Medal of Honor: Airborne

Michael Giacchino's contribution to the Medal of Honor video game series is spectacular, to say the least. He scored each individual game as if scoring a film and brought a powerful John Williams-esque feel to the franchise. His best effort so far was probably his underrated score to MOH: Frontline, but with Airborne brings the same orchestral intensity as his earlier assignments.

The score opens (and closes) with a powerful rendition of the MOH theme, in all of it's brassy glory. Different, however, is the use of a darker motif following the main theme. This sets the tone for the rest of the score, which now relies more on percussion. There are a number of great action pieces throughout the score, notably 'Gunfight in the Ruins' and 'Sniper Showdown.' Giacchino handles his action music perfectly, but handles his orchestral music even better. The bold heroic motifs in the 'Operation' tracks sound as powerful as anyone can score them. Unlike the previous games, however, there are very little quiet moments in Airborne. The emotional (7 minute cue) 'Wreckage of Nijmegen' is about as quiet as it gets. Another thing to mention in the cue, is the slight similarities between it and Giacchino's work on Star Trek.

MOH: Airborne is a great score entry into the series. It's brassy use of the main theme at times sounds perfect and is never overused. There are also numerous impressively orchestral and percussive action moments which really do stand out. The only issue, however, is the lack of any especially strong themes. MOH: Frontline was a very hard score to top and unfortunately, Airborne doesn't. Otherwise, it's still an impressive effort from Giacchino.