Spore Hero
Winifred Phillips
" Creative yet wild representation of Spore's heroic sequel "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Spore has finally come to the Wii in an all new adventure entitled Spore Hero. Create your own hero and fight & explore to save the planet you've crash-landed on. Along for the ride is composer Winifred Philips, known for her musical scores on SimAnimals, Speed Racer, Shrek the Third and God of War.
I've recently discovered Winifred Philips through SimAnimals, and it became a refreshing playful experience. I was hoping for the same of Spore. Sadly, I feel that this score loses interest because of various things. While the soft relaxing cues present the same charm of SimAnimals, the action moments tend to go out of control, and alongside the fact this is sampled and not orchestral they tend to hurt more than one would like.
The score opens where SimAnimals left us, namely with a refreshing light airy and bouncy little cue. "Spore Hero Main Theme" introduces us to the theme. And while "Home World" briefly reinstates it, it is the mysterious surrounding score that captures nonetheless our interest instead. This interesting side is enhanced during "Haven", definitely one of the most soothing and playful tracks of the entire selection.
Spore Hero is not the orchestral thematic score, it is the sampled bouncy little score that enhances more the effect of the surroundings and actions. Rather than forming a melodic free flowing movement, Spore Hero is all about interaction with the scenery and actions one will make. "Sporaging" shows this the best with a on edge exploration of one of the games strategies.
"Sporezone" continues the road of exploration, with mystery and fantasy creating eerie environments whilst surrounding itself with variations of the main theme. But as light as that was, "Monster Mayhem" totally explodes with atonal strikes and heroic delights.
Fluffy and expressive during "Sporeplore", wild and zany during "Beast Brawl", charming and relaxing during "Wanderment", warm and beautiful during "Sporeward", brassy and threatening during "Nemesis", crazy and zany during "Evolvable" and "Critters", the score does tend to sound a bit alike. "Spore War" for better or worse adds more electronic weight in it, but suddenly it becomes totally awesome when a choral sample starts adding epic qualities to a score I thought was lost for the duration of the time.
After this the "Hero Theme" continues the road of giving us more epic and enjoyable material, showing that the road of the final 2 tracks should have been introduced earlier in the game.
It hurts giving the score this rating, especially considering how well the score turned out in the final 2 tracks. But I can't ignore nor delete the overall impression of the cues that went before them. What troubles me more is the fact the entire score is sampled. In an age where game music turns up practically completely orchestral, it begins to sound weird when we still encounter the sampled / synthesized scores. But of course that is a case of budget and one we can't attack the composer for. It may be creative overall and totally rambunctious in the final 2 tracks, but I wished it would have began that way, not ended with it. Spore Hero will play good enough on the background and during the game, but it lacks cohesion, making it spin out of control too often during the entire listening experience.
Tracklisting
1. Spore Hero Main Theme (2.37)
2. Home World (1.49)
3. Haven (5.10)
4. Sporable (2.23)
5. Sporaging (2.46)
6. SporeZone (5.58)
7. Monster Mayhem (2.06)
8. Sporeplore (5.13)
9. Beast Brawl (1.55)
10. Wanderment (6.00)
11. Sporeward (2.42)
12. Creepy Things (4.38)
13. Evolvable (3.22)
14. Sporabilities (2.04)
15. Nemesis (3.36)
16. Critters (2.28)
17. Spore War (3.06) Excellent track
18. Hero Theme (3.55)
Total Length: 62.00
I've recently discovered Winifred Philips through SimAnimals, and it became a refreshing playful experience. I was hoping for the same of Spore. Sadly, I feel that this score loses interest because of various things. While the soft relaxing cues present the same charm of SimAnimals, the action moments tend to go out of control, and alongside the fact this is sampled and not orchestral they tend to hurt more than one would like.
The score opens where SimAnimals left us, namely with a refreshing light airy and bouncy little cue. "Spore Hero Main Theme" introduces us to the theme. And while "Home World" briefly reinstates it, it is the mysterious surrounding score that captures nonetheless our interest instead. This interesting side is enhanced during "Haven", definitely one of the most soothing and playful tracks of the entire selection.
Spore Hero is not the orchestral thematic score, it is the sampled bouncy little score that enhances more the effect of the surroundings and actions. Rather than forming a melodic free flowing movement, Spore Hero is all about interaction with the scenery and actions one will make. "Sporaging" shows this the best with a on edge exploration of one of the games strategies.
"Sporezone" continues the road of exploration, with mystery and fantasy creating eerie environments whilst surrounding itself with variations of the main theme. But as light as that was, "Monster Mayhem" totally explodes with atonal strikes and heroic delights.
Fluffy and expressive during "Sporeplore", wild and zany during "Beast Brawl", charming and relaxing during "Wanderment", warm and beautiful during "Sporeward", brassy and threatening during "Nemesis", crazy and zany during "Evolvable" and "Critters", the score does tend to sound a bit alike. "Spore War" for better or worse adds more electronic weight in it, but suddenly it becomes totally awesome when a choral sample starts adding epic qualities to a score I thought was lost for the duration of the time.
After this the "Hero Theme" continues the road of giving us more epic and enjoyable material, showing that the road of the final 2 tracks should have been introduced earlier in the game.
It hurts giving the score this rating, especially considering how well the score turned out in the final 2 tracks. But I can't ignore nor delete the overall impression of the cues that went before them. What troubles me more is the fact the entire score is sampled. In an age where game music turns up practically completely orchestral, it begins to sound weird when we still encounter the sampled / synthesized scores. But of course that is a case of budget and one we can't attack the composer for. It may be creative overall and totally rambunctious in the final 2 tracks, but I wished it would have began that way, not ended with it. Spore Hero will play good enough on the background and during the game, but it lacks cohesion, making it spin out of control too often during the entire listening experience.
Tracklisting
1. Spore Hero Main Theme (2.37)
2. Home World (1.49)
3. Haven (5.10)
4. Sporable (2.23)
5. Sporaging (2.46)
6. SporeZone (5.58)
7. Monster Mayhem (2.06)
8. Sporeplore (5.13)
9. Beast Brawl (1.55)
10. Wanderment (6.00)
11. Sporeward (2.42)
12. Creepy Things (4.38)
13. Evolvable (3.22)
14. Sporabilities (2.04)
15. Nemesis (3.36)
16. Critters (2.28)
17. Spore War (3.06) Excellent track
18. Hero Theme (3.55)
Total Length: 62.00