Game Albums- www.gamealbums.com
Baldur's Gate Album Review
Artist- Inon Zur


	Featured in the June 2003 issue of Computer Music Magazine, you 
can track Inon Zur's career through numerous award-winning games, 
including Icewind Dale II, nominated for the Music of the Year 
Award for 2002 by both Game Industry News and the Game Audio Network Guild, 
as well as Fallout: Tactics, and RLH.  You can also hear his music in 
the popular TV show, Digimon (which I might admit to watching repeatedly). 
 
	Inon Zur is a legend in the gaming industry, responsible for soundtracks 
that immerse the player into the game, rather than detract away from 
gameplay.  Baldur's Gate isn't just another D&D game with expanded gameplay, 
and it wasn't just the well-integrated battle system and graphics 
that made it so enjoyable.  Just listen to the second track, Attacked By 
Bounty Hunters.  It's easy to visualize the heat of battle like you'd see in 
a major motion picture, swords clashing and blood an' guts.  You know, 
the good stuff.

	The album itself was well done.  And it was hard for me not to just 
say, "screw the article, I'm playing BG again".  33 tracks in the album cover all 
the major places and battles that kept me up all night, screaming at my 
computer (this emotional imbalance was partly due to my computer cutting 
the music off during the battles).  The ambient sounds are included in 
the tracks, adding to the feeling that your IN the environment, getting impaled 
along with your characters or slogging through rat-infested sewers.  

	Even the monster races have their own battle tracks. The only thing missing 
from this soundtrack- which is a shame- are the Chapter summaries, with 
voice-overs which carried the plot forward.

	Still, it's one of the all-time best game albums in my opinion because 
you can listen to it on its own, away from the game, and still feel attached to
all the excitement, enthralled by the beauty and vigor of Interplay and Bioware's 
classic RPG.