A look back at the Music of Halo

A look back at the Music of Halo

I still remember the moment during my first Halo run through when I totally knew the game was amazing - it was during The Silent Cartographer level and it was time to leave the place. In a mad panic, I had to guide the Master Chief back up the surface of the Halo, whilst a relentless section of music was playing - 'Rock Anthem For Saving The World'  featuring legendary guitarist Steve Vai.

Yeah, the choir doing their funky monks 'oooh ooah aaahs' is pretty cool but that moment is stuck with me forever.

We remember....

10 years since Halo's original release, it's the stuff of legend that the Halo game had one of the best soundtracks that ever accompanied a shooter and this was a key element of the success of the game. Subsequent Halo games have followed in the tradition of great music - have they all met the standard set by the game that changed the way video games are made?

I thought I'd take the time to kick back and reflect on the music of Halo, have a chat about how music can influence a scene ....it's almost a love letter to composer Marty O'Donnell and less his well known counterpart, Michael Salvatori.

The famous Halo 'E Dorian' monk chant as a musical score

Halo: Combat Evolved

This is the soundtrack to the game that changed gaming forever. Marty had already done a couple of gigs for Bungie in the form of the Myth series and as Microsoft had brought the Bungie studio to get their hands on the Halo IP, expectations were high. Marty duly delivered one of the most brilliant soundtracks ever. The monks' chorus, and the main theme riff with those wondrous string instruments are perhaps as recognizable to a gamer as the first notes to Star Wars are to a movie fan.

I already mentioned 'Rock Anthem For Saving The World' right?

While many people might know that Steve Vai played on a couple of Halo soundtracks, I wonder how many know that Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers had a go with his trumpet!

Tsavo Highway Easter egg from Halo 4

Here’s quite a cool easter egg that was recently found in Halo 4.

A set of doors have a false reflection, in that they show some scenes from Tsavo Highway which keen Halo players may recognise from the third game of the series.

The many faces of the Master Chief

The many faces of the Master Chief

BS Angel posted this picture of the 4 different versions of the Master Chief as he has appeared in each of the four Halo games he's featured in.

She writes "As the video game industry advances, so does its tools and techniques, and that is readily apparent when looking at the Master Chief’s evolution over the past ten years. Each iteration of our favorite Spartan super-soldier has been distinctive yet similar, but don’t confuse design with canon – the Chief is the Chief, just with the details and idiosyncrasies based on what each time period and toolset has to offer"

While the Master Chief's armour may change from light green to dark or his armour gets an upgrade, one thing for sure is, you'll never see the Chief's face....

Is your copy of Halo signed by Bill Gates?

Do you remember when Halo 3 was launched? That day was like Christmas for me. After a long slow burning build up the day arrived.

And so it turns out that Bill Gates sold the first official copy of Halo 3 to this dude on the picture. It was apparently the only thing Bill signed that day.

I do wonder if it really was the first copy sold as I'm pretty sure New Zealand was the first country in the world to officially open for business that day as we are a head of time zone ...

For now, let's just say there are two Didacts..

A didact

HBO pointed out this most interesting response by Greg Bear to a fan letter.


From: Cameron Gazey
Location: Ontario, Canada
Date: 05/16/2012
Greg,

Suffice it to say I am a huge Halo fan, and I enjoy it primarily for the story. I've read Cryptum and am currently reading through Primordium right now and there's just ONE thing with reading these books that made me seek you out.

The reason why I loved the idea of this book series so much was because I was very intrigued by the Terminal transcripts found on Halo 3, the first look players ever really got into the minds of Forerunners during their battles with the Flood.

What I wanted to know was whether or not those terminal transcripts from Halo 3 are considered canon and were used as sources of information for writing your series? I ask because of some timeline inconsistencies between these terminal transcripts and your series. I don't want to be rude and list them all out because if the terminals aren't canon then the inconsistencies are moot. Besides, the possibility exists that my questions will also be answered in Silentium.

Thanks in advance! And keep up the great writing, I'll be sure to buy Silentium when it comes out!

- Cameron

Re: The Forerunner Saga

From: Greg Bear
Date: 05/22/2012
We're working on those connections. For now, let's just say there are two Didacts...

Check out Halo: Epitaph, the final tale of the Didact

To Boost or not to Boost: Beware Roosting Chickens in your home.

I like the image K?

So Bungie has laid out how they treat gamers who Play Halo: Reach (and Halo 3 presumably still) by boosting. Boosting is where you manipulate the game to your advantage to get better game statistics. Usually this is done by creating game play situations where logged in players sit around with their tits in the air doing nothing, waiting to be killed.

Bungie explains their boosting policy as such:

OKAY: Full Party Boosting

Playing with a full group where nobody is idle and everyone is running around getting kills, headshots, sticks, and sweet rejections. Nobody is AFK.

NOT OKAY - Idle Boosting

Getting into a full or partial party with guests or other Gold accounts who are not manned in order to kill AFKs. Also not acceptable is having EVERYONE AFK to attempt to get Credits for time played.

Got it? Good. As always, more nefarious behavior such as network manipulation is right out. The Banhammer catches that kind of behavior in its sleep - and it is always cranky first thing in the morning. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

-

What this means is when the Bungie Banhammer comes down (and it will) you will wake up and suddenly you can't pwn noobs no more in the best game ever. Ever. 

But for us honest folks at home, WTF is boosting you might ask? You'll note Bungie used the acromym AFK. This is geek speak for Away From Keyboard. So the point Bungie is making that if you play games with players in the game who's specific purpose is to be the meat in your sandwhich, you run the risk of being banned.

Generally speaking Boosting is the practice of playing a competitive multiplayer xbox game against (or rather with) accomplices, in order to easily gain ranks or achievements which would require significant time or skill to achieve during regular play (it's like how everybody lined up in Halo 3 to get the Achievement with the Spartan laser etc.

Boosting is often considered a form of cheating, because the "boosters" can easily get rewards for kill streaks or achievements which are impossible for all but the most skilled players to earn against regular opponents. This is why we should all hate Call of Duty: Black Ops other than the fact it's not Halo. 

For those who don't boost, I salute you. I still feel bad about getting my first overkill in Halo 3 by dubious means. That guilt was totally erased though by a triumphant shotgun spree in the caves of Snowbound....

Halo 3 Series 3 Masterchief signed figure for Sale

So like Trade Me is a New Zealand based web site, similar in nature to Ebay (but executed wayyyyy better). Today, I magically came across this cool listing for a signed Master Chief figurine.

"Hey Jimmy Jangles", you may say, "who signed it?". Well dear reader, Mr Chief's voice actor himself, Steve Downes. And you may say, "Amen brother, Amen". If I was so inclined I might respond, "were it so easy to say that" but instead I'll put up the image of the listing and suggest NZ and Aussie readers go bid... (ROTW cannot bid but can watch on jealously).

Here's the description the seller gave: "mint condition packaging, is signed on front ' finish the fight, steve downes 117'. totally un-opened, got this signed at armageddon 2 years ago by the man him self. make me an offer i cant refuse and this much loved collectors item will be yours."

Full disclosure: I work at Trade Me. It's the best company in the world. And that's a fact. 

Remember Halo 3

Epic

So with less than two weeks left till the release of Halo: Reach and to avoid all the crazy spoilers that can now be found cluttering up and generally making a mess of the internet, I've done a run through of Halo 3 on legendary mode.

It's been some time since I did a full run, I did a Combat Evolved sprint earlier in the year, did some Halo 2, mucked around with a few levels from Halo 3: ODST and generally dropped in and out of multiplayer. Which is all good fun and it's all better than any Gears of War shennigans as good as those games are, but playing Halo 3 is almost a spiritual experience. It's the closer to a story that has spanned the eons and we are but lucky to participate in what amounts to the last minute of it all.

But what a minute Halo 3 is. Some games get called epic because they are long, Halo 3 is epic because it redefines that very word. It surpassed the ordinary. In fact, it redefined the Xbox gaming world and others attempted to match it. It was almost like a call of duty was placed on every game developer; this is the new standard so beat it.

The campaign was varied in scope and range. At times it was reflective and gave a gracious nod to whence it had came and then leapt further than was probably thought possible when CE was released.

Worlds apart were brought together. The Flood was defeated and the Prophet of Truth finally had a sharp blade put through his weak body. We believed in the Chief and came to accept that the Arbiter was an ok guy after all.

We had a love story between an augmented giant and a piece of binary code. We had the bravery of Sergeant Johnson and the balls of Miranda Keyes. Justice was Swift. At times it was Brutish.

Something wrong with your eye bro?

So if others past the standards of gaming as set by Halo 3, Bungie have again stepped up to the plate and said, we knew we were good, and mate you've had a nice crack at being number one but we are the king makers in this realm, and if you wanna take us on, you're gonna have to Reach for the stars...

Space Smack Talk

IO9 has an article on the best space battle smack talk. Halo 3 rates a mention:

'Halo 3, "The Crow's Nest" level. The Chief and Johnson reach the Command Center and start making plans to attack Truth's army, but then Truth appears on all screens and says:

"You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt, thinking...what, I wonder? That you might escape the coming fire? No! Your world will burn until its surface is but glass! And not even your Demon will live to creep, blackened, from its hole to mar the reflection of our passage; the culmination of our Journey. For your destruction is the will of the gods! And I? I AM their instrument!" '

Last laugh was on the Arbiter though eh?

Believe

I was surfing the net and I found these screen shots of the classic Halo 3 'Believe' promotional campaign and I thought, why not post em! It makes me ask the question, what does Bungie / Microsoft have up their sleeve for the Halo Reach promotional onslaught? That's gonna be a juggernaught.....

Charge!

Oh, flip! can I get a hand here Chief?

King of the Hill

Not so King of the Hill