Crysis 2
Blockbuster
That's why we'd rather go straight to something that really stood out: the music. A quartet of composers was commissioned to ensure that the typical Hollywood 'Murrica world-saving orgy was accompanied by befitting tones to encourage armed patriotism. Borislav Slavov, who is best known these days for his work on the fantastic Baldur’s Gate 3 , probably had the largest share in the OST. Next in line is Tilman Sillescu, who, as lead composer at Dynamedion, gave scores such as those for Anno 1800 or SpellForce 2 their class.
As if that wasn't enough, heavyweight Lorne Balfe (Assassin’s Creed III, Modern Warfare 2), as well as film great Hans Zimmer join the party. The pair, who have also worked together on other projects such as the Pirates of the Caribbean-series, the first Iron Man or Madagascar 2 , may 'only' contribute six tracks, but they pack a punch!
These include the apocalyptic Crysis 2 – Intro and the almost identical Insertion, which immediately lull us into an epic mood. The dramatic screeching of the strings, the powerful percussions and this break into theatricality practically radiate a first-class cinematic feeling. Coupled with the dissonances, images worthy of The Dark Knight quickly arise in our minds. This fits in perfectly with Crysis 2 's metropolitan approach and may well have been intentional, as the score was also composed by Zimmer.
Of course, an alpha begs for an omega, which is why Balfe and Zimmer also contribute the Epilogue-theme, which, like the intro, sounds wonderfully cruel and creates a fatalistic malaise. Unlike at the beginning, however, in this case the composers find the beauty, the heroic and allow the track to turn into a Michael Bay-like determination in the middle.
For the sake of completeness, Nano-Catalyst (Terminator plus Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End), Invaders (excerpt of the main theme) and Under Siege (variation of the main theme) should be mentioned, but they are less striking than the movie-like theme, which even made it into my Top 100 best video game tracks as Epilogue.
Now that we have highlighted the contributions of the two gentlemen and thus circled the OST one time, we come to the meat, the main component of the album. Incidentally, there are four versions of this, each with a different name and scope: The Original Video Game Soundtrack as a Digital Release with 31 tracks, Be Fast! with 15, Be the Weapon! with 16 and The Original Videogame Soundtrack with 46. Of course, I have based my review on the most comprehensive version, so please don't be surprised if some tracks don't appear or are labeled differently.
Let's move on to the score. As already exemplified in the theme, Slavov and Sillescu build on a fast-paced mixture in which the strings act as a driving force of menace. However, the focus is less on psychological horror and more on overpowering disillusionment. This means that we are confronted with a kind of hopelessness over long stretches, with the feeling that everything is going down the drain and that our actions will have no effect anyway.
This becomes particularly clear in tracks such as New York – Aftermath, Nanosuit 2 – Crynet Systems, Rising Spear, Semper Fi and Murituri, which outline the various stages of the apocalypse with changing instrumentation (piano, brass, etc.) and intensity: terror, disbelief, despair. This is contrasted by powerful pieces such as No Escape, SOS New York, Chase and Intersection orchestral grenades reminiscent of games such as Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain , which also remind us that we are not powerless, that we can (of course) still save the world.
This emotional tapestry of sound is expanded and completed by additional association-stimulating tracks: Crynet – Shoot Him Down! likewise goes in the direction of C&C, but in places also sounds like the Star Trek-Reboot von Michael J. J. Abrams (Music von Michael Giacchino). Sinister Breed has a Gears of War-feel to it, while Intersection gives real Avengers-vibes. In general, parallels can be drawn to many well-known games and films if you want to. Is that what I want? Not necessarily. I just wanted to use these examples to emphasize the brilliance of the OST, which in my opinion stands for high-class Hollywood action in the PC medium.
Let's summarize: The score for Crysis 2 was truly a milestone for its time in general and for the shooter genre in particular. There is hardly another OST that accompanies the downfall of a civilization with such consistency and variety. The album alternates vividly between oppressive and inspiring doomsday moods and thereby punches the most diverse musical buttons. It remains shockingly uniform without being boring, blasting our ears without being annoying. It really is a showcase album that transferred the film score, which was even more established at the time, into the world of video games. Simply masterful.
