Music From the Battlefield
I’ve had mixed emotions towards the latest installation in the Battlefield franchise, Bad Company. Mostly due to my history with the series. I played Battlefield 1942 to death. Battlefield Vietnam saw quite a bit of action on my old PC gaming rig as well. By the time Battlefield 2 came out, my PC was a bit behind the times and struggled to keep up, so I didn’t play too much. After jumping the PC gaming ship, I picked up Battlefield: Modern Combat when it was re-released on the Xbox 360. I had some fun with it, but my good times were cut short by a slew of bugs and an onslaught of cheaters that rendered the game virtually unplayable online. Needless to say, I had my reasons for being hesitant about getting too excited over Bad Company. Thankfully, it seems my worries can be put to rest.
Since I’ve only put a couple hours into the single player campaign and haven’t laid a finger on the multiplayer end just yet, I’m not going to talk about the game at all. Other than to say that it’s a hell of a lot of fun blowing buildings to bits.
This morning I made an iTunes purchase which already has a play count of 7 – that being the Bad Company soundtrack. Mikael Karlsson is credited as composing the score. I had not heard of him until today, and I have a feeling this will not be the last time I see his name in my library. He’s taken beautiful and memorable theme in a new direction, and has really worked wonders with it.
Evolution of the Theme
I was able to find examples of all of the significant variations of the theme, starting with Battlefield 1942 right through to Bad Company. Enjoy…
Battlefield 1942
I played this game a lot. And I believe I sat through the majority of the intro every time. The loading screen also had great music.
Battlefield 1942: Secret Weapons of WWII
How great is this intro? The 80s cartoon sound effects make me smile every time.
Battlefield Vietnam: World War II Mod
The theme actually wasn’t present in the retail version of Battlefield Vietnam. But it made an appearance in the official World War II mod which featured some revamped BF1942 maps.
Battlefield 2
I totally had goosebumps the first time I fired up BF2.
Battlefield 2142
Unfortunately, I never got to play BF2142 since I’ve been out of PC gaming for a couple years now. Glad to see the theme is in tact, though.
Battlefield: Bad Company
This video isn’t the greatest, but it’s the only one I could find that shows that pre-game intro. I love how they synced the credits to the accents in the music. Again, goosebumps as I watched this the first time.
Battlefield Heroes
Even the free-to-play PC game Battlefield Heroes still sports the theme. Or at least, 2 seconds of it. The rest makes me want to smash my face off my desk repeatedly.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
While this theme is quite different, you can still hear that it’s based on the original theme and shares some similarities with the others.
Battlefield 3
I’m not a fan of this rendition in the least. In fact, I actually deleted the entire soundtrack from my iTunes library.
Battlefield 4
Along the same lines as the Battlefield 3 theme, but not nearly as aggravating.
Battlefield 1
The original theme makes a triumphant return in Battlefield 1.