Last time - Halo 5 and The Fall of Reach - https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=142949
This time - “We are just one ship… and an old one at that. But here we are.”
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Microsoft had been contemplating a Halo Wars sequel ever since it founded 343 Industries in 2007, and in 2014 it approached the studio behind real-time strategy games like the Total War franchise to make one. It wouldn’t be a Halo game without release delays, and what was originally planned for a 2016 debut got pushed to 2017. Reviews and sales for Halo Wars 2 were decent, though it’s not a game that’s generally remembered today (343 stopped pushing updates and patches in early 2021), and a Halo Wars 3 doesn’t seem to be on the horizon. The game’s most notable legacy likely remains the introduction of the Banished enemy (a faction that broke off from the Covenant enemy of the original Bungie games) and their leader Atriox; both would appear in later franchise content.
Work on the score started in 2015, or rather on two scores. Gordy Haab, no stranger to stepping into an existing franchise with Star Wars: Battlefront already on his resume, was tasked with the more orchestral material. Haab tried to be consistent with what he called the “Halo music sound” but not be too beholden to legacy themes, though in a nice touch he did find a way to weave in the Spirit of Fire theme Stephen Rippy wrote for the original Halo Wars into the opening track on the Halo Wars 2 album. Meanwhile, the team of Brian Lee White and Brian Trifon (co-founders of Finishing Move and contributors to the 2014 anniversary re-recording of Halo 2) were brought on board for more electronic and ambient content. Trifon also created an audio texture software that would enable the game to more seamlessly fade between the two styles of music.
Disc 1 of the score release focused on Haab’s orchestral material, and it’s not too far from what we got with Halo 5: Guardians - a robust action/adventure sound with tenuous linkage to the music of the franchise, the latter a bit surprising given Haab’s adaptation of John Williams’ works in earlier games. Disc 2 will try your patience though, with the Brians delivering pulses, ambience, and other electronic effects so banal they make Rippy’s work for Halo Wars sound like a masterpiece by comparison. I know real-time strategy games have different musical requirements, but it’s debatable how much of the second disc counts as actual music, and the lack of effort to fit with the saga’s musical aesthetic (something they’d shown they could do on the anniversary re-recordings) necessitates a punitive rating.
The Haab tracks: ***
The Trifon/White tracks: *
Overall Halo Wars 2 rating: ** - https://open.spotify.com/album/5y171WiHeO6dZB0ILTK8UV
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This dynamic would play out further in the Awakening the Nightmare expansion released later in the year where the Banished battle the secondary zombie Flood enemy from the original trilogy of games. All composers were credited on all 12 tracks across the 31-minute album, though likely the same division of responsibilities existed. Haab pulled his orchestral material into more of a horror direction without much distinction, though the brutal ruckus of No Surrender and Uncharitable are still worth hearing at least once. The less said about (what I assume were) the Brians’ contributions the better.
The Haab tracks: ***
The Trifon/White tracks: *
Overall Awakening the Nightmare rating: ** - https://open.spotify.com/album/4WDgYaetdlqxIDPH8RbMWY
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Next time: “I'm worthless. You should leave me here with the rest of the garbage.”
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