Techno Drive Original Soundtrack

	Album Title: Techno Drive Original Soundtrack
	Record Label: Namco Sounds
	Catalog No.: N/A
	Release Date: March 24, 2010
	Purchase: Buy Used Copy

Overview

One of the benefits of Namco’s reason digital game music releases is that they often revisit the soundtracks from their older games (e.g. PacMan, Galaga, and early Tekken games). Interest was certainly sparked with the release of the music for Techno Drive, which had only previously seen the release of a three track remix promotional album (Techno Drive Promotion Disc), which featured some good quality arrangements. Well-known for his contributions to the Ridge Racer series, Koji Nakagawa is the sole composer of the themes which can be heard in this release. It’s always intriguing to follow how a solo composer takes to creating music for games, and as a game music fan, I always hope to hear musical diversity across an album, or at least a couple of tracks which stray away from the main adopted style.

Body

Certainly, the three arranged tracks at the end of the album (which feature on the Namco Techno Drive Promotion Disc) give the impression that this would be an enjoyable release. Each track features a pumping beat, good use of synth, and well-developed sections throughout their long playing times. The tracks “TD {67668180byte Remix),” “TD {92047152byte Remix},” and “TD {30855940byte Remix}” have next to no flaws, and see the creative exhibition of electronica through forms not so well-explored in game music around 1998 when the game was released.

Having listened to these though, it takes me back to the point that a bit of diversity on an album is good. I had hoped that maybe these remixes were unique, and that the rest of the music on the game wasn’t necessarily composed in the same style. Unfortunately, rather than exploring any other stylistic variety or instrumentation, Nakagawa’s arrangements are actually pretty similar to the game’s original tracks, meaning you probably won’t be so impressed or taken in by them when you listen to them.

With the game focused on the three aspects of driving techniques, which include steering, footwork, and practical, don’t be fooled into thinking that there’s going to be any huge difference in the three tracks which represent each of these. “Steering Technique” and “Footwork Technique” are very similar with their random synth sounds and hard hitting beats, with “Practical Technique” barely straying from this, despite adopting a more ambient slow-paced tone.

Summary

The original tracks in Techno Drive are enjoyable in isolation. However, collectively they’re far from inspiring and the remixes mainly rehash the material. Koji Nakagawa has clearly produced a fitting complement to a racing game, especially one with ‘techno’ in the title, but it’s easy to see why it didn’t receive a stand-alone release till now. It’s better to stick to the Ridge Racer series if you are looking for more expansive and diverse electronic racing music.