If you've played a video game or seen a movie trailer in recent years, there's a pretty good chance the music you heard while playing or watching was composed by Tom Salta.
His work has been showcased in Tom Clancy's: HAWX as well as Tom Clancy's: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 1 & 2 as well as the original Red Steel, among other games and used in trailers for Toy Story 3, Astro Boy, Coraline and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. One of his most recent works is composing the music for Red Steel 2, Ubisoft's recent hack and shoot, western samurai mash-up. Mr. Salta took some time to answer our questions about the process of making the soundtrack for Red Steel 2, the benefits of stealing from himself and the games he plays in his spare time.
Phil writes, "Too often we see video game sequels that don't quite live up to their predecessors... but we already have an article series dedicated to those games. Instead, let's take a look at those video game sequels that not only live up to their predecessors but greatly surpass them in quality. It's time to bring back The Most Improved Video Game Sequels (you can read part one here) to check out these sensational sequels that delivered and did so in a deliciously delightful manner."
Resident Evil 4
Ratchet & Clank 2
Silent Hill 2
Street fighter 2
Castlevania: Symphony of the night
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Assassins Creed 2
Metal Gear Solid (not first game in the series)
Tekken 3
God of War (2018)
Mortal Kombat 9
Devil May Cry 3
Virtua Fighter 4
Luigis Mansion 3 doesn’t really belong in that list because the first game was great and it’s sequels didn’t really redefine the series.
There’s more to Ubisoft’s back catalogue than its Templar-bothering flagship franchise and we’re here to prove it. By grovelling for remasters, of course.
With the Switch bringing interest back into the realm of motion controls, it seems as good a time as any to dip back into the backlog and retrieve some lucrative nuggets from the one that launched the phenomenon in the first place: the Nintendo Wii.
