Year: 2002
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST) / Gamerip
Composer(s): Joel Eriksson
Number of tracks: 7 / 24

★★★★★

Music from a more civilized time

Dada dat da dat dat. When you hear this sequence of sounds, you might initially think of a Rhinelander in the supermarket who is unwilling to communicate and is trying to tell the meat sales clerk which sausage he wants to stuff down his throat tonight. You could also think it's the tinny theme from Terminator and that an Austrian in leather gear is going to come running into the room any second. Both are wrong.

In fact, it is unmistakably the popular theme from the Battlefield-series, which celebrated its debut in the first offshoot Battlefield 1942 . Now, I was just 10 years old in 2002 and the idea of shooting at other people on a local network, let alone the internet, was as far-fetched as the idea that Guy Fieri would last longer than the 2000s in the collective memory or that climate change would really become 'such a pressing problem'.

Battlefield 1942 (2002)

Battlefield Vietnam (2004)

Battlefield 2 (2005)

Battlefield 2: Special Forces (2005)

Battlefield2: Euro Force (2006)

Battlefield 3 (2011)

Battlefield 2042 (2021)

I actually only got to play its successor, Battlefield 2, a few years later - and even then I was already too late. But that doesn't change the fact that I loved playing the shooter series and would have loved to continue playing it if it hadn't been for the recent release of the new sequel Battlefield 2042 , which completely destroyed my hopes for the good old days before Battlefield V . Not only does it play like a latency-induced Gothic 3 , but also sounds like the sonic depression of a metalhead who has just found the distortion effect in Audacity, I thought it made sense to take a look at the glorious past ... or rather listen to it.

The fact that this is a game of the past is immediately apparent. The soundtrack by forefather Joel Eriksson (the composer, not the racing driver) is simple and straight forward: drums and fanfares blaring out a march create a world war atmosphere and we can already hear the above-mentioned 'Dada dat ...' in the intro, which was to accompany us for many iterations to come. Unlike in the later installments, there is a musical division between situations in this gamerip. The names already give it away: Slaughter and Stress sound like classic shooter fare from the 00s and are reminiscent of Serious Sam or Quake, whereas the Sneak- and Theme-tracks evoke an agent atmosphere à la James Bond and Commandos thanks to the piano chimes.

The later essence of the Battlefield-games, the military tone and the in-your-face-music are best expressed in the Vehicletracks, the source of the main theme (Vehicle IV), which can already be heard in the Intro . Only the Menu is a little out of line, as it sounds sad and untypical of the game and seems more suited to a noire film than a world war setting. That's not to say that world war and sad don't go together. At this point, I would like to recommend my review of Valiant Hearts: The Great War.

But back to Battlefield 1942which laid the foundation for the modern successors in terms of gameplay and music: the soundtrack is okay. A bit blunt and angular, a little too inconsequential here and there to really be worth mentioning without nostalgia goggles. But at least it tells a story and conjures up images in the mind - something that the score for Battlefield 2042 doesn't manage. It makes you wonder where the millions of euros that such AAA titles devour these days have gone. And whether this post from the composer's website is really meant seriously:

A hundred years has passed since making the music for Battlefield 1942. The theme song has taken many shapes. In 2042 it’s a cool Icelandic wind from Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater.

Composer Joel Eriksson on his homepage

Chilly yes, but definitely not cool.

Battlefield 1942

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
1	Intro	Joel Eriksson	4
2	Briefing	Joel Eriksson	4
3	Menu	Joel Eriksson	3
4	Slaughter	Joel Eriksson	4
5	Battlefield 1942	Joel Eriksson	3
6	Vehicle III	Joel Eriksson	3
7	Main Theme (Vehicle IV)	Joel Eriksson	5

Battlefield 1942 [Gamerip]

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Intro*	Joel Eriksson	4
02	Battlefield 1942 Theme [Remix]	Joel Eriksson	2
03	Menu*	Joel Eriksson	3
04	Briefing*	Joel Eriksson	4
05	Slaughter I	Joel Eriksson	4
06	Slaughter II	Joel Eriksson	4
07	Slaughter III	Joel Eriksson	3
08	Slaughter IV	Joel Eriksson	4
09	Sneak I	Joel Eriksson	3
10	Sneak II	Joel Eriksson	2
11	Sneak III	Joel Eriksson	3
12	Sneak IV	Joel Eriksson	3
13	Stress I	Joel Eriksson	3
14	Stress II	Joel Eriksson	3
15	Stress III	Joel Eriksson	3
16	Stress IV	Joel Eriksson	3
17	Theme I	Joel Eriksson	2
18	Theme II	Joel Eriksson	2
19	Theme III	Joel Eriksson	2
20	Theme IV	Joel Eriksson	2
21	Vehicle I	Joel Eriksson	3
22	Vehicle II	Joel Eriksson	3
23	Vehicle III	Joel Eriksson	3
24	Vehicle IV*	Joel Eriksson	5

*Track contained in the Original Soundtrack