This week’s cue is a modern take on 1960s spy movie music, composed for the mobile title Wizard Ops Tactics. I tipped my hat to the familiar tropes – jazzy brass chords, driving guitar, the seemingly obligatory Latin percussion – while adding some whimsy to reflect the sensibility of the game.
A magic battle, that is. This week’s cue comes from the game Wizard Ops: Part One. The wizard is doing a kind of sideways walk while being buffeted by enemy fire, so for fun I picked an asymmetrical meter that paralleled the rhythm of walking sideways. (Yes, it’s possible to overthink these things, but in this case I thought the musical analogy worked.)
Terminology corner: this is an example of a “hybrid cue”, meaning one that combines traditional orchestral and contemporary rhythmic elements.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Battle on the Shore | |
“Boss” here is meant in the sense of final opponent of a video game level rather than overseer of employees, though I suppose the two aren’t mutually exclusive. This drum-and-choral-driven cue from the game Wizard Ops: Chapter One accompanies a climactic dual with an unusually large and vengeful limbless enemy.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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The Worm Boss | |
Clearly I don’t mean that the game is a lower body extremity. This music plays during Wizard Ops Tactics‘ introductory moments, providing a sense of anticipatory excitement and setting the stage for the (literal) magic to come. I’ve cheated here and merged two related musical moments from the score in order to give the material reasonable duration for stand-alone listening. Enjoy!
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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The Game is Afoot | |
This week’s selection from Wizard Ops Tactics portrays the game’s swamp level as a damp and ominous place. Plaintive woodwind harmonies ease in and out over low string undulations, while excerpts of the game’s main theme recur in the brass. And to show you how lazy I am: the low string lines themselves are just the main theme, slowed down and set to 7/8 time.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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The Murky Swamp | |
