As of late, Spartan Ops has been a hot topic, so I thought I throw some thoughts out there. Rather than repeat the basics like repetitive maps and gameplay, I’m going to address an issue that I haven’t seen too much talk about.
The music.
This, for me, is one of the biggest problems with Spartan Ops; the poor choice of the music. To put it plainly, whoever chose the music for each mission did a terrible job, stemming largely from the fact that they continually went back and used the same tracks over and over. Easily the biggest offender, especially in the second half of the season, is Swamp. More specifically, the part from 1:13 onwards. This song pops up in almost every mission in the second half of the season, and I feel this creates a couple of problems.
Firstly, hearing the same music helps to amplifly the repetitive nature of the levels, causing them to become even more of a chore.
Secondly, (and this is subjective) starting at 1:13, the track takes a serious dive in quality, before reaching the worst point at 1:45. There is absolutely no Halo vibe in it whatsoever, and the emotions it invokes is annoyance and frustration. Emotions you certainly don’t won’t the player to be feeling.
What makes this sting even more is that Swamp is used over tracks which would’ve added to the ambiance of the levels, not to the mediocrity. For example, Immaterial would’ve married perfectly with the level Switchback, due to the sheer creepiness of the Harvester and the surrounding area. Similarly, the use of the more ambient tracks like Requiem, Legacy, Haven, Solace, Aliens, and Foreshadow would’ve added greatly to the environments in similar manner. In fact, Foreshadow does just that in E10CH2, where you have to activate three beams to open the door to Apex. For me, the use of that tracks makes the level a blast; a sentiment that would not be shared if the track had’ve been Swamp.
Likewise, too many combat tracks weren’t used enough. These include tracks like Awakening, Gravity, Escape, Pylons, Push Through, Convoy, To Galaxy (both the original and the extended versions), the first half of Cloud City, This Armour, Mantis, Immaterial, Arrival, 117 and Sacrifice. All these wonderful tracks, many of which were used only once, are sidelined for Swamp(!!), and to a lesser extent, Ascendancy, Faithless, and Intruders. This is a real shame, as using the right combat track at the right moment can really get the blood pumping. This can be evidenced in the previous Halos and in Haalo 4 itself; for example, would the twin Scarab battle at the end the Covenant, or the massive fight at the end of NMPD HQ, or the trench run through the Didact’s ship be half as epic without its accompanying tunes, or if said tunes were replaced by Swamp or Ascendancy?
I think not.
