Age of Wonders. Michiel van den Bos. ’nuff said.
The Unreal soundtrack demonstrated that Michiel van den Bos could write scores to suit a range of settings – Unreal swung from hard sci-fi to rural countryside to medieval churches and his music followed effortlessly. Age of Wonders sticks firmly to its fantasy roots and the soundtrack reflects this.
The mood is calm and understated as befits a turn-based game – such games are unsuited for epic sweeping chorals or thumping marches which are out of place set against a thoughtful gameplay where there is no immediate rush, even when the victory or defeat hang in the balance.
The soundtrack is tracker music, but rather than the distinctive style and sound of Deus Ex or Unreal you get a score that somehow sounds a lot more natural. The difference doesn’t necessarily make it better or worse than the others, but it does go to show what a skilled artist can do.