"Trigger Finger (Desert) from High Noon Revolver on the Nintendo Switch, Steam (2017)
Composer: Vincent Rubinetti & Joshua Balane
Label: Bandcamp
Publisher: Keybol Games
Developer: Mike Studios
I picked up High Noon Revolver on the Nintendo Switch back in early April after reading that the publisher, Keybol Games was planning on donating all proceeds from High Noon Revolver to COVID-19 research. I had previously heard about High Noon Revolver as a punishingly difficult pixel run-and-gun platformer that had a lot of issues with it. When it was on sale for a paltry $0.29, I figured I would give it a go. But we are not here to discuss the game, that was on Monday, but this music, composed by Vincent Rubinetti and Joshua Balane.
I was nearly going to use the title theme from the game, "High Noon," but part of what I wanted to share was not only the music, but the reason behind choosing this song and the title themed seemed a little too obvious in this case. Presently, I have probably played High Noon Revolver for well over two hours, and the majority of that time has only been on this one stage. In that time I have heard music from only two of the five stages in-game, which makes me kinda sad because as much as I love hearing this song while playing, I would love to play the haunted ship stage with "Avast (Haunted Pirate Ship)" because that is another great song that a lot of people may never hear. But my primary reason for choosing this song is because even after spending around 94% of my time playing one stage, I am still not tired of hearing it. When the guitars start playing, I just think, "Alright fine, here we go again."
One of the aspects that I love about "Trigger Finger (Desert)" is that it incorporates semi-stereotypical western movie themes (trumpets, whistling, ahhing choirs), or what you would expect melodically out of an action western setting, but there is more of a modern rock approach with the chugging guitars that makes replaying Stage 1 over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over bearable. Think if Ennio Morricone had composed music with Ramin Djawadi (a la The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly meets Pacific Rim); now that I think of it, not unlike Michael Kamen's arrangement of Metallica's cover of "The Ecstacy of Gold." Honestly though, if "Trigger Finger (Desert)" was not as catchy and easily hummable, I do not know if I would have made played it for as long as I did. I just wish that the game was modified to allow selectable stages so that more of the music could be heard outside of the soundtrack.
Just another example of showing how great music can help make a frustrating and sometimes not fun game, fun to play.
~JWfW/Dub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
Come With Us While We Conquer Other Planets
P.S. There is more I could say about this song, but I will leave some of that information for Friday's article, being my interview with composer Vince Rubinetti, so please come back and join us!
One of the aspects that I love about "Trigger Finger (Desert)" is that it incorporates semi-stereotypical western movie themes (trumpets, whistling, ahhing choirs), or what you would expect melodically out of an action western setting, but there is more of a modern rock approach with the chugging guitars that makes replaying Stage 1 over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over bearable. Think if Ennio Morricone had composed music with Ramin Djawadi (a la The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly meets Pacific Rim); now that I think of it, not unlike Michael Kamen's arrangement of Metallica's cover of "The Ecstacy of Gold." Honestly though, if "Trigger Finger (Desert)" was not as catchy and easily hummable, I do not know if I would have made played it for as long as I did. I just wish that the game was modified to allow selectable stages so that more of the music could be heard outside of the soundtrack.
Just another example of showing how great music can help make a frustrating and sometimes not fun game, fun to play.
~JWfW/Dub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
Come With Us While We Conquer Other Planets
P.S. There is more I could say about this song, but I will leave some of that information for Friday's article, being my interview with composer Vince Rubinetti, so please come back and join us!
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