Last time - Halo 3 - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=142528
This time - “And for the record, I would have kicked your ass the first time if the lady hadn't stopped me!”
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Although Bungie was still developing console games, the Halo franchise rights belonged to Microsoft, and it sought to diversify the brand beyond first-person shooters by converting an in-progress game from Ensemble Studios (of the Age of Empires series) into a real-time strategy game, ironically nudging closer to what Halo: Combat Evolved was being contemplated as prior to its 1999 Macworld presentation. This would turn out to be disastrous for most parties; the game sold well enough and reviews were generally positive if not exactly exuberant, but Ensemble Studios shut down after production on Halo Wars, and founder Tony Goodman later said a late-stage pivot to put Spartan supersoldiers and the Covenant in an in-progress game was a bad idea. “[Microsoft] said, ‘Why don’t you just paint over what you have with Halo stuff?’ But things aren’t quite that simple.” Never mind Bungie’s feelings; folks at that studio were rumored to view the game as “the whoring out of our franchise.”
Game producer Chris Rippy’s brother Stephen Rippy had composed for the studio’s earlier games and was an obvious choice for the game’s score, but it wasn’t the easiest project from the get-go. O’Donnell and Salvatori weren’t involved in the process at all, and rather than working off of source files Rippy had to listen to prior Halo albums to determine what elements he may want to interpret. Choir and piano were identified as key sonic elements, though he elected to have quotes of legacy themes be limited. His own Spirit of Fire was a strong addition to the franchise, but otherwise the demands of the real-time strategy genre seemed to drag things down, the bulk of the music on album playing like bubbly, pop-adjacent background listening which was appropriately unobtrusive in the game but decidedly not compelling on album (even with the occasional vocal contributions). An orchestra intrudes every so often, generally for cutscenes, but don’t expect to be blown away by any of those sections. A duduk-like sound in a few tracks makes for a confounding stab at exoticism; did O’Donnell’s main theme really need to sound Middle Eastern?
Most of Rippy’s choices were understandable (unlike O’Donnell he wasn’t scoring gunplay in a first-person shooter), and a handful of tracks could’ve conceivable fit with the prog rock / synth pop / orchestra hybrid of the original trilogy of games (Status Quo Show and Through Your Hoops, the latter including an action variant on the series theme) but if this weren’t a Halo work there’d be little reason to seek the score out on album. Or at least that’s how I’d describe the 25-track album program that was released on digital channels (and remains the only option on streaming today). Those buying the physical media back in 2009 got access to another 9 tracks on a bonus DVD that also included surround sound mixes and video featurettes. Astonishingly, this relegated some of the composer’s best material onto a release that most listeners won’t experience (save for going to YouTube), including the music for the 2006 announcement trailer, the opening cinematic, and various cutscenes, several of which made notable use of O’Donnell’s main theme and the orchestra and choir the composer wrote extensively about on his own website.
Standard score program on album: ** - https://open.spotify.com/album/4YKzzTj1HfsWqXJ0Ibiiko
Score including DVD tracks: **½ - We’re Burning Sunshine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2kFdVRV19A
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Rippy and his brother would help found Bonfire Studios (later called Zynga Dallas after an acquisition) which resulted in two games including the Rippy-scored CastleVille before partner company Zynga went through massive layoffs. They next founded Boss Fight Entertainment which released a handful of games including the Rippy-scored Dungeon Boss before the studio was bought by Netflix as part of the company’s entry into gaming. If by chance you’ve stumbled upon Money Heist: Ultimate Choice or Squid Game: Unleashed while scrolling through your Netflix app, you should know that’s Rippy’s music you’re hearing.
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Next time: “You've heard the music, time to dance.”
