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.”

Humongous bias check here: this was my first Halo game. I had been reading the novels repeatedly for a couple years beforehand (still several years off from being legally/parentally allowed to buy the mainline games), and jumped at a Teen-rated game to play in the series. I was not and still am not an RTS person, so other than remembering enjoying it, I can't speak to how good it is. Spirit of Fire's AI, Serina, being described in the manual as having a theoretical interest in chocolate is something I find endearing to this day (remember when games had manuals with universe and character info?)

I'm not sure where the score falls in the listened-to-this line, and while it was early it was definitely not my first. I think this is my first big break with your opinion with this series. I adore this one (again, huge nostalgia bias check) and can hum several of its tracks off memory. I'd describe those same tracks and rhythmic and grooving, excellent study/writing music. It possibly could have stood to use more franchise themes, but its occasional and enjoyable use of the 'Gregorian' theme roots it in the franchise effectively enough. To this day, I usually pop it on when snow starts falling (the opening on Harvest provides a beautifully lonely, desolate atmosphere). And 'Insignificantia' still remains a deeply emotional musical symbol of melancholic finality and propulsion (occupying a similar emotional niche to Undertale's self-titled main theme track). It probably rates low-ish compared to other Halo scores for me if I had to actually rank them, but nostalgia, man.

Ironically, despite owning the score's physical release, I never listened to the bonus DVD.

Side note, years later I checked out Rippy's work for the Ensemble 'Age of...' games, and the music was *very* familiar in style. With that hindsight, it can be safely said that Halo Wars was a case of a composer fitting the assignment into existing mannerisms, and that was likely the assignment.

Loving this series!!!

> Next time: “You've heard the music, time to dance.”

~~My fave is next!!!~~

> I'm not sure where the score falls in the listened-to-this line, and while it was early it was definitely not my first. I think this is my first big break with your opinion with this series. I adore this one (again, huge nostalgia bias check) and can hum several of its tracks off memory. I'd describe those same tracks and rhythmic and grooving, excellent study/writing music. It possibly could have stood to use more franchise themes, but its occasional and enjoyable use of the 'Gregorian' theme roots it in the franchise effectively enough. To this day, I usually pop it on when snow starts falling (the opening on Harvest provides a beautifully lonely, desolate atmosphere). And 'Insignificantia' still remains a deeply emotional musical symbol of melancholic finality and propulsion (occupying a similar emotional niche to Undertale's self-titled main theme track). It probably rates low-ish compared to other Halo scores for me if I had to actually rank them, but nostalgia, man.

I didn’t play the game, so that probably explains my nostalgia-free take.

I know I wrote a review for Soundtrack Geek back in the day without hearing the bonus tracks. I’d venture I probably arrived at a similar rating, albeit via caustic, immature nerd rage.

You can imagine my amusement to find out to learn that the Soundtrack Geek URL (which was used for a South Asian sex toy site a few years ago) is now a Malaysian gambling webpage.

> Side note, years later I checked out Rippy's work for the Ensemble 'Age of...' games, and the music was *very* familiar in style. With that hindsight, it can be safely said that Halo Wars was a case of a composer fitting the assignment into existing mannerisms, and that was likely the assignment.

Rippy admitted as much in a blog post - https://www.stephenrippy.com/halo-wars-blog.html

> ~~My fave is next!!!~~

I gave it *** when it came out. How times change…

(Message edited on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at 7:16 a.m.)