Winifred Phillips – Spore Hero Original Videogame Score

Rhythmroo ♦ October 12, 2009 ♦ 2 Comments

Spore Hero Original Videogame Score was released on October 6th, which shared the launch date of Spore Hero as well. We have the talent of Winifred Phillips behind the music of this gem, with her music producer, Winnie Waldron, by her side. If you don’t know much about either, swing by the bio page on Winifred Phillips’s website here. You know the drill, that is if you’ve read my previous reviews, read about both of them before moving on!

The first time I went through this soundtrack, I was left with a lot of questions that I needed to have answered, like which song is played and so on, so I decided to watch some playthroughs on the youtube to check these tracks in action. My reaction: Priceless.

The soundtrack definitely takes to the tribal side of things, and the first track, “Spore Hero Main Theme”, makes that quite apparent. Very appropriate. The next track, “Home World”, is the intro to the game when you begin your quest. While listening and watching on youtube, I couldn’t help but chuckle on how well the music complements the game. The opening sequence, tied fairly well with the music, does the job on letting you know that this is going to be a pretty comedic and wonderous adventure. For those who played the game or seen the opening, does not the blue creature that retrieves the egg bear the same characteristics of Sid the Sloth + Scrat the Squirrel?

If you don’t mind, I’ll jump around a bit now. Taking a large leap, we go straight to “Beast Brawl”, which is the fight music for this game. Even with the feeling of tension in the air it produces, it stays quirky and true to the nature of the game. I love the mouth harp that comes in and out during the track. Mouth harps are pretty useful to give a wild west feeling to music, but also adds a bit of humor if used appropriately. I’m sure it was used for the quirky side of things here, or possibly to capture that dueling feel of westerns. One can only wonder…or ask the composer.

Going back a track, we find ourselves to “Sporexplore”, which I take it as the exploring theme. Clever name, it would also be like if I were to say that I find my classes at times Sporing (applause isn’t necessary, I get me too sometimes). The track is pretty vivid and feels like an exploration of sound as well. Instruments come and go, like the environment that past by you in-game.

Track 17, “Spore Wars”, was nothing I would have expected on this soundtrack. Electric Guitar? Haunting homophonic choruses? My goodness this track was quite the epic. If this track didn’t raise your fighting spirit, I’m not sure what will. Bravo on this track. This track then leads to the ending track, “Hero Theme”, which is a militant sounding track to already add to the diversity given by the previous track. It’s funny to say this, but the last two tracks of the soundtrack ended up being my personal favorites.

Winifred Phillips does a smashing job at creating music that complements Spore Hero extraordinarily well. Wonderful use of percussion to give that tribal feeling in the game, as well as enhances the commedic value that is presented in the first scenes of the game and throughout. I must say, Winifred Phillips created a soundtrack that can stand alone from the game, something I could listen to simply because of its quirkiness and how well it was crafted. Wonderful job to her, and my thanks and praises also extend to her producer, Winnie Waldron, as well! Thank you.