Tobal 2 Original Sound Track

TOBAL 2 ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK

— by Joseph Lee

1. TOBAL2 2:04

2. Checkered Career (album original mix) 2:52

3. The Origin No.5 4:04

4. Amethyst 3:30

5. The Grody Boy 3:16

6. Knock My Door 3:18

7. In an unguarded moment 2:50

8. Grope after the truth 3:43

9. Beating Hard 3:09

10. a miracle's coming 2:59

11. China Dress 2:58

12. Hero's Looking Glass 2:27

13. The Speeder 2:31

14. A Crying Son 3:01

15. Knee Drop 3:21

16. On Your Dark Side 3:34

17. Dropout 3:39

18. H.N 3:33

19. TOBAL2 1st ENDING 1:44

20. TOBAL2 2nd ENDING 2:17

The TOBAL 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK continues the trend of game makers making the music tracks on the game unreadable to CD players, so they can sell a separate music CD later. All in all this CD contains most of the funk/jazz/rock music from the excellent TOBAL 2. Each of the scored BG soundtracks from each of the fighting arenas in TOBAL 2 is present here. There is the music from the demo movie (that shows off what TOBAL 2 is about such as throw reversals and juggles) also, as well as from the two different endings. What is missing, however, is the very nice RPG music from the quest mode.
The twenty tracks of music on this CD are all composed, arranged, and "synthesizer programmed" by Nakamura Takayuki. The style could be generally described as a combination of funk, jazz, new wave, and rock or something known as Fusion. The music is melodic and dramatic with careful development of themes. The synthesizer is the central lead voice, with extra atmospheric accompaniment in a multi-track mix of instruments such as chimes, drum kit, piano, etc. Guest bass and guitar players play backup, and add nice solo ad-libbing on the side. Great music for driving, relaxing, or enjoying. It is strange however that the introductory music from TOBAL NO. 1 seemed slightly better than TOBAL 2's.
The only thing that seriously detracts from this CD is the missing quest music. The music of quest mode might be short and tend to loop, but it is very nice anyhow, and it is a shame that those pieces are not on this CD just because they are not the extended scores that the arena music is. So in summary, get this CD if you really want to listen to the scored music of TOBAL 2 independent of the game, you don't mind the missing quest music, and you're into the Fusion style of music.