Star Trek: New Worlds
Year: 2000
Type: Gamerip
Composer(s): Julian Soule; Inon Zur
Number of tracks: 15
Beautiful new worlds
Lange hat es gedauert, hier ist sie. Die erste Musik-Review zu einem Spiel der Marke Star Trek. Und während noch nicht einmal die meisten Trekkies New Worlds kennen werden, hat es für mich einen der besten Scores des Videospiel-Franchises. Hier mag gleichsam einiges an Sympathie meinerseits mitschwingen, da ich dieses Drecksspiel damals wirklich gerne gezockt habe. Denn es war ein Drecksspiel, quasi ein Soulslike bevor es Soulslikes gab – und das als Echtzeitstrategie-Game.
Grund dafür war die einfache Tatsache, dass das Spiel nur den Fortschritt in der Kampagne gespeichert hat, man innerhalb der einzelnen Missionen aber nicht speichern konnte. Eine schlechte Kombination für einen jungen Gamingzögling ohne viel Strategie-Erfahrung bei einem Spiel, das ein relativ umfangreiches Ressourcen- und Micro-Management, komplexe Missionsziele und ein grässlich unübersichtliches HUD mit sich brachte. Gepaart mit einer Mutter, die streng auf Computerzeiten achtete, einem Bruder, der ebenfalls an den PC wollte und der nicht ganz sauberen Programmierung, die häufiger mal zu Abstürzen führte, wurde jede der gut ein bis zwei Stunden langen Mission zum Rennen gegen die Zeit.
Wobei die eigentliche Idee ganz cool war: Bei einem Experiment der Romulaner ist etwas schiefgelaufen und auf einmal tauchen zahlreiche neue Planeten auf, die sie, die Klingonen und natürlich auch die Föderation erforschen und kolonisieren wollen. Angesiedelt in der Ära von Kirk und Konsorten, ohne Khitomer-Abkommen und mit den mysteriösen Romulanern als offensichtliche Schurken, hatte man genug fruchtbaden Boden für spannende Einsätze auf der Planetenoberfläche – ein noch nie dagewesenen und bis dato leider auch einzigartiges Themenfeld der Star Trek-Games.
Be that as it may, it's probably better in retrospect that there was never a sequel; after all, sites like Metacritic clearly indicate that New Worlds nie die Klasse erreicht hat, der ich es damals zuordnete. Trotzdem bleibe ich dabei, dass ich gerne wieder mehr (Strategie-)Spiele im Star Trek-cosmos. Armada, Bridge Commander, Starfleet Commander, Elite Force ... such a great IP, so little used. And that this is a shame is shown not least by my Top 10 Sci-Fi soundtracks, auf der sich das Franchise um Picard, Spock und als Aliens verkleideten Menschen in Gummanzügen nur der Marke Mass Effect geschlagen geben muss!
The reason for this is not least the music for New Worlds, which was composed by Julian Soule (not his brother Jeremy Soule) and Inon Zur and which actually comes off best with an average rating of 4.5 stars for 15 tracks. The tracks on the Gamerip can be divided into two categories. The "Encounter" tracks, which are played during combat, and the "Start" tracks, which are the ambient background music. In addition, there are 3 "Various" tracks, in which sound snippets and stingers from the individual factions have been compiled ... but I don't want to annoy you here with technical babble.
The individual pieces are pleasantly different from one another without seeming disjointed. For the most part, the composers not only succeed in giving the individual factions and locations their own character, but also remain true to the style of the films. Wind instruments, for example, appear again and again as driving elements that often provide the defining timbres on the screen and in the series.
All the tracks follow a certain structure: a gentle introduction, a strong middle, a leisurely fade-out. This makes it easy for the songs to be looped without being annoying and is certainly due to the fact that this is a game from the beginning of the millennium. As a result, you shouldn't expect any crazy instrumentation, but rather similarities to other scores from the time.
Ecounter (Hubrin)", for example, is reminiscent of The Elder Scrolls or games from the Dungeons & Dragons-universe, while "Start (Alpine)" with its mixture of horns, strings and electric guitars is reminiscent of Sim City 4. And while "Start (Ice)" and "Start (Lava)" sound partly like they were borrowed from the SpellForce-series, "Start (Mars)" brings back memories of Earth 2150 . So if there are all these similarities, perhaps I only find the music so cool because it reminds me of other, equally good games?
No!", I can say with a happy heart, because the New Worlds score does something unusual that I also liked in Emergency 2. Zur and Soule use electric guitars in many tracks - not, however, in the "Encounter"/action tracks, as one might initially assume, but in the ambient tracks. This sounds strange, as the shrill of electrically amplified strings does not necessarily suggest relaxation, but is rather used for pulse-pounding DOOM.
In contrast, the composers use the riffs and scales in New Worlds as accompaniment, as would otherwise be the case for strings, for instance. Take "Start (Desert)", as an example. As the name suggests, it takes us to sandy climes and makes use of Middle Eastern tropes such as flutes and shallow percussion. The relaxed melody allows the expanse of an oriental steppe to spread out before our mind's eye, while long wind instruments accompany the whole thing - symptomatic of the New Worlds-score.
What would continue in other games as a trivial drone is now supplemented here by the aforementioned electric guitar. While the strings and winds play and swell the melody, they are drowned out by the guitar on the second repetition. Instead of dominating the acoustic image, however, it withdraws before playing the melody and dancing above the action.
This image is continued in the other "Start" tracks, where the instrument is sometimes used more, sometimes less. Beyond that, the game's music is also rock solid. With the exception of "Encounter (Metar)", the encounters sound excellent across the board and capture the character of the respective factions very well according to their originals.
The Federation sounds sublime with its horns and fanfares and, in the spirit of Jerry Goldsmith (Star Trek I, Star Trek V, First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis), gives an idea of the spirit of the original film. The Klingons seem threatening due to the lower tones, even if none of the familiar motifs are heard here. The same applies to the Romulans, who, due to the lack of a motif, are given their own theme that is somewhere between mysterious, playful and unpredictable.
Overall, with the exception of the "Various" tracks, I find the Gamerip entirely recommendable and with an average length of two and a half minutes per track, it's basically like a good album CD that you can listen to in one go. Which you should. I'm just saying ... it's really good!
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.
| Nr. | Title | Interpret(en) | Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Encounter (Federation) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur |  |
| 02 | Encounter (Hubrin) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 03 | Encounter (Klingon) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 04 | Encounter (Metar) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur |  |
| 05 | Encounter (Romulan) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur |  |
| 06 | Encounter (Taubat) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 07 | Start (Alpine) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 08 | Start (Desert) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 09 | Start (Ice) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 10 | Start (Lava) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 11 | Start (Mars) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 12 | Start (Mountain) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 13 | Various (Federation) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 14 | Various (Klingon) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
| 15 | Various (Romulan) | Julian Soule; Inon Zur | |
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