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[OldRoutes]

I'm immensely late to the party, but I just finished Halo 5.

First of all, let me just say that I really don't understand all the flacks this game received for its campaign. It's different, fine, but it's fresh and it's certainly exciting. It's great, even.

Team Osiris turned out to be fantastic and the ending only made me more excited for the next Halo... much more than Halo 4 did.

But I digress -- the real star of the game is its soundtrack, composed by the talented Kazuma Jinnouchi. He used to work for Konami, mostly on Metal Gear Solid 4 and Peace Walker, then moved to 343 to work on Halo 4 and 5.

However, something happened between Halo 4 and 5 -- the soundtrack feels much more solid than it ever did for Halo, even when Marty was on board. It's not the same ; it's more orchestral and high-stakes than Marty's. It's different.

But BOY is it good! Maybe it was the focus on Team Osiris, giving us new themes, or the re-work of 117's theme into Blue Team, but everything feels cohesive, grandiose and dear god did it pump me up during gameplay.

I won't use hyperbole like 'THE BEST' or 'OF ALL TIME', but it's amongst the most pleasant video game soundtrack I've heard, standing proud and tall next to Journey, Metroid Prime, Red Dead Redemption and Chrono Trigger for me.

Here are a few tracks ; it was very hard for me to select what track would represent the game best, though...

The Trials -- Blue Team is tested by the Warden. Classic Halo theme remixed with 117's and Blue Team's.

The Light is Green -- Introducing Team Osiris. Their mission : retrieve Dr. Halsey and kill Jul'Mdama. Features Team Osiris/Locke's theme, mostly.

Dominion -- The emotional turning point in the story.

Spoiler

John realizes how far Cortana is willing to go to do what she thinks is best.

Beautiful song.

Anyway there are tons of songs I could share, but the OST comes with 2 discs. It's really worth a listen : it's available on Google Play Music All Access and Spotify. If you're in the mood for a good sountrack, video game or not, give this a go!

 

[novabolt]

Kazuma did good, I hope he's first pick for H6.

 

[Dipswitch]

It's suitably sweeping, but there's nothing on that soundtrack that stands out to me like Marty's music did and I haven't listened to it since the game launched. I still listen to the Halo 2 soundtrack to this day - Peril, Unforgotten and Unyielding being standouts for me.

I think the Neil Davidge tracks from the Halo 4 soundtrack like Arrival, Awakening and To Galaxy were also superior to anything on the H5 soundtrack.

Overall, I ultimately found it to be quite safe and therefore, meh.

 

[dancrane212]

Scavengers and the encounter it is used at in Halo 5 is probably my favorite part of the game. Love the touches of tracks from previous Halo OSTs in it.

 

[Trup1aya]

I really liked h5s score. That was a highlight of the campaign.

 

[jet1911]

Kamchatka ❤️❤️❤️

 

[imStrikerPT]

marty cannot be replaced

 

[OldRoutes]

It's suitably sweeping, but there's nothing on that soundtrack that stands out to me like Marty's music did and I haven't listened to it since the game launched. I still listen to the Halo 2 soundtrack to this day - Peril, Unforgotten and Unyielding being standouts for me.

I think the Neil Davidge tracks from the Halo 4 soundtrack like Arrival, Awakening and To Galaxy were also superior to anything on the H5 soundtrack.

Overall, I ultimately found it to be quite safe and therefore, meh.

Marty did implement most of the memorable themes, but there's something about the production value of Halo 5's soundtrack that just makes it so much more enjoyable.

I agree that Halo 4 had some great themes. I'd add Green and Blue as a song that, in particular, still stands out as great to me.

marty cannot be replaced

Amen brother!

 

[Hesemonni]

Technically nothing wrong with the soundtrack I guess, but realistically how do you score something as iconic as Halo? :/

The best moment soundtrackwise was in the end when the Halo theme kicks in and you're ascending your way to the top.

E: I guess it's this one.

 

[singhr1]

It's very good. It's mixed better than Halo 4 was, certainly.

 

[Elitist1945]

If it weren't for the score, I probably wouldn't have liked the campaign.

 

[Anung]

It's fine but Marty's legacy is just to iconic for someone to over from.

 

[Team Klimt]

Behind the scenes w Kazuma at Abbey Road:

https://youtu.be/sQDkJwenbUE

 

[imStrikerPT]

Technically nothing wrong with the soundtrack I guess, but realistically how do you score something as iconic as Halo? :/

The best moment soundtrackwise was in the end when the Halo theme kicks in and you're ascending your way to the top.

E: I guess it's this one.

quite excellent link there

 

[Phediuk]

He's good, but he's no Marty O'Donnell.

 

[Fotos]

It's suitably sweeping, but there's nothing on that soundtrack that stands out to me like Marty's music did and I haven't listened to it since the game launched. I still listen to the Halo 2 soundtrack to this day - Peril, Unforgotten and Unyielding being standouts for me.

I think the Neil Davidge tracks from the Halo 4 soundtrack like Arrival, Awakening and To Galaxy were also superior to anything on the H5 soundtrack.

Overall, I ultimately found it to be quite safe and therefore, meh.

Exactly how I feel

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Did they not want to continue using Marty's compositions because they didn't want to keep paying him royalties? Or was it because Halo 4 was a minor reboot of the franchise with a fresh developer, so a new soundtrack is a part of putting their own thumbprint on the series? I always thought they should have kept some of Marty's music (particularly the iconic main theme) and scored original music predominantly for levels and cutscenes. Maybe even remix some of his other work.

 

[OldRoutes]

Technically nothing wrong with the soundtrack I guess, but realistically how do you score something as iconic as Halo? :/

The best moment soundtrackwise was in the end when the Halo theme kicks in and you're ascending your way to the top.

E: I guess it's this one.

Yeah that's the one I shared in my OP!

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Falls victim to most modern game soundtrack faults, in that sure it sounds pretty as background music when you play... but you don't remember a single tune after the credits have rolled.

Putting Kaz in O'Donnell's league is laughable. Martin is a king of both bombastic orchestral style and memorable music. Even for all its faults, Destiny had a very iconic soundtrack before they kicked Martin off the crew.

 

[OldRoutes]

Did they not want to continue using Marty's compositions because they didn't want to keep paying him royalties? Or was it because Halo 4 was a minor reboot of the franchise with a fresh developer, so a new soundtrack is a part of putting their own thumbprint on the series? I always thought they should have kept some of Marty's music (particularly the iconic main theme) and scored original music predominantly for levels and cutscenes. Maybe even remix some of his other work.

Thematically it's different. Halo 1-2-3's Monk theme is present in both Halo 4 and 5, but the game is much more about John and now Team Osiris than Halos.

The Monk's theme was really about the Halo installations.

Spoiler

We might see it come back in Halo 6, though, if the Legendary ending is a hint.

The other themes are there, under different form, but the goal of the composer in Halo 4 was to expand the Halo universe and develop new character's theme. Halo 5 did the same thing.

 

[Van Bur3n]

I don't remember a single bit of the soundtrack from Halo 5. Probably doesn't help that there isn't a single moment worth remembering throughout the whole campaign. Shit, I at least remember Halo 4's soundtrack. I felt that was good.

But of course, none of it can replace Marty. His stuff is legendary.

 

[OldRoutes]

I don't remember a single bit of the soundtrack from Halo 5. Probably doesn't help that there isn't a single moment worth remembering throughout the whole campaign. Shit, I at least remember Halo 4's soundtrack. I felt that was good.

But of course, none of it can replace Marty. His stuff is legendary.

Give the tracks I posted in the OP a listen : I even posted a short description of when it happens during the campaign!

 

[imStrikerPT]

I feel like 4's is the least memorable. Also those "robotic" sounds felt out of place during the game

 

[RoKKeR]

It is a very solid soundtrack. The Light is Green is really damn good.

Also met Kazuma Jinnouchi in the Seattle airport a few months back on my way to Japan - very nice guy.

 

[nhlducks35]

It's good but it can't compare to any of the other Halo's by Marty

Halo 3 ODST Neon NIght

Halo 3 Finish the Fight

 

[PcPlasticFuzz]

I'm currently playing through the campaign now and have to agree the music has been superb and very much upped the stakes for me at certain points

Story wise I wouldn't say I'm fully following what is going on but I have to say I cannot see the reason behind the hate, each to their own I guess.

 

[Hawkeye 131]

Soundtrack is pretty good overall, a little heavy on the strings but there are some genuinely great tracks there Blue Team and Trials are standouts. I do miss some of the electronic/synthetic elements from Halo 4's OST though. Then again the soundtrack is the least of Halo 5's problems.

 

[boltz]

The Halo 5 OST really grew on me after listening to it a few times. My favorite is Osiris Suite, Act 1. And OP, when you mentioned Dominion as the song for the emotional turning point, I think you meant Blue Team right? I don't remember what part of the game Dominion came from, but the Blue Team part was pretty obvious.

 

[Van Bur3n]

Give the tracks I posted in the OP a listen : I even posted a short description of when it happens during the campaign!

Ah, I actually remember Dominion. I recall really liking that track and the level it played in.

Spoiler

Really added some emotion to the moment of fighting your way to Cortana.

Though unfortunately, I ended up hating that level due to

Spoiler

the overuse of Warden Eternal going complete overboard.

It's good but it can't compare to any of the other Halo's by Marty

Halo 3 ODST Neon NIght

Halo 3 Finish the Fight

ODST had a stellar track to it, and its perhaps some of the best the series has to offer.

This one from ODST still remains my all time favorite from Halo. Again, Marty gave Halo an atmosphere that I don't think any other composer will be able to recreate for the series.

 

[Gnome Scat]

He has a few great tracks but overall he played it too safe for me. I prefer Neil's much more.

 

[Fata1moose]

The OST is okay, nothing reaches Marty's work. I quite like Scavengers and The Trials, some of the other stuff sounds like Avengerd instead of Halo. I'd agree that 4 had more standouts with the likes of To Galaxy and Awakening.

Halo 5 really shines in the sound design department it's far and away one of the best shooters when it comes to sound design. It's not simply making guns sound cool either, though it does have that. There are a handful of audible queues for headshots, assists, etc that are strangely satisfying. The mixing is also excellent as you can differentiate everything going on, but it still sounds natural.

 

[Finaj]

He's good, but he's no Marty O'Donnell.

To be fair, no one is. Even Destiny's soundtrack has suffered with Marty's departure.

 

[Fata1moose]

To be fair, no one is. Even Destiny's soundtrack has suffered with Marty's departure.

Bungie has fumbled massively post Halo.

 

[formasymphonic]

I thought this soundtrack was criminally underrated, Marty's stuff has always been great, but KJ's stuff is right up there with it imo and should be recognised.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I've listened to soundtracks from both Halo 4 and 5 in the background at work today, and I have to say that I prefer Halo 4's a lot. 5's is decent and consistent, if a little unmemorable. 4's is a really great soundtrack with a lot of variety and this distorted mechanical sound that I really like, and I feel suits the game really well. Arrival, Awakening and To Galaxy are probably my favourite tracks. I'll give 5's another listen and see what favourites I have, as I enjoy listening to game soundtracks in the background while at work.

NB - I haven't played Halo 5, so I don't know if that changes the texture of the soundtrack at all.