Sci-fi meets fairy forest

1942, 2, 2142, 1943, 3, 4, 1, 5, 6; if you're counting like that, you're counting Battlefield. For 23 years, EA's shooter brand has been thrilling and frustrating players in equal measure, and with over 15 games to its name, it's a long-running and formerly successful series. This mammoth of large-scale combat is so extensive that I've already given it its very own Top 10 Battlefield scores . We won't know until October whether Battlefield 6 can build on the triumphs of past titles, but the two beta weekends, during which I was able to throw myself into battle, were quite solid.

With all the hope for former greatness, I wanted to check out the music for a lesser-known offshoot: Battlefield 2142, DICE's only foray into the distant future, which successfully transposes the gameplay of Battlefield 2 into a sci-fi setting without being a pure reskin. Since I was very busy with Dark Messiah of Might and Magic at the time and access to the internet was a problem, I played 2142 but never excessively. This was partly because I was leading a clan with my brother at the time, and the former unity was threatening to crumble due to the division between several games – childish, stupid, but that's how the (my) 2000s were.

Games from the Battlefield-series

Battlefield 1942 (2002)

Battlefield Vietnam (2004)

Battlefield 2 (2005)

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (2005)

Battlefield 2142 (2006)

Battlefield: Bad Company (2008)

Battlefield Heroes (2009)

Battlefield 1943 (2009)

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010)

Battlefield 3 (2011)

Battlefield 4 (2013)

Battlefield Hardline (2015)

Battlefield 1 (2016)

Battlefield V (2018)

Battlefield 2042 (2021)

Battlefield 6 (2025)

Now let's move on to the music by Austrian composer Gregor Narholz, who wrote the 14-track (or, according to fan wiki even 17-track) OST and should not be confused with his father Gerhard Narholz (also a composer). Narholz Junior (i.e. Gregor) is no stranger to music and, in addition to the score for X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse has also composed pieces for Valiant Hearts or Sid Meier’s Civilization V. However, he has enjoyed his greatest success in the TV and film business, where he wrote the score for the first SpongeBob SquarePants-movie, among other things.

His OST for Battlefield 2142 initially ticks all the boxes and introduces its own style, which would go on to become the standard for the music of its successors. What does the album offer?

• Dramatic, stirring acoustics
• Impressive Battlefield-brass instruments
• War pathos

However, Narholz has something new in store for the series: whereas Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 only had themes for the loading screens of the different factions, the Austrian composer has given each map its own theme. While this only vaguely reflects the classic sound tropes of places like the Suez Canal, Minsk or Tunis Habor the sci-fi setting makes this easy to overlook.

Speaking of sci-fi: in my opinion, the futuristic setting is only partially reflected in the score compared to other games in the genre, such as the Command & Conquer-series or the one year later released Mass Effect which was released a year later. Narholz's approach seems much more like leading a marching band through a fantasy village, and I see pieces like Fall of Berlin more as a battle between humans and mages than between men and mechs. The only exception for me is Menu Music which starts off with dark, almost horror-like overtones reminiscent of Dead Space/Lost Planet before becoming a little more conciliatory towards the end.

Conversely, the fantasy touch in Theme Battlefield 2142 actually appeals to me, especially since it is also referenced in other pieces. I always thought the track had something of The Chronicles of Narnia about it – and that's not a bad thing. The opening, the quiet moments to catch your breath, and then the big fanfare again, fitting for the brand, even if the familiar Battlefield-theme fades a bit into the background. It is very much present in Battlefield Rock Theme instead, though I wouldn't really have missed it.

The music of Battlefield 2142 deliberately represents a musical departure from the core of the brand, which somewhat matches the setting. The world has evolved and no one listens to 100-year-old war anthems anymore... or something like that. Or maybe Narholz just wanted to give the whole thing his own spin. Although this wasn't built upon in later installments, it's still better than Battlefield 2042 attempted industrial whale sounds.