Overview

BloodRayne was hardly a deep or innovative game, but it was decently received thanks to its action-packed gameplay and alluring protagonist. The music for the game was handled by Kyle Richards, the audio director of developer Terminal Reality, with assistance from Chris Rickwood. While a handful of tracks were created to accompany specific menus, locations, and bosses, the soundtrack generally takes a backseat to the visuals and sound effects. Nevertheless, a handful of tracks. While the soundtrack was unworthy of a commercial release, it was included as a bonus with the downloadable version of BloodRayne released by GOG.com

Body

Richards immerses gamers into BloodRayne right away with "Music Menu". A dark mood is created with some suspended notes, while warped electronic beats emphasise the action-packed gameplay that awaits. This contemporary gothic-tinged hybrid certainly matches BloodRayne's visuals and sets the tone for the rest of the soundtrack. That said, the music leaves quite a bit to be desired on a stand-alone level, much like the rest of the score. The stylings are quite derivative and the mixing could be better. What's more, while the individual components are effective in small quantities, soon lose their effect with repetition.

The background music played during the game's three acts builds on this groovy yet moody approach. "Music Daemit" and "Music German" are solid examples of ambient underscoring, both building up textures and timbres to create a dark and, in the latter, horrifying tone. They accentuate Richards' sound effects to create a fairly convincing underscore for the locations. But while decent in context, they're too barren melodically and otherwise to be worthy of replaying. The two tracks to accompany the Argentina act are considerably better. Presumably by Rickwood, "Music Argentina 1" layers electronic beats and ambient tones in an especially effective way, creating plenty of rhythmical impetus. That said, it doesn't feel particularly individualised for the location and sounds rather generic by today's standards.

Of the eleven tracks here, six are brief themes used to accompany the various boss encounters. Generally, Richards focused his energies on creating a suitable pace and mood for the encounters, rather than portraying any unique features of the enemies themselves. Whether the Butcheress, Mauler, or Beliar, each of the tracks is little more than ambient sound effects and pulsating electronic beats at their core. The end result is that none of these manage to stand out beyond the game. Admittedly, the Mech and Priest bosses are portrayed a little different with their pseudo-Arabian tonalities and stabbing industrial rhythms, but come across frighteningly clichéd. Another missed opportunity.

Summary

BloodRayne is an unremarkable score in every sense. The music creates a suitable mood and tempo for the game, but rarely enhances or individualises the experience. On a stand-alone level, the soundtrack rarely makes an impact due to its ambient, repetitive nature — there aren't any novel stylings to wow listeners or melodies that will be remembered years later. It's not helped by the score's brief length. GOG.com also presented the material in a sloppy way, with the cues ordered alphabetically and separated by harsh cuts. Still, a bonus is better than nothing and many readers will enjoy this action game.