Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond Brings Michael Giacchino Back to Score the Music

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond Brings Michael Giacchino Back to Score the Music

Written by on | OpenCritic

When Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond arrives on Oculus next year, it will feature music by the series' original composer from 1999. Michael Giacchino is returning to the series, taking time away from his illustrious Hollywood career to score one of VR's most exciting projects.

Giacchino has made a name for himself by scoring some of the biggest movies in the world. He's spent time with Star Wars, scoring Rogue One,  he composed the music forJurassic World, and even won an Oscar for Disney/Pixar's Up. He's also kept close to this writer's heart for his magnificent work on Lost, scoring the entire six-season series. 

Perhaps best of all is that he scored the original Medal of Honor over 20 years ago, and now returns not to remix that original theme, but provide an entirely new soundtrack for the new era of Medal of Honor led by the similarly celebrated Respawn Entertainment.

"The goal for Medal of Honor has always been to show as much truth as possible. That’s what Michael set out to do twenty years ago when composing the iconic original score, and it was the goal for Above and Beyond as well, said Respawn in a blog post. "But a lot has changed since 1999. Peter and Michael wanted to create something that would feel new, and still be distinctly Medal of Honor. And they had to make it happen in the midst of a pandemic."

Giacchino is joined on the game's score by Nami Melumad. The pair recently scored the Seth Rogan movie An American Pickle for HBO Max, and now they reunite to bring a Hollywood-type score to Medal of Honor. You can hear the game's first track, its theme song, right now.

You can read more about the game's musical influences, its direction, and how the time away from the series informs what this sequel should sound like today. The team wrote at length about these topics in a blog post on the Oculus website. 

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond arrives on Oculus in 2021.

About the Authors