Several years ago Capcom flabbergasted the video game world with the excellent Resident Evil (Biohazard in Japan) series. The soundtracks for each game have had equal receptions. The score for Resident Evil 3 is very similar to Resident Evil 2 (pulse-pounding, scary and mysterious), but this time around main composer Masami Ueda and collaborator Saori Maeda bring the music to a new level of excellence.

Stand out selections from disc one include excerpts from the prologue section. Contrasts abound, as in the gradual building of tension in "Her Determination," to the militant march of "The Opening" and "The Nightmare Begins."

The Uptown section begins with more focus on subtle ambience. "Free from Fear" is quiet yet unsettling, while "The City of Ruin" leaves the aural haze of melancholy and dread.

The Downtown section contains the anxiety-feeding "Watch Your Back," and the suspenseful "Valediction" and "Cold Hearted Soldier." "Complete Rest" is another piece that straddles the extremes of soothing and unsettling.

Disc two: The namesake of this section, "The Clock Tower", is slow and scary. "From Relief to Terror" brilliantly sets up the two best uses of the electro-chirping "Nemesis" theme; "Menacing Nemesis" and "Unstoppable Nemesis" both successfully induce delicious dread.

The Hospital and Park sections are a little on the light side, but "Nothing But a Pawn" is rather minimalist.

Most of the music in the Disuser section sounds similar to other sections, utilizing previous motifs with new military action cues, all of which are very effective. "The Last Decision" really gets your blood pumping, as well as the helicopter endings, which stand out significantly.

The Epilogue section wraps everything up in a melancholy style, with a twist of Terminator thrown in for good measure. The end credits are an acceptable jazzy pop tune, although nothing special.

Building on menacing motifs and militant rhythms, the Mercenary segment renews previous musical styles. Two bonus tracks round out the opus, but are regrettably forgettable.

Overall, this 2 disc set really only suffers from two liabilities:

A. The US release could have cut out some of the more ambient selections that don't really contribute to the score;

B. Although the Nemesis theme works, it's effect is a bit cheesy, due to heavy reliance on clichÈd electronic injections within the orchestration.

Through it's unfaltering expressiveness and technical strength, this compelling score for RE3 has earned itself the distinction as the best of the original Playstation games.

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Biohazard3 /Resident Evil 3 is owned by CAPCOM.