emerges with an overall tone, and not a story to tell, as though the availability of CD space and quality made our composers’ eyes go big, and they couldn’t portion out the meal properly.

That said, though we necessarily cycle through a fair amount of repetition in Mancell’s tracks, it’s also never boring. That tradeoff between tones is spaced out, and the sequence of tracks adds to that; you get a thick beat that’s easy to listen to on a loop, and splashes of mood cycled through at an even keel, all produced with a depth that’s warm without being overly digital or bombastic. And then we get a set of outtakes / unused tracks that are very interesting, pushing some of the aggression more to the forefront – maybe indicative of then-forthcoming trends in vgm music.

Larry Hopkins’ tracks – I think perhaps scoring the cinematics? – are not nearly as fun of a listen, unfortunately. If my assumption is correct, I kind of get it: Hopkins had to be the background music for dialogue and story, so it’s much more laid back, orchestral, and rather generic “serious” score music. Hopkins also chose to score in cues of minute-long snippets versus full songs, making his tracks hard to get very invested in. But even when scoring something you’d think would have more oomph – the end credits, for example – it feels rather indefinite. So both composers struggled with making a lasting theme, but Hopkins not doing that feels more noticeable without the core groove to hang the rest of his work on.

Still, what a journey. While I think the Jak 3 score can require some context in its place in VGM history, it’s impressive and tons of fun without all that, proving yet again that these often unsung (until moreso in the 2010s and beyond) composers have been crafting intense and deep and wildly creative music for years, and across all gaming eras.