Aliascent's blog

It's been a while since the last post, but we're finally live again. New theme, new font, new background, everything is now nice and shiny, as it ought to be. And I thought I'd get things started again by telling you about a game I've spent 400h playing: Nuclear Throne. Back in june 2015, I bought this little game for the low price of 12,99€. And boy, that was money well spent. This game is crazy, fast-paced, unfair as hell and extremely hard, but also very rewarding and satisfying. But I somehow couldn't stop playing it; its simple yet addictive game play (grab a weapon, dodge bullets, shoot back, die because why not, and restart asap) was enough to keep me interested. But what would a game with good game play and lovely graphics be without a good soundtrack to back it up ? The answer is : nothing. And Nuclear Throne sure isn't lacking in the "awesome tunes" department. Sometimes creepy, sometimes sad, but always enjoyable, NT's soundtr...

A few months late, but here his the 10th post. On a sidenote, since I restarted this blog, I managed to reach almost 400 views. It's not much but still way more than I expected. About 400 times more. Back on music. Today's piece comes from an old strategy game, first released on Amiga and Atari, and later on NES. The game is called "Supremacy: Your Will Be Done " which,-let's be honest- is an awful title, and "Overlord" in the US.Yes, they basically managed to sum up the whole thing in one word. Why did they not think about it earlier ? I don't know. Anyways, in 1993 the game was ported on the NES, and this version is known for not having lots of music, mainly the main title. But god, what a main title it is. Carried by a deep, powerful bassline (I know, this always comes back in this black. But I love poweful basslines.), that only a NES could produce, with a wavy, sweet melody on top of it, conveying an immense sadness, or maybe a kind of nosta...

It's been a while since the last update, almost 2 months. Life kept me pretty busy, but here is for you: a shinny new post. And today we're going to have some Medal of Honor. This series started back in 1999-2000, on the PSX. It was one of the few FPS on the PSX, and due to its incredible ambiance and the "realism" of the AI, it became a renowned game. Circa 2002, MoH:Allied Assault definitely made the series incredibly popular and praised for being awesome. Although the latest entries destroyed the series ( modern stuffs ? in my Medal of honor ? WHY ?), in 2007, Medal of Honor Airborne was released. Even if it suffered from the same defect as most of the MoH games between Allied Assault and the reboot, being ok-ish games but not unforgettable, Airborne kept an essential point of the MoH series: its soundtrack. For those who have read this blog before, you'll know that orchestral soundtracks are really common, and are the easiest way to give a...

Released in 1995 by Epic Megames ( which later released an obscure game called Unreal Tournament), Tyrian was a really fun shoot'em up. Not only fun, but also well made in every aspect, from graphics to music. It featured everything: Funny gameplay, cool customizable ships,tons of weapons, eye-candy explosions, humor everywhere and some trolls by the developpers were also built in. Yep, really. And in this perfection, there is something that got carved in the brain of evryone who played it. The buy and sell music. Although Tyrian is quite a light-hearted game, this music has dark undertones on it, and it fits quite well, because it's in this menu that you'll get to read the datas you've gathered. And some of those datas are far from being funny (go play the game, it's free). So basically, this tune is the perfect representation of Tyrian: it's fun, yet scratch the surface and find the gloomy stuffs. Needless to say, everybody who played it had it stuck in ...

Just a clarification on the title: this post shoud have been n°5, but I actually published the n°6 before. So this one becomes n°7. Logic, I don't have it. Those who follow me since the beginning will have notice that so far, orchestral soundtracks have dominated this blog. So let's have a little break from that and have some metal. Released in 1996, Red Alert has been a huge success and quickly became one of the most well known RTS franchise. And there is this particular song. For the younger readers of this blog, there was a time when soundtrack weren't all  dubstep or grandiloquent orchestral pieces done by orchestras from eastern Europe (Because hey, it's cheap). Just a single groovy bass line, some melody to go with it and drums, and there you go, you had your soundtrack. And the Hell march is one of those sountracks. Starting out with some bass, followed by roaring guitars, it's a pretty good soundtrack for a game dealing with a communist invasion...

We're in september, people are going back to work, others are going back to school, and overall, it's depressing. So here is something to give you a little boost. Released in 2001, Return to Castle Wolfenstein ( from now I'll write RtCW. The whole thing is too damn long) is close of being FPS' excellence. It features a decent story-line, humour, neat graphics (at least for 2001), and a fast, skilled, unforgiving gameplay. Oh, you have probably guessed by now, it also has an excellent OST.(yep, there's a reason of talking about this game on this blog), an OST made, like most WWII shooters, of grandiloquent orchestral pieces. But then , there is this particuliar piece, simply called "action." And well, I couldn't see a better name for it. You'll mostly hear it ingame when you just failed to be subtle / something big is coming at you. And you hear it, you know  you have to move on. The massive string ensemble, the fantastic drums plowing your hea...

After being delayed for almost a month ( thanks to being quite busy), the new post is finally here. And today, we'll have some Castle Crashers OST. Released in 2008, Caste Crasher is a mix of Beat em All and RPG. Starting in the depths of Indie gaming, it finally rose to the rank of an hailed and praised title. Although the game in itself is a jewel of humour,fun and totally kicks asses, there is no doubt that its OST had a major role in this game success. Full of energy, mixing metal with techno, while still having the orchestral tracks you would expect from a medieval, heroic fantasy themed game. And then I heard Space Pirates. I was seriously thinking all video games now were bound to have some orchestral, grandiloquent music ; till this one started. A few high-picthed keyboard notes, followed by a groovy bass and groovy drums. Nothing more, nothing less. And by being so simple, this particuliar song directly echoes to the 90's games, when most of the music was made ...