19XX: The War Against Destiny

For those who are not familiar with the game, "19XX: The War Against Destiny" was the last game in Capcom's World War II shooters, following "1942," "1943," and "1941." As the title indicates, the game itself does not really continue the World War II theme from the previous games.

The soundtrack contains all of the background music and sound effects from the video game. Knowing that, I was not expecting much from this CD. However, I actually received less than that.

One of the biggest problems with this soundtrack is that the music sounds and feels very weak. Drum support for most of the songs is very light, and there are no strong melodies or harmonies in any of the songs (two things that are usually emphasized in Capcom game music). Also, the boss music tracks are really lacking in the intensity category.

The major flaw with this soundtrack is the instrumentation. For example, "The Red Naval Port" has a loud (and annoying) African cowbell, which gives the song more of a goofy sound. Another song, "Dance of Green Gnome", contains bagpipes and bongos, and sounds... well, just plain weird.

Despite those flaws, there are a couple attention-grabbing songs on this soundtrack. One of them is "Silver Ice Sheet", which has an almost relaxing sound and is one of the few songs with an appropriate title. Another is "City Light in the Black Strait", which contains two really jazzy songs (the second being the better of the two). Two bonus tracks are also included, but one of them sounds as if it is from an 8-bit version of one of the earlier games (which, of course, isn't saying much).

Sadly, the best thing about this soundtrack is the bonuses included in the liner notes. Included are sheet music to "The Red Naval Port" and "Dance of Green Gnome", along with some screen shots and box-art of the previous games.

19XX: The War Against Destiny is not a terrible soundtrack, it's just... odd. Granted, this is an original game soundtrack, and not much should be expected of its quality. However, it is not one of the better original game soundtracks available, and definitely not one of the better soundtracks from Capcom.