MIDI Week Single: "The City of Ruin" - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (PSX)

 

"The City of Ruin" from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis on the PlayStation, Windows, Dreamcast, & GameCube (1999-2006)
Composer: Masami Ueda
Album: Resident Evil 3 Nemesis Original Soundtrack
Label: Mars Colony Music
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom

"The City of Ruin" is a great song that plays right after Jill leaves Bar Black Jack after her conversation with Brad, but only if you're able to save Brad.  During that conversation, Brad warns Jill about someone hunting STARS members and that they're all going to die.  Brad flees the bar on his own, allowing Jill a moment of respite and time to find the ammunition hidden by the cash register.  When Jill leaves the bar, that's when "The City of Ruin" first plays, with Jill now (vaguely) knowing that something is hunting her and her fellow STARS members.

What I really like about "The City of Ruin" musically is how sad the song feels.  Chock full of slow MIDI strings and a choir, all in a minor key.  Then, at 18 seconds in, there's a chime followed by five percussive notes that come across as ominous, foreshadowing Nemesis's arrival outside the Raccoon City Police Department.  At that point, the song changes from one of melancholy to one of menace and dread.

My biggest critique of the song is that those five percussive notes and the later presence of the MIDI French Horn don't actually play "Nemesis's Theme," or that those five notes are not incorporated into "Nemesis's Theme," even though both songs were composed by Masami Ueda.  But that one thing aside, "The City of Ruin" is a great transition song between the first section of the game, where Jill only has to contend with the zombies she was familiar with from the original game, and now having to avoid the stalking horror of Nemesis.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

On With Hope to the Grave