The Art of War (Soundtrack)

Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack

"Team Fortress 2 (Main Theme)" "Playing With Danger" "Rocket Jump Waltz" "The Art of War" "Faster Than a Speeding Bullet" "Right Behind You" "Petite Chou-Fleur" "Intruder Alert" "Drunken Pipe Bomb" "More Gun" "Haunted Fortress 2" "TF2 Saxxy 2011 Theme" "A Little Heart to Heart" "MEDIC!" "Archimedes" "Dreams of Cruelty" "The Calm" "ROBOTS!" "Dapper Cadaver" "Rise of the Living Bread" "Red Bread" "Three Days to Live" "Seduce Me!" "Stink Lines" "It Hates Me So Much" "Misfortune Teller" "Soldier of Dance" "RED Triumphs!" "BLU Triumphs!" "Yeti Park" "Saxton's Dilemma" "Mercenary Park" "Saluting the Fallen"

"The Art of War" is one of the song titles featured from the Team Fortress 2 Official Soundtrack, listed as track number four. It is the song featured in Meet the Soldier, the Mac Update trailer, partially at the end of the Meet the Medic trailer, the sound cues played when voting, and for the Team Fortress 2 is Free to Play trailer, as well as being one of 33 main menu startup themes. "The Art of War" was the first track to be added subsequent to the game's release.

A segment of this track is used for the sound cue "rd_finale.wav", which plays on Robot Destruction maps.

Analysis

Key: E Major
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: 155 BPM
Length: 2:17
Release Date: August 22, 2007
Update: Base Game
Composer: Mike Morasky

Due to its heavy percussive focus, this track is the most neutral out of all those featured on the soundtrack. Because of this, it sees heavy use for promotional trailers, such as the aforementioned Mac Update trailer and the Team Fortress 2 is Free to Play feature. The track is rather up-tempo, giving it a familiar energy to most of the Team Fortress 2 tracks, but its sparse instrumentation means it lacks the same rebellious sound, giving it its more serious feel. Similar to Faster Than a Speeding Bullet, the percussion is more traditional, donning a military band sound. Only on certain parts does it contain any pitched instruments, with a steadily rising brass section complimenting the speeding drum beat to create suspense.

Trivia

• The title of the song, "The Art of War" is a reference to the famous military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general and tactician. It is named "The Art of War".
• The first few notes of the song are the sound cues used in-game whenever a vote is being called.

Update history

November 15, 2007 Patch

• [Undocumented] This song was added as main menu music.