The album has the emotional depth and the conceptual feel of a really good movie soundtrack, reviving elements of '80s pop, vintage house and freestyle.
Lauded for composer Hideki Naganuma's "punchy, psychedelic" soundtrack incorporating elements of "J-pop and electro-funk" as well as its message of "self-expression and non-violent dissent", the game also popularized cel shaded graphics.
Although there are occasional texture pop-ins, and things don't interact in a truly next-gen way, it is still a wonder to watch the swirling aurorae above Old Russia, or the storms of Venus as well as listen to the sci-fi-fantasy soundtrack, with its elements of Star Wars and Star Trek, as well as Lord of the Rings.
SoundTracking's social elements are the key to its success here.
Part One (titled Lucia di Lammermoor) and Part Two (titled The Diva Dance) of this piece are included as separate tracks on The Fifth Element soundtrack, but are sequenced to create the effect of the entire performance seen in the film.
Along with including more percussion and ethnic elements, the soundtrack used "Blinded by Light", the main theme for main character Lightning, as a leitmotif.
Music, of course, was the other great element: the soundtrack triumphantly smacked down one classic British track after another, from Bowie to the Sex Pistols.
The track describes the dog end of a night spent plastered in Soho, set to a pummelling hybrid of seemingly incongruous musical elements, and soundtracks the frenetic closing reel of the film.
The audio track uses a perceptual coding that removes elements from the soundtrack that the human ear can't hear under the louder sound.
Borisova-Ollas's orchestral writing is perfectly competent, yet it often seems no more than an soundtrack to all the other elements jostling for attention.
