Since DICE basically presented us with Battlefield V in World War II in Battlefield 1 content updates in the form of DLCs were once again supposed to expand the battlefield. However, the game did not meet the expectations of publisher EA, which is why it was discontinued after just one free update. It goes by the name War in the Pacific and transports the scenario to the eponymous Pacific. In addition, the accompanying soundtrack was also released as an EP and OST – it's something I guess.
Since I didn't like the short albums for the main game at all, my hopes for the expansion were modest. In fact, however, there is no feared difference in quality between the OST and the additional album; both are of medium to high quality. Unfortunately, the music in War in the Pacific doesn't quite measure up to that of the main game. This is mainly because, in addition to the numerous suspense pieces such as Processions or Gongs of the Island there is a heavy emphasis on typical Japanese sounds – which makes sense, given that the conflict is between Japan and the USA.
For me, this is rarely something I really listen to, even though notable exceptions such as Shogun 2: Total War or Ghost of Tshushima / Ghost of Yōtei thankfully keep defying my preconceptions. For this album, Johan Söderqvist and Patrik Andrén mix parts of the Battlefield V-DNA with classical Japanese instruments such as fast drums (Battle of Dan-no-Ura [Japanese Traditional]) or flutes (Battle of the Island), which produces interesting, albeit not very rousing, results. Only Tropical Storm as a variation of Spitfires comes close to reaching the 5-star mark, but fails to quite make it.
Other examples such as Despair of the Earth bring the horrors of the Pacific theater to life, while Battle of Iwo Jima almost reaches Avengers-level action movie excitement. Glorious Victory also follows in the wake of Glorifica from the main game, but without reaching its depth. The most “interesting” outlier is Pacific Rave [Bonus] which – as the name suggests – doesn't take the Battlefield-setting quite so seriously and brings the Ibiza clubs to Japan.
All in all, as with the DLCs for its predecessor Battlefield 1, the music in the expansion represents a thematic shift to a new setting, which, however, is less compelling than that of the main game. The combination of Japanese and Western elements does not work well enough, which is why the difference in quality lies not between the albums, but between the main game and the expansion.
Nostalgia warning
The rating of the individual tracks is purely subjective and clearly colored by my own experience with the game. You can find out more in the article About Nostalgia.
