H is for Holy Crap, more Kingdom Hearts!
Today was the first day of the Tokyo Game Show and Square Enix came out swinging with the announcement of not one, but three new Kingdom Hearts titles. All the games are hand-held, covering the range of major platforms (DS, PSP, Mobile) and the time-line as well. The DS title, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (read as 358 over 2 days) takes place during Kingdom Hearts II. It features Roxas and Axel, two major fangirl fodder from the second game and will have a co-op mode similar to Crystal Chronicles (according to Kotaku). It will also be a lot darker in terms of the atmosphere created by the game. That in itself makes me want to play it.
The second title, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (what the fuck is with these titles?) is going to appear on the PSP. Birth of Sleep will be a prequel to the series, occurring before the events of Kingdom Hearts and will center around earlier Keyblade masters; namely Xehanort. Fans of the series will know Xehanort as the fake Ansem who was the main villain (at least his alternate forms were) in both PS2 games.
The third and final game, Kingdom Hearts: Coded is going to be on the mobile platform. There’s not as much info about this title as there are the first two, but from what is known it seems to take place parallel to the PS2 games. It will feature Sora as the main character and be a basic dungeon crawler.
While I’m a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series, I’m not really too excited two more hand-held titles for the series (don’t expect Coded to ever be released here). Though I’m interested in playing 358/2 Days, I really want to find out the history of Xehanort, but of course it’s on the hand-held I don’t have. The chances of me picking up a PSP in the future, even with some titles I want to play, is very slim. If they did something like the Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix + release with the two titles included in Kingdom Hearts III, that would make me very happy. Of course, there’s no guarentee that the game would come out in America should they do that.
MUSIC
Hitman 2 was released in 2002 and almost immediately found itself mixed up in controversy over the content. Even with the controversy, though, the game was received well amongst gamers and helped establish the Hitman franchise. The soundtrack, composed by Jesper Kyd and performed by the Budapest Symphonic Orchestra, was nominated for multiple awards honoring the best soundtrack including GameSpot's Soundtrack of the Year and multiple Game Audio Network Guild awards.
"Waiting for Action" is the second track of the soundtrack and occurs early on in the game. Featuring a strong orchestral score, the track has an almost Eastern-European feel to it. The brooding feel of the song only intensifies as the drums, though short, make their appearance near the end of the composition.
Kelly Bailey - Black Mesa Inbound Half-Life 2 Original Soundtrack
There isn't much need to detail the pedigree of the Half-Life series. Being the sequel to one of the most influential FPS titles to ever grace a PC, Half-Life 2 was an excellent follow up and the soundtrack was no slouch either. Kelly Bailey returned to score Half-Life 2 which helped maintain a sense of continuity from the first title to the second which was released almost exactly six years later.
The track Black Mesa Inbound is actually a remix of a track from the original Half-Life soundtrack which was entitled "Vague voices." By itself, this extremely atmospheric track is almost forgettable, but in a good way. It does it's job of making your forget you are listening to a piece of music and instead evokes the basic emotions it was set out to. The arrangement is extremely minimal, with a few electronic sounds heard throughout. The sound is almost metallic with a soft organic undertone as the sound pads fluctuate in and out.
Nobuo Uematsu - First Moon Event Hanjuku Hero Original Soundtrack
Originally released in 1988 in Japan, Hanjuku Hero was “[a] real time strategy game, Hanjuku Hero lets you command monsters and troops in a land-based battle for supremacy. Humor and strategy mix in this unique game. The fate of your kingdom is on this battle!” (RPGamer.com) The composer Nobuo Uematsu had just come off his first Final Fantasy composition when he scored this game.
“First Moon Event” falls in line well with Uematsu’s style. The strong melody and solid use of simple harmonics through the old Famicom system shows his ability to make a memorable song from anything. Though the song isn’t as impactful or epic as his Final Fantasy tracks, it’s the light-hearted feel that makes it an enjoyable listen. Even without having played the game, listening to the song makes one imagine the kind of enjoyment young Japanese kids probably felt in the early days of Squaresoft.