The soundtrack for Mass Effect 2 is a stellar follow up to the first game’s soundtrack.  Where the first game emulated Bladerunner and the 80′s synth pop sounds, the second goes for a more gentle melding of darker tones and aggressive synth sounds for an overall more epic score.  I really prefer the second soundtrack to the first though both are excellent there are many songs that have a more diverse and aggressive sound, not to say that Mass Effect 1 OST was not aggressive but it had a very different tone than the second game sound wise.  I will list my favorite songs and what I liked or disliked after the jump.

Favorites

Tali

I found Tali’s song to be an awesome mix, it starts fairly slow with a good depth of sound and a heavy use of synthetic sounds.  It really evokes a mood of space and technology and I find it fits her as a character and her related missions quite perfectly.  Just take a listen right here for yourself and enjoy what I feel is one of the stronger songs on the album.  It also helps that Tali’Zorah vas Normandy is one of my favorite characters.

Thane

Thane’s theme is one of the best in the game, and is actually used quite a bit beyond his recruitment stage.  This song starts slow and eerie feel which grows into a very synthetic heavy piece.  It has a great build up throughout the song that climaxes at 6:54 and really brings out all the stops.  Incidentally this is also the same part that plays when you are crossing the bridge during his recruitment mission.  The ending is okay, not my favorite but it works.  Check it out here.

Jacob

As a character many people find Jacob to be dull, I thought he was awesome personally and his Loyalty mission has one of the best songs on the album in my opinion.  A perfect blend of synthetic sounds plus a more orchestrated epic feel.  Wonderful buildup that grows in complexity and presence during the duration of the song.  It fits the dark mood of his loyalty mission perfectly and reflects the growing horror of what exactly is happening.  The use of the traditional and the synthetic sounds is in a word sublime and really gives the piece a solid sound that bridges the gap between the first game and the second game musically.  At 3:14 is my favorite part of the song and it sounds horrific and emulates the gravity of the situation of the loyalty mission perfectly at the end as you reach the conclusion.  Check it out right here.  I don’t have anything negative to say about this piece, it is just that good in my eyes.

Jack

Jack’s theme possesses probably the most change ups out of all of songs and can at first seem jarring but it emulates her character a great deal.  It starts off relatively slow and has a great combination of synth pop and traditional orchestra which really makes the song intense.  The song is constantly changing with several rhythm and tempo changes throughout the piece.  Synthetic sounds tend to dominate the latter part of the song but not to its detriment.  As far as songs go this one can feel choppy but it works if you listen to the whole song and give it a chance.  Have a listen right here.

The End Run & Suicide Mission

This may seem like cheating since I am listing two songs here but these songs are very similar in scope, sound, and how I feel about them.  These two songs incorporate what I consider Shepard’s theme beautifully into them and are very orchestra heavy.  Both are excellent songs and I have nothing really negative to say about them.  Both have an epic sound to them and would fit nicely into any epic cinematic and heroic sequence.  Suicide Mission especially is a very powerful song and is my probably my favorite of the two but both are awesome.  End run is right here and Suicide Mission is here.

Summary

This isn’t to say that I didn’t like the rest of the songs, I think the soundtrack as a whole is awesome, but these particular songs are my favorites and what I feel are the strongest songs.  of course your opinion may vary I highly encourage everyone to check out this soundtrack and Mass Effect 1 if they have not done so.  Both are excellent and probably one of the best soundtracks in video games today.  The music on Ilos and the Therum battle music are probably two of my favorites as well and I am still sad they were not on the Mass Effect OST.

Edit: Found the club songs for Mass Effect 2 via the Mass Effect wiki, they are all awesome and contemporary works.  I especially like Club Dark Star and Club Eternity.

Although I never played Dark Ages of Camelot (DAoC) I recognize that the game was rather successful in it’s time and although still kicking and going is in decline as newer products come to the fore.  I recognize that Mark Jacobs played a large part in that initial vision for DAoC and should be respected at least for bringing an influential product to the MMO scene.  The game was successful and although not World of Warcraft numbers at the time it was an MMO blockbuster as far as subscriptions go and impact on products that followed.

Having beta-tested WAR I was not too surprised that it’s success, relative to World of Warcraft, was not what EA thought it would be.  The game never really hooked me and seemed to emulate much of what Blizzard had done without understanding the why it was done.  I do think the game has plenty of legs though and I think it brought some really good ideas to the table that I am sure we will see in future products.  I hope that the success of WAR did not affect this departure but I suspect it may have played a role.

I wish him the best of luck and I hope this merge brings good things to us in the future.

Link: http://kotaku.com/5302069/ea-combines-mythic-and-bioware-into-a-giant-rpg-robot

I really enjoyed the first Mass Effect story it made me feel like I was playing a movie, more director then player but still had a good amount of action. I hope that the controls have been tightened up for the sequel and more depth is given to the combat system but the story seems to be on point thus far and filled with all the drama and intensity of the original with a grittier darker edge. Of course I am also waiting on Dragon Age: Origins which promises to be dark and bloody. I am not a big fan of the music choice in the trailers but I like the images.