Search - Martin / Salvatori, Michael O'Donnell, Christian Knapp, Northwest Sinfonia :: Halo 2, Vol. 2

Makes me want to save the world myself!

Ryan Johanson | Tranquility, NJ USA | 05/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although Halo 2 Volume 1 was deservedly the best-selling video game soundtrack ever, it was a dissapointment overall because of the Incubus music. It took up nearly half of the album, but it had nothing to do with the game. Instead, it just got in the way of the scoring. The whole soundtrack just felt too commercial. There was so much music from the game that I was heartbroken to not find there.



Fortunately, however, composer Marty O'Donnell is just as generous as he is talented. This is the Halo 2 Soundtrack I've been waiting for for over a year: here all of the music sorely missed from the first volume is available without interruption. It's put in an order that reminds you of the way the game progresses. No, the order is not entirely faithful, meaning that it does skip around to some extent, but every theme will remind you of where you were in the game when you originally heard it. Words cannot describe the beauty of "Unforgotten," and I don't know any Halo fan who is not elated with the "Delta Halo Suite," which contains some of the most heavily demanded music from the game. I also love the first two sections of the "High Charity Suite."



My only problem is with how repititious some of the music is. There is a good handful of themes that you will hear over and over again througout the soundtrack. To Marty O'Donnell's defense, most of these repititions do have subtle differences, but I just thought the extent to which these themes were played and replayed was just unnessecary. Speaking of which, I'm also not a big fan of the track "Reclaimer." It's the same as "Unyielding" but with a wild guitar solo by Steve Vai. I know some people like Steve Vai's style of guitar playing, but I'm not really one of them. It was great in the "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" from Volume One, but for some reason, I find it annoying and out of place in that one track here. These criticisms are so slight, however, that I can still give this soundtrack 5 stars just as easily.



This is very heroic-sounding music that not only *reminds* you of the sprawling, epic feel of Halo 2 but *contributes* to it in a major way. Now I can hear it whenever I want, and all I have to do is turn on my CD player. Thank you Marty!"

All the music less the game itself

A. Maroukian | Elmhurst, NY | 05/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This soundtrack has all the game music, except the instrumental Incubus and Breaking Benjamin pieces. While Volume 1 was great, it was missing some genuinely good compositions. This is the big reason why I was anticipating this release since last year and I'm very pleased they added everything.



If you've played the game, then you know exactly what the music is and that's what you'll get when you buy Volume 2, nothing more and nothing less. If you haven't played the game, think rock and instrumental mixed together with some very interesting vocals, flutes, and guitars to form a sort of trance-like dance music. It's very original and is somewhat of a narcotic for the auditory senses. You just want to keep listening to it over and over. It's a real work of genius.



The only gripe I have is that the suites feel a bit stitched together. It would have been nice to just separate them out on the CD so one can skip between pieces as desired. The suite structure forces you to listen to the whole piece even if you want to hear just a part of it.



Still, it's a great buy. I also suggest getting Volume 1, because only together do these two give a complete musical representation of this classic game."

Better than Volume 1 by far

C. S. Ellis | Spencer, IN USA | 04/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like the description states, Halo 2 Volume 2 uses a suite structure for the music. In this aspect, I find the music very pleasing throughout. I find it rather enjoyable for the most part, but it's my opinion, Marty O'Donnel could have created better transitions between some of the pieces.



One thing I do have to say. Some of the music, such as the horns from Prologue for example, carry over onto other tracks. While it gives the album as a whole a better sense of cohesiveness, sometimes I think, "I just heard this!"



I'm a fan of the Halo games foremost, but I'm also a fan of the music. I've waited for much of this music to come out since I've played the game and was dismayed to find Volume 1 didn't contain certain pieces, such as Epilogue. Beautiful string-work there. Mombasa Suite is another piece I very much enjoy. If you've seen the E3 demo (now included in Halo: Combat Evolved, under Demos, I believe), you'll notice the first set was used in that. It also includes the percussion used in 'Ghosts of Reach' from Volume 1.



Overall, this shows a lot of effort has been put into it, compared to Halo 2: Volume 1 (Personally, I could have lived without the Hoobastank and Nataraj tracks, but that's another review!). The composition is not at all displeasing to the ear. Therefore, I've given five stars."