Overview

The latest effort from the ACE sound team, Code of Princess is a brawler that was recently released for the 3DS in Japan and will be coming to the West through Atlus later this year. The game has been garnering a good deal of attention since its release, but how about the music? Those who purchased the game early in Japan were eligible to receive an eight track sound collection and a visual book featuring artwork from Kinu Nishimura.

Body

The opener "Code of Princess" exposes the bombastic main theme. With this rendition, the album quickly defines itself as possessing sort of a classic arcade flair due to a simple, repeated, descending motif, while still retaining a large degree of cinematic excitement from its melody. That said, it is a bit too short in this rendition to generate any real pleasure. More impressive is the longer, richer variation "Holy Princess", the theme for the main character Solange. The piece is just as bold as its original version and sparks feelings of a grandiose adventure.

Among the other character themes, "There is Nothing Which Cannot be Stolen (Ali's Theme)" successfully engages listeners with its flamenco guitar and beat, as well as its thrilling strings. It's a bold contrast to Solange's theme and fits the tomboy thief well. "Slice! Tsukikage" contains an Eastern vibe with some neat percussion and bass, whereas the Arabian-flavoured melody of "We Are the Alibaba Group" adds further diversity to the mix. However, a few other fun tracks from the main soundtrack — including the themes for Mr. T and Distille — are absent here.

Less interesting are the two event themes here. While both do their job in context, they sound somewhat generic. "A Normal Day" sounds especially sappy and just seems to try too hard. Finally, the mysterious and enigmatic "Dark King Destiny (Destiny's Theme)" is one of the best pieces on the album, despite its repetitiveness. The melody is quite moving due to the ethereal wispiness of the vocals, in combination with light strings and glockenspiel.

Summary

Overall, this soundtrack works well as a sampler for the Code of Princess. The music seems to be an effective accompaniment to the game with its rousing main theme, diverse character themes, and dramatic event cues. As with all of ACE's works, it is well-produced from both a compositional and technological perspective. However, not all tracks on the release stand out and plenty of pieces from the main soundtrack are missing. Best to skip this in favour of the main soundtrack.