Soundtrack Review: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (2002)

Posted by Jon Blough

March 14, 2009

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Medal of Honor Allied Assault This is a review of the video game score to Medal of Honor: Allied Assault by Michael Giacchino.

Do not be deterred by how short this release is. It takes the saga in a lot of delightful new directions. The new main theme is another perfect fit for the series, mixing the soaring military spirit of the main theme for the first score with the flowing style from the main theme from Underground. It is mixed into all the following cues in marvelously diverse ways, whether subdued in “North Africa” or rousing in “Tigertank”. Yet what makes this short release work like few short releases do is the memorable personality in each cue. “North Africa” finally introduces non-traditional elements into Giacchino’s works, with African drums adding to an effectively suspenseful cue. “Schmerzen” effectively reworks motifs from the original Medal of Honor score (those from “Stopping the V2 and, in a nice touch, “Attack on Fort Schmerzen”) into another strong, boisterous action cue. “Tigertank” is a thunderous delight, complete with the Nazi fanfare and plenty of stylistic nods to “Belly of the Steel Beast”. Only the mostly “Snipertown” may disappoint a little, though fans of the composer’s suspense work for Lost will enjoy its unnerving nature. Brevity prevents this score from attaining comparable ratings to its predecessors, yet the quality of each composition here is so strong that any fan of the series must pick this up. If nothing else, it’s a good complement to the work Giacchino did in the same year on Medal of Honor: Frontline, his masterpiece.