"Colt Travels" from GUN Showdown on the PlayStation Portable and Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, & Xbox 360 (2005-2006)
Composer: Christopher Lennertz
Album: GUN - Original Score
Label: Activision
Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc
Developer: Rebellion Developments
I don't know if it's intentional or just the way my brain works, but in the first 35 seconds of this song, I hear bits of John Barry's score from Dances with Wolves. Not any specific notes or chords, but the feeling and emotion that the music evokes, from songs like "Journey to Fort Sedgewick" and "Ride to Fort Hays." It's that feeling of wide openness amid an expanse (limited by the game engine at the time, so the horizon is often obscured by fog, hills, and high canyon walls) of stereotypical Western scenery while on a grand adventure of revenge.
This song, too, seems to pull out a lot of short-lived stops as far as instrumentation goes. There's the beginning with the building full orchestra. Then there's a solo flute at 0:37 that plays a single sustained note that doesn't do anything but adds so much flavor to this piece. Then there's the church-bell-like chime with its solitary tone. Then there's the harmonica and fiddle that come in around 0:57, followed by three or four notes on the banjo before the orchestra returns. And I love, love, love, how the song fades out on those last three notes on the harmonica!
I picked up GUN Showdown on the PSP around 2011 after watching my now brother-in-law, Beardsnbourbon, play Red Dead Redemption, and felt bitten by that Western bug. Having music like "Colt Travels" playing while traversing the dusty lands between the town of Dodge City and Empire helped to make the game feel bigger than the map actually was, especially in the late game when you didn't have to worry as much about bandit attacks, and you could enjoy the ride.
~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
River is Flowing Down in Constant Movement
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