Bodycount intends to keep players on their toes, with their blood pumping fast as they unload clips into their targets, and the soundtrack will help to maintain that intensity with a unique vibe.
The upcoming arcade-style shooter began as Stuart Black’s new project, famed for previous game Black, but he’s moved on to new things and left Codemasters to finish the work. The rest of the team at Codemasters is talented and completely capable of making stellar games, as evidenced by past titles. To make sure Bodycount lives up to their standards, every piece has to fit, and so they’ve hired composer Mick Kiely to create an original soundtrack to match the setting. Kiely was hired to compose an 80’s arcade style soundtrack that mixes in a full orchestra and ethnic instrumentation with modern electronica styles. To accomplish this, he’s utilized a 60 piece orchestra, Asian wind instruments, and African battle rhythms performed by some of Ghana’s native tribes. James Slavin, Lead Audio Designer for Bodycount at Codemasters Guildford commented on the collaboration, saying:
It has been an absolute pleasure working with composer Mick Kiely on this project. His inventive melodic ideas mixed with the care and attention to instrumentation and structure has created something unique that lifts the game and adds wonderful colour to the overall soundtrack.
Kiely, who’s known for being a veteran television composer for shows seen on ITV and RTE also commented, stating:
Bodycount was an awesome project to work on. Codemasters’ vision for the game was inspiring from day one. It was a lot of fun to be involved in and the magic of breathing life into the game’s characters and gameplay gave me endless pleasure. The fusing of settings was a good call by the team at Codemasters’ Guilford studio and definitely gave the score an edge.
Sometimes it’s easy for music to blend into the background when all you’re concerned with is obliterating the gun wielding baddie in front of you, but when done right, the soundtrack can do just the opposite – ramping up intensity and giving the fight a more visceral feel than ever before. It’s good to know that when Bodycount hits shelves on September 2nd, we’ll get an audible treat as well as the visual fragfest ahead of us, so keep an eye out and your ears open later this week.
