Today I am taking a break from the series commemorating point blank, first because these articles are pretty demanding, but also because I am getting a bit overwhelmed by them feels. I guess it’s my own lil’ paradox, I always feel nostalgic yet each time I dig into the past, be it through photos or something else, I end up with tears in my eyes and without being able to continue? Germans probably have a word for this ahah.

I may not know the German word; but I just stumbled upon a track on my video game playlist which does have some of this longing for a foregone past feel. Fighting Force is a game I have played so many times from start to finish with my cousin. You could pick from 4 characters, I would always go for Smasher the big muscular guy; and Pierre would get Hawk; the other dude. This game jived with us because it felt to us like a more complete street fight mode for Tekken; another game we loved, I think Tekken 2 was actually my first game… well I should say my father’s first game but we know how it went already ahah. In Fighting Force; one could use the environment to their advantage; it was destructible, something rare at the time. Destroy a car, pick up a metal bar from the wreckage and smash the incoming wave of enemies with it. Pick up a shotgun and blast through a couple enemies before running out of ammo and throwing the gun in their face. By today standards the game play probably feels rigid af, but yea; was pretty exciting for its time! And unique too!

I was happy to rediscover this game’s soundtrack last year, realizing it was very beautifully produced. Composed by Martin Iveson, the tracks are mostly breaked goodness, often including an electric guitar as main instrument, which is somewhat rare for the genre; although pretty common for video game music I reckon. Some tracks do it better than others, Boss 2 and Zeng are pretty cool ones, but the true highlights for me are Hideout and Credits, let’s take them one by one.

Fighting Force - Hideout (1997)

This track stands out from the soundtrack, the guitar solo is very melancholic, and the background breaks / bass music somehow works really well with it. It paints a gracefully desolated moment, although I am unsure when it is played in the game, it brings back the memory of one part where you are on an elevator, fighting your way through a military base, and one can see the beautiful city in the background through the glass shaft, sunset in the background.

Fighting Force - Credits (1997)

The last track, played during credits, is a special one. The bassline hits just right, an echoey acoustic guitar plays from time to time, floating. The super arcadey sounding synth coming near 00:30 truly sends me Japanese vibes, further confirmed by the piano coming later in the track. Sign of the future? This game was published by Eidos Interactive… also known as… Square Enix Europe since 2009, the European branch of the legendary Japanese development company! Eidos Interactive and Core Design; the developers, probably rings a bell to some, as they are better known for developing the Tomb Raider entries on PlayStation 1; the one that made the series the legend it is today, although I have never liked this genre myself.