Black Swan composer Clint Mansell gives Shepard a dramatic score for Mass Effect 3

February 9th 2011, 11:18pm

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

If you spent many hours glued to your chair keeping the galaxy safe from Sovereign and the Reapers, you’ll be excited for any interesting news about the MASS EFFECT universe. While most gamers have their preference between the first two (I personally prefer ME2’s gameplay tweaks, deep-space DIRTY DOZEN approach, and lack of Mako missions), both games will likely be blown away when MASS EFFECT 3 arrives later this year.

And one thing’s for sure: ME3 will have a score worthy of a feature film. You’ve heard the work of prolific composer Clint Mansell in movies such as BLACK SWAN, SMOKIN’ ACES, MOON and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (and reused in countless trailers), and he’s also contributing to the cinematic sci-fi epic when the MASS EFFECT trilogy closes. Mansell discussed it in a recent interview with The Quietus:

Do you do much work for other outlets like computer games? Mike Patton, for example, has most recently voiced The Darkness.

CM: I’m doing a video game this year actually. Mass Effect 3. Funnily enough, talking about Mike, we’ve exchanged emails about the possibility of doing a show featuring the Quartet and people they’ve collaborated with. It’d be a Kronos show, with different rooms for other people to do their thing, then bringing it all together. It’s pretty cool-sounding.

I’m definitely interested in different outlets – that’s one of the reasons I get involved in short films. It’s not so much that I can experiment as it is to be in a situation where nobody’s looking over your shoulder. Short films are usually made by young people and they’ve got ideas I can bounce off. They can take me in a different direction.

So in a game, the character might arrive at a big boss and you have to have a piece that can quickly become dramatic.

CM: That’s what I’m figuring. As I was saying about Public Enemy and re-working old hip-hop tunes for Requiem, and kind of re-working old ballet tunes for Black Swan, with something like Mass Effect you’re more like a DJ, with all these elements. You’ve got the holding pattern, then the big explosion where you need the score to kick in. Then you need to take it off on a tangent. You’ve got all these different elements that change depending on what the player does. You have to figure out an overall symphony, but be able to break it down into component parts. You can bring the pain when required.

MASS EFFECT 3 Teaser: