Star Wars: The Old Republic (Soundtrack) by Mark Griskey - Review

New Music for The Old Republic

Review by Thomas Midena

BioWare’s mammoth online game enlists a massive team of composers to create an authentic Star Wars soundtrack. But can they produce quality entertainment to rival John Williams? Lennie Moore, Jesse Harlin, Gordy Haab, Wilbert Roget II, Steve Kirk, Jared Emerson Johnson and Peter McConnell unite with MARK GRISKEY (composer of the previous game in the series, Knights of the Old Republic II) to conquer this task.

The game, which was released in December 2011, is a Massively Multiplayer Online game created by BioWare - a studio renowned for their Mass Effect and Dragon Age games. Said to have cost $200 million to develop, Star Wars: The Old Republic is certainly one of the largest video games ever created. Players can create and customize their own character then jump right into this massive Star Wars universe with thousands of other online gamers.

A soundtrack disc containing 17 tracks was released with the Collector’s Edition of STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC, and another 30 pieces were released online for free download. This totals a whopping 47 tracks of original music from MARK GRISKEY and his team. And as an avid follower of the game since its announcement in 2008 and a dedicated player since its launch in 2011, I’ve listened to every beat of the soundtrack to delusion. Here are my thoughts.

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Music of the Old Republic! Star Wars: The Old Republic Web Doc

Finally!  A big look into the music for the upcoming LucasArts title, STAR WARS:  THE OLD REPUBLIC. The hotly anticipated MMORPG, being developed by Bioware, is due sometime in 2011.

The music has been composed by MARK GRISKEY, JESSE HARLIN, WILBERT ROGET II, GORDY HAAB, and LENNIE MOORE.  The music represented in this doc is fantastic, true to the ORIGINAL  Star Wars spirit!  If you weren't excited for this game and it's music yet...this doc ought to do it.

Now, Lucasarts, "You will release the original score."  (waves hand) "....oh and The Force Unleashed II, too." (quickly waves hand again.)

Go here to be notified by Amazon, when pre-ordering of The Old Republic is available

Star Wars: The Old Republic Composers Revealed!

Remember that incredible trailer for STAR WARS:  THE OLD REPUBLIC?  Of course you do.  It's what the Prequel Trilogy should have been.  Remember Mark Griskey (and Jesse Harlin's) great score to THE FORCE UNLEASHED?  Of course you do.  It was what the Prequel trilogy scores COULD have been.  So who did LucasArts lock down to provide the musical score for their upcoming MMORPG?

According to an interview with DARTH HATER ( a great blog covering Star Wars:  The Old Republic), Music Supervisor, JESSE HARLIN reveals that, in addition to himself, the composers hired to provide the massive amount of music for the game are: MARK GRISKEY, GORDY HAAB, LENNIE MOORE, WILBERT ROGET, II, and PETER McCONNELL..  Below is an excerpt from Darth Haters' extensive interview with the LucasArt's audio team.


Here's a bit from the extensive interview:

DH: The original score by John Williams became an integral part of Star Wars culture. How did the audio team approach creating new pieces with such iconic shoes to fill?

JH: We’ve assembled a team of composers for The Old Republic who are all well-versed in the language of John Williams. Mark Griskey, whose previous Star Wars work includes both KOTOR II and The Force Unleashed, is returning as our lead composer on the project. Joining him are composers Lennie Moore, Gordy Haab, and Wilbert Roget, II. Lennie comes to us with a diverse background in games, TV, and film. Gordy recently worked with us on Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings and Wilbert wrote new music for the recent DLC levels for The Force Unleashed. In addition, we’ve also hired composer Peter McConnell (Grim Fandango, Brütal Legend) to compose 90 minutes of original cantina music for us. We’re deep in the heart of writing material for the game right now and things are sounding fantastic.

DH: When will we find out about a Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Soundtrack and how can I preorder it?

JH: All of the details are still to be determined but we’ll have more info on that soon!

Good news, eh?  Be sure to check out Darth Hater's extensive interview with the LucasArts audio department.


Check out the full interview here