Rising Storm 2 Vietnam Official Soundtrack Review

Rising Storm 2 Vietnam banner


  • Reviewed by: Mark Goninon
  • Name: Rising Storm 2 Vietnam OST
  • Label: Antimatter Games/Tripwire Interactive
  • Composer(s): Chris Rickwood and Lennie Moore
  • Number of Tracks: 23

I quite enjoyed playing Rising Storm 2: Vietnam when I gave it a go last year and as I purchased the Digital Deluxe version, this meant I also got access to the game's soundtrack.

The Rising Storm 2: Vietnam soundtrack comes with 23 original tracks with a majority of them featuring as background music within the game (a few of them are used as victory/defeat music). You get a choice of three formats to choose from: FLAC, 320kbps MP3 and 2304kbps WAV which means, all up, the soundtrack takes about 1.45 GB on your hard disk. There's no album art or anything else included (which is why I had to settle with the Rising Storm 2: Vietnam banner above :( ).

Most of the American tracks are moodier, trippier takes on rock music of the 60s and 70s – it's pretty much what you'd expect for a Vietnam War film score so you've got to give credit to the composers for capturing the right feel. The Vietnamese tracks are a mostly ambient affair with lots of ethnic instruments used.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many soundtracks that are primarily used as background music for games (and especially first-person shooters) the music is a bit too ambient and slow-paced for my tastes, which is what you want in-game (i.e. you don't want the music too distracting or else you won't be able to hear "Charlie" or "G.I."), but it doesn't do anything for me when I'm just wanting to listen to it by myself.

If I were forced to recommend tracks from this soundtrack though, I do like the American tracks "Warm Napalm Blanket" (some cool, echoey guitar here that wouldn't be out of place on a Diablo soundtrack), the cool and tense "Layin' Low", and the music that plays when the Americans are about to win: "Come Get Sum" which has a funky, Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child" vibe to it.



Score – 5/10

The soundtrack for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam would work perfectly as a film score to a Vietnam War film, however would I listen to this soundtrack willingly for any other reason besides technical merit? Unlikely; unless I wanted to get stoned or something, some of those American tracks are really trippy!

If you're interested in purchasing the soundtrack, you'll need to purchase the Digital Deluxe version of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam which costs $29.99 USD on Steam or $5.00 USD if you already have the base game.

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