On June 5th, EA will release a remastered version of the original Command & Conquer/Command & Conquer Red Alert games for the PC.
At the 2:28 in the video, Jim talks about how the music is going to be handled and it seems like out of all the work they're putting into this release, the music is what's getting the most love.
"The C&C and Red Alert soundtracks are legendary and there is only one person who can remaster them with justice. The original composer Frank Klepacki. Frank has remastered over 7 hours of music including hidden and unreleased tracks from the original games. As a special highlight, the collection also includes over 20 face melting tracks newly recorded by Frank Klepacki and the Tiberian Sons."
That's a lot of game music there! But what's really cool is how the game's release will be handled. Right now, it will be available on STEAM (And Origin. BAH!) for $20, but 'Limited Run Games' will be releasing not one, but TWO Collector's Editions for this release. Here's the relevant stuff when it comes to the music.
Special Edition - Tiberium Crystal USB with Remastered OST
119 Tracks with over 7 hours of music!
25th Anniversary Edition - Tiberium Crystal USB with Remastered OST
119 Tracks with over 7 hours of music! - 6-Disc Remastered Original Soundtrack Signed by Frank Klepacki
So with the 25th Anniversary edition, you not only get the Tiberium crystal USB which contains the music tracks, but you also get a six-disc collection signed by Frank himself. Pretty Sweet! I didn't think Command & Conquer would ever get this type of recognition, but there you go.
Fingers crossed that they include the N64 Menu Music. LOVED that track!
And while I don't know about their other releases, but when they released the OSTs to the Shantae games they were upconverted (i.e. used from an Mp3 source) despite them being availble on Bandcamp FOR FREE in proper lossless. Suffice it to say I tried to get a refund....but of course "they don't give refunds on soundtracks". (They also came in a case with literally no book. Just a thin piece of paper with the art on one side and blank on the other, and a tracklist on the back of the case).
A "C&C" name that doesn't invoke repulsion in me! Although I'd wish C&C wasn't presented quite as C&C. A nice, say, 1-hour representation would have been sweet.
I remember the game well from the 90s, although I never really played it. Not my kind of game, so I watched others play it instead. I'm hoping for a similar resurgence and remastering of Lucasarts and Sierra game soundtracks, however, which I DID play religiously.
And while I don't know about their other releases, but when they released the OSTs to the Shantae games they were upconverted (i.e. used from an Mp3 source) despite them being availble on Bandcamp FOR FREE in proper lossless. Suffice it to say I tried to get a refund....but of course "they don't give refunds on soundtracks". (They also came in a case with literally no book. Just a thin piece of paper with the art on one side and blank on the other, and a tracklist on the back of the case).
You are not wrong about that. I got the first two Turok games that came with Soundtracks and the first game's soundtrack is an awful mess. Not only is the Jungle track speed way too slow, but someone royally screwed up on the underwater theme. The average length of a track is around two and a half to four minutes long. You play a whole loop of a track and fade out when when the second loop starts. Reasonable, right? With Underwater, the loop is 3 minutes, but someone decided it would be a good idea to have it loop five whole times, making the track an astonishing 15 minutes and 22 seconds long. The second longest track on this soundtrack is four minutes and 24 seconds...
Thankfully the Turok 2 soundtrack faired MUCH better.
I hope Frank Klepacki has some say in the CD productions outside of signing the artwork.
Oops. My apologies. I only listed the parts that involved the music. You are getting A LOT more than just the 6 CDs.
COMMAND & CONQUER REMASTERED COLLECTION FOR PC IN A BEAUTIFUL FOIL AND EMBOSSED RIGID BOX
STEAM DOWNLOAD CODE
TIBERIUM CRYSTAL USB WITH REMASTERED OST 119 TRACKS WITH OVER 7 HOURS OF MUSIC! INCLUDES THE ALBUM "FRANK KLEPACKI & THE TIBERIAN SONS: CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF COMMAND & CONQUER"
6-DISC REMASTERED ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK SIGNED BY FRANK KLEPACKI!
REVERSIBLE POSTER
FACTION ENAMEL PINS
TECH TREE PRINTS (ONE FOR EACH FACTION)
ART BOOK - 100+ PAGES
FACTION PATCHES
FACTION STICKER SHEET
REVERSIBLE BEANIE
METAL MAMMOTH TANK REPLICA
PAINTED PVC LIGHT AND SOUND TESLA COIL AND OBELISK REPLICAS
Hopefully if the CDs turn out to be a bust that whatever files are on the USB drive will make up for it.
Darn, I can't believe I missed this! My childhood dreams come true.
If anybody has ordered the Box and now got second thoughts about it (or ordered a spare one to sell), please contact me. I'd be more than happy to buy it!
Darn, I can't believe I missed this! My childhood dreams come true.
If anybody has ordered the Box and now got second thoughts about it (or ordered a spare one to sell), please contact me. I'd be more than happy to buy it!
Bishop
While it's still a ways out, I will certainly post my impressions of this set when it arrives in the fall. As mentioned Above, Limited Run has had quality issues with one of their soundtrack releases (The first Turok) and with the recent DOOM Eternal debacle, I'm a bit weary of how this music will sound on it's own. Hopefully Frank Klepack and his comrades in arms worked on this release, both on the CD and files in the Flash Drive.
But hey! The game comes out in four days. Want to play a match and see how it holds up?
Darn, I can't believe I missed this! My childhood dreams come true.
If anybody has ordered the Box and now got second thoughts about it (or ordered a spare one to sell), please contact me. I'd be more than happy to buy it!
Bishop
While it's still a ways out, I will certainly post my impressions of this set when it arrives in the fall. As mentioned Above, Limited Run has had quality issues with one of their soundtrack releases (The first Turok) and with the recent DOOM Eternal debacle, I'm a bit weary of how this music will sound on it's own. Hopefully Frank Klepack and his comrades in arms worked on this release, both on the CD and files in the Flash Drive.
But hey! The game comes out in four days. Want to play a match and see how it holds up?
Thanks for your kind words, Jeyl!
And you bet I'll be playing that game - "Time to rock 'n' roll". However I'll have to solo it just as in the good ol' days, as family life just doesn't allow for a "continuous" play-style.
So now that I've set everything humanly possible in motion to get the Box, could you please tell me what the problems with previous releases from Limited Run had been?
I see that the soundtrack of Turok was mentioned, but with Frank Klepacki himself on board I just can't see how this score-release could not be of the highest quality.
Any additional information would be highly appreciated!
So now that I've set everything humanly possible in motion to get the Box, could you please tell me what the problems with previous releases from Limited Run had been?
I see that the soundtrack of Turok was mentioned, but with Frank Klepacki himself on board I just can't see how this score-release could not be of the highest quality.
Any additional information would be highly appreciated!
I only have one Limited Run soundtrack and it's to Jack Menhorn's Nova-111 - I think it's great, but the biggest gripe on some of Limited Run's soundtracks is the album cover and basic design of their CD cases, no liner notes etc. The sound quality on Nova-111 is excellent, can't really speak about the others.
I only have one Limited Run soundtrack and it's to Jack Menhorn's Nova-111 - I think it's great, but the biggest gripe on some of Limited Run's soundtracks is the album cover and basic design of their CD cases, no liner notes etc. The sound quality on Nova-111 is excellent, can't really speak about the others.
Thanks for the heads-up, that doesn't sound too bad to me. After all it's the sound of the music that really matters.
And now to some true miracle: Exactly 1h 44 min after the launch of the game I've received my Steam-Code due to snagging away one last box of the 25th anniversary edition! I still can't believe my sheer luck.
(If my luck should hold on and I win the contest, I'll give my box to you ryanpaquet!)
And now to some true miracle: Exactly 1h 44 min after the launch of the game I've received my Steam-Code due to snagging away one last box of the 25th anniversary edition! I still can't believe my sheer luck.
Whoa. Very nice! Glad you snagged yourself a copy! How did you manage to pull that one off if you don't mind me asking?
Also, it looks like our potential battle for world domination will have to wait. Users are reporting issues with the multiplayer feature and the game has some stuttering. The stuttering is quite baffling because it only occurs when the game is played with the remastered graphics on. And there's more to it than that. It turns out that gamers who play using SSD hard drives aren't experiencing stuttering at all. I use an SSD and haven't encountered the stuttering either.
Thankfully skirmish works, mods work and you don't need no freaking Origin™ app to activate or even run the darn thing unlike EVERY EA GAME that have recently been added into STEAM this week! I still can't get over how the team managed to pull that one off.
I only have one Limited Run soundtrack and it's to Jack Menhorn's Nova-111 - I think it's great, but the biggest gripe on some of Limited Run's soundtracks is the album cover and basic design of their CD cases, no liner notes etc. The sound quality on Nova-111 is excellent, can't really speak about the others.
Thanks for the heads-up, that doesn't sound too bad to me. After all it's the sound of the music that really matters.
And now to some true miracle: Exactly 1h 44 min after the launch of the game I've received my Steam-Code due to snagging away one last box of the 25th anniversary edition! I still can't believe my sheer luck.
(If my luck should hold on and I win the contest, I'll give my box to you ryanpaquet!)
Glad to hear you found one! Thanks for thinking of me, but if you win I’d also be fine with you selling that one to finance the inevitable special edition for Red Alert that’s bound to come at some point.
Of course I don't mind you asking. After all it's just been sheer luck: it seems I've succeeded in asking the right person at "Limited Run" AND had the luck that a single box had indeed been canceled. Still wouldn't believe it, if I hadn't gotten the access code to the game (and seen the bill for it ).
Game is running perfectly for me and I'm enjoying it a lot - just like in the good ol' days. And all those awesome little improvements like being finally able to select/target air units (yes!!!) or the improved jukebox ... fantastic!
@ ryanpaquet
now you got me confused, I thought this is the special edition for Red Alert as well? Or do we indeed get a 6-CD set for Tiberium Dawn on it's own? That would be beyond cool, but I don't think so.
now you got me confused, I thought this is the special edition for Red Alert as well? Or do we indeed get a 6-CD set for Tiberium Dawn on it's own? That would be beyond cool, but I don't think so.
Sorry, my bad! I didn't look at this release in detail, and you're absolutely right. I just took some time to see if I could find more details on the soundtrack but it doesn't look like there's much to go on. My go to resource VGMDB doesn't have the details yet, but as soon as they are known they will be updated here no doubt: https://vgmdb.net/album/97004
It seems that one CD will be Frank Klepacki and the Tiberian Sons which is probably the recording of this 2019 Magfest show, the sound quality is great. One of my favorite albums is another MAGFEST recording for The RetroActive Experience.
Having this on CD will be awesome.
Also here's the Retroactive Experience show in case you never heard that one from the composer of Ninja Gaiden Kenji Yamagishi:
Although I'd wish C&C wasn't presented quite as C&C. A nice, say, 1-hour representation would have been sweet.
