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Battlefeeld

Today I would like to take you on a journey. Not only to the distant year 2005, when the resurgence of the Cold War and a global arms race were still reserved as a fictional scenario for video games, but also (as is so often the case) to my youth. It was 17 years ago that I was still a tender 13, a measly three years too young to legally play Battlefield 2 - but I wanted to. Even more so after I had tasted digital blood a few years later (thanks to LAN parties).

And then, when I got hold of a backup copy of the CD in a perfectly legal way, there was the pain of realizing that Dice's tactical shooter didn't support bots. Where in Counter-Strike: Source I could spend my nights fighting Dave, Gabe and Eric, in Battlefield 2 I could only run across empty maps and couldn't even capture flags because there weren't enough players in the lobby ... depressing, but at least there was Star Wars: Battlefront.

Nevertheless, I kept exposing myself to this psychological torture, like a dog hoping to get some food from the table in spite of a strict parental home. Of course, online lobbies didn't miraculously appear in my parents' internet-free home at some point, no matter how much I wanted them to. But there was something good about this self-imposed martyrdom: the soundtrack.

Despite it not being amazingly vast (which is not unheard of for a shooter), it had two tracks that still make me sink into my gaming chair today - but let's get to the point. The ten tracks were composed by Fredrik Englund, David Tallroth and Jonas Östholm, who musically have not made any other appearances to my knowledge. From today's perspective, this is a welcome coincidence, as later music writers such as Johan Skugge, Jukka Rintamäki and Mikael Karlsson were to add exciting facets to the Battlefield-brand.

Nevertheless, the Battlefield 2 gamerip remains something special. Here we only have to leave out the six super-short faction-specific victory and defeat themes, because they are ultimately irrelevant. Instead, let's take a look at the four important tracks: "Menu Music" is a typical multiplayer lobby tune, which with its groovy strings and SFX is a little reminiscent of Splinter Cell - okay, but not an ear-catcher.

The "China Loading Theme" is pure Asia-bingo and doesn't stand out for its creativity or uniqueness either. If it wasn't for the short Battlefield-theme intermezzo in the middle, the track could have been borrowed from Command & Conquer: Generals . Equally stereotypical, "US Victory" is a short rendition of the American national anthem "Star Spangled Banner" ... the same for everyone it seems. That leaves two tracks, namely "MEC Loading Theme" and "Armored Fury / US Loading Theme".

And those are supposed to be so special? Mais oui! Since I've already written about them in my Top 10 Battlefield Scores list, I'm happy to repeat myself here: Top 10 Battlefield Scores-list, I'm happy to repeat myself here:

We already know the "US Loading" version, because it is - drum roll - a variation of the well-known Battlefield-theme from 1942, this time with a few snappy vocals and a little more SFX bling bling. This is contrasted by the "MEC Loading Theme", which is original for this game and simply rocks beyond belief with its Arabic-influenced interplay of zithers, strings and the contrasting electric guitar. Anyone who doesn't do a belly dance in front of the loading bar followed by an air guitar solo is dead to me.

from Top 10 Battlefield Scores

Both songs are simply incredible fun, even if the nostalgia is bubbling out of me again here. I would also like to emphasize that, of course, there is a heavy use of tropes, making the evil MEC terrorists sound oriental - it's still 2005, four years after September 11th after all. That can be a sour pill to swallow today, but at this point I'm deliberately separating track and implications. The "MEC Loading Theme" simply makes me happy, be it with a virtual machine gun in my virtual hand... or while cooking.

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Nr.	Title	Interpret	Ratings
01	Menu Music	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	3
02	MEC Loading Theme	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	5
03	China Loading Theme	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	3
04	Armored Fury / US Loading Theme	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	5
05	US Victory	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2
06	US Defeat	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	1
07	MEC Victory	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2
08	MEC Defeat	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2
09	China Victory	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2
10	China Defeat	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2

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Special Forces

Anyone searching the Internet for the Battlefield 2 will have noticed that it is listed there with 18 tracks. What's going on there? Is Mattis withholding some 'aural' pleasure here? No way! Instead, he fell victim to his pedantry again and had to split the remaining eight tracks between the corresponding expansions.

Starting with Special Forceswhich, in addition to night cards, introduces the two special forces factions of the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) and the Russian equivalent of the Spetsnaz. They have both been given a track each for victory and defeat, which add up to a total duration of just over a minute. This makes the description text longer than it would take to listen through, but hopefully a little more entertaining. Apart from the expected quotes from the respective national anthems, there's nothing worth mentioning here.

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Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	SAS Victory	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2
02	SAS Defeat	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	1
03	Spetsnaz Victory	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2
04	Spetsnaz Defeat	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	1

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Euro Force

In the second expansion, the fictitious European army had to take on a no less fictitious rebel faction. At just under a minute, the gamerip for Euro Force is even shorter, but has at least one noticeable detail: the rebel tracks. They are dominated by the choir, which makes "Rebel Victory" sound a bit like Battlefield-theme in Ronja Räubertochter-style ... sometimes I wonder how my brain works.

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Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	EU Victory	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	1
02	EU Defeat	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	1
03	Rebel Victory	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	2
04	Rebel Defeat	Fredrik Englund; David Tallroth; Jonas Östholm	1