 | Album Title: Sonic Rush Adventure Original Soundtrack |
| Record Label: Wavemaster | |
| Catalog No.: WM-0578 | |
| Release Date: October 18, 2007 | |
| Purchase: Buy at CDJapan |
Overview
Sonic Rush Adventure was a more acclaimed sequel to Sonic Rush in every regard except for its music. The original game was praised for its charming, creative, and upbeat music from Jet Set Radio composer Hideki Naganuma. Given the composer had recently left Sega, however, a team of Sonic veterans — Tomoya Otani, Mariko Nanba, and Seiro Okamoto — was left to emulate his work. The result works fairly well in the game, but it doesn’t succeed as either a superficial or an inspiring stand-alone listen. Where did the team trip up?
Body
The vocal theme “A New Venture” certainly gets the game off to a bright start. Tomoya Otani endears listeners with his Caribbean-influenced instrumental setup, dominated by upbeat trumpet punctuations, rustic guitar backing, and distinctive percussion. The vocals, meanwhile, are very peppy and catchy; the vocalist is well chosen since she produces that sound without being particularly annoying, even though the lyrics are dominated by ‘la la’s. Not everyone will like it, but it’s a decent highlight on an otherwise mostly instrumental score. “Plant Kingdom” attempts to emulate Hideki Naganuma with a blend of hip-hop vocals and colourful instrumentals. The main limitation is that the vocals always seem like they were tagged on at the last minute since they barely integrate with the instrumentals and are highly repetitive. The result just inspires apathy rather than excitement or amusement. Note that the main theme also makes a fun instrumental reappearance with “Hidden Island”.
The stage themes are effective scenic depictions, but not so good for stand-alone listening. “Machine Labyrinth” complements the novel technological stage with a quirky rock focus, and “Blizzard Peaks” represents a more hostile environment with harder electronic elements. However, both focus a little too much on the initial few riffs, leaving just a few synth frills in place of a true melody. Those few tracks with relatively strong melodies tend to present them in a less-than-appealing way, for example with harsh synth on “Sky Babylon” or amid a cluttered ensemble on “Haunted Ship”. In other cases, such as “Training”, the so-called hooks are very simple and childish, and potentially patronising to more mature listeners. Mariko Nanba’s contributions are a little more effective than Tomoya Otani’s. “Coral Cave” complements the scenery well with its watery electronic beats and colourful infusions, while “Pirates Island” nicely blends the score’s tropical focus with some swashbuckling orchestral elements. However, their replay value is still not as high as Naganuma’s Sonic Rush works.
The remaining themes on the soundtrack aren’t generally as awkward as many of the stage themes, but mostly feel derivative or superficial. Mariko Nanba’s five “Windmill Village Mode” serve as pleasant background music, with their relaxing rhythms and bossa-nova influences, but are no more suited for elevator music than for stand-alone listening. Seiro Okamoto’s “Waterbike” certainly suffices for its subsidiary purpose with its refreshing blend of Latin vocals and bustling rhythmical elements, though it gives all it has within a minute. Similarly, “Hovercraft” and “Sailboat” are brisk and upbeat, but sound more like jingles than fleshed-out works. Note that the soundtrack’s latter half is jam-packed with cutscene themes; most are short and interruptive, and there aren’t enough highlights to neutralise them. That said, the boss themes are the few highlights that remain thanks to their sheer rhythmical engineering. Whether the rocking riffs of “Boss”, the electronic pulsations of “Big Swell”, the slapstick phrasing of “Whisker & Johnny”, or the intense beats of the final boss theme “Deep Core”, there’s a lot to like, at least for a few listens. The “End Credits” is a pleasant but unremarkable effort featuring a relaxing flute melody and more Caribbean beats.
Summary
The Sonic Rush Adventure Original Soundtrack did little for me. On the one hand, it has all the elements it needed to be as good as Hideki Naganuma’s work — rhythmical edge, catchy melodies, colourful fusions, lots of quirk, and a modern sound. As a result, it works quite well for a variety of purposes in the game and can probably be dubbed a successful soundtrack. However, somewhere down the line it ends up sounding derivative rather than creative and expressive, which is a problem for stand-alone listening. While the melodies and rhythms are present, they never really appealed to me. While the fusions are technically interesting, they’re not as vibrant on DS sound. Due to the sporadic nature of the tracks and the sheer number of shorter cues, the soundtrack sometimes has a rambling feel too. While this soundtrack technically does little wrong, it lacks the soul and humanity of its predecessor, and hence risks alienating its listeners.
