My honest opinion on the Halo 4 Menu Music was not very good, I would say about 7/10 because it didn’t feel like Halo I know it sounds stupid but all the Menu Music in the Halo Franchise are supposed to make you feel like your in the Halo Era i’m not saying it was terrible, I just found it a little boring because normally they have the the Harmony, the voices, the enchantment.
Please 343, keep the old style, but have a little Forerunner type flow in there too! Don’t get me wrong! I loved the Halo 3 Soundtrack how it was all chilled then it just goes crazy, I love Halo/Bungie for that, even if Halo was not as popular as it was in 2001 it’s been my game since I was a kid! When I used to be scared of the Banshee hovering in the sky with the little whistle of music on Halo CE when Chief Crashes on to Halo Ring and he was the only survivor.
CE-3 recycled the same music (with a few exceptions of course). It was good, very good. But by Halo 3, it started getting redundant.
But then again, I hate listening to the radio because they play the same 5 songs over and over, and apparently that how people listen to music (hence it being on the radio). So maybe most players prefer the same music game after game.
A lot of times I get the impression that people say Halo 4’s music was terrible simply because it wasn’t in the original trilogy. It’s fantastic music, it just sounds like a new saga of Halo in a new decade.
And what I’ve heard of Halo 5’s music is quite good as well.
> 2533274883669557;4:
> CE-3 recycled the same music (with a few exceptions of course). It was good, very good. But by Halo 3, it started getting redundant.
>
> But then again, I hate listening to the radio because they play the same 5 songs over and over, and apparently that how people listen to music (hence it being on the radio). So maybe most players prefer the same music game after game.
>
> A lot of times I get the impression that people say Halo 4’s music was terrible simply because it wasn’t in the original trilogy. It’s fantastic music, it just sounds like a new saga of Halo in a new decade.
>
> And what I’ve heard of Halo 5’s music is quite good as well.
I think you’re absolutely right that a lot of people hated the H4 soundtrack because it wasn’t the Halo 1-3 soundtracks… However, I still think it’s the worst soundtrack of the series by a fair margin and my reasoning for that is similar to your own for the trilogy: repetition. Davidge’s orchestral work in H4 is so “modern action movie score,” generic post-Zimmer it’s painful. It has great parts, but so much of it is just so… bland. And it has no where near the emotional range of Marty’s work (good god, not every action scene needs to be dark, intense, and dramatic). Bring back the bouncy pizzicato, the African-influenced rhythm, the borderline Irish jigs. Marty was able to preserve that identity while doing something different with ODST and Reach. 4 mostly didn’t.
Case in point: Arrival, the unbearably repetitive, “four chord song” of epic scoring. Uninteresting progression, uninteresting melody, beyond boring rhythm (God, the straight 8th notes). I was so happy when I heard that Davidge was out and Jinnouchi was doing the bulk of the work for 5. His work is so much more consistently listenable and I’m looking forward to it.
> 2533274890584596;7:
> > 2533274883669557;4:
> > CE-3 recycled the same music (with a few exceptions of course). It was good, very good. But by Halo 3, it started getting redundant.
> >
> > But then again, I hate listening to the radio because they play the same 5 songs over and over, and apparently that how people listen to music (hence it being on the radio). So maybe most players prefer the same music game after game.
> >
> > A lot of times I get the impression that people say Halo 4’s music was terrible simply because it wasn’t in the original trilogy. It’s fantastic music, it just sounds like a new saga of Halo in a new decade.
> >
> > And what I’ve heard of Halo 5’s music is quite good as well.
>
>
> I think you’re absolutely right that a lot of people hated the H4 soundtrack because it wasn’t the Halo 1-3 soundtracks… However, I still think it’s the worst soundtrack of the series by a fair margin and my reasoning for that is similar to your own for the trilogy: repetition. Davidge’s orchestral work in H4 is so “modern action movie score,” generic post-Zimmer it’s painful. It has great parts, but so much of it is just so… bland. And it has no where near the emotional range of Marty’s work (good god, not every action scene needs to be dark, intense, and dramatic). Bring back the bouncy pizzicato, the African-influenced rhythm, the borderline Irish jigs. Marty was able to preserve that identity while doing something different with ODST and Reach. 4 mostly didn’t.
>
> Case in point: Arrival, the unbearably repetitive, “four chord song” of epic scoring. Uninteresting progression, uninteresting melody, beyond boring rhythm (God, the straight 8th notes). I was so happy when I heard that Davidge was out and Jinnouchi was doing the bulk of the work for 5. His work is so much more consistently listenable and I’m looking forward to it.
I thought it fit the game. It was a bit cliche at parts, but I liked it. I mean, music is completely subjective. I write a lot of music, but I also listen to the Ramones a lot. So … you know. lol
And I agree with you (and pretty much everyone) that Jinnouchi is awesome.
Haha. Yes. That would be the best contradiction of tone ever. In fact, 343i should release an edit of the trailers with that in the background. It would be glorious.
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> IT was cool for about ten seconds then it just pissed me off
right there with ya. Some of the music on the soundtrack itself was pretty legit (like Ascendancy), but they saved the annoying -Yoink- for the MAIN MENU…
> 2533274890584596;7:
> > 2533274883669557;4:
> > CE-3 recycled the same music (with a few exceptions of course). It was good, very good. But by Halo 3, it started getting redundant.
> >
> > But then again, I hate listening to the radio because they play the same 5 songs over and over, and apparently that how people listen to music (hence it being on the radio). So maybe most players prefer the same music game after game.
> >
> > A lot of times I get the impression that people say Halo 4’s music was terrible simply because it wasn’t in the original trilogy. It’s fantastic music, it just sounds like a new saga of Halo in a new decade.
> >
> > And what I’ve heard of Halo 5’s music is quite good as well.
>
>
>
>
> I think you’re absolutely right that a lot of people hated the H4 soundtrack because it wasn’t the Halo 1-3 soundtracks… However, I still think it’s the worst soundtrack of the series by a fair margin and my reasoning for that is similar to your own for the trilogy: repetition. Davidge’s orchestral work in H4 is so “modern action movie score,” generic post-Zimmer it’s painful. It has great parts, but so much of it is just so… bland. And it has no where near the emotional range of Marty’s work (good god, not every action scene needs to be dark, intense, and dramatic). Bring back the bouncy pizzicato, the African-influenced rhythm, the borderline Irish jigs. Marty was able to preserve that identity while doing something different with ODST and Reach. 4 mostly didn’t.
>
> Case in point: Arrival, the unbearably repetitive, “four chord song” of epic scoring. Uninteresting progression, uninteresting melody, beyond boring rhythm (God, the straight 8th notes). I was so happy when I heard that Davidge was out and Jinnouchi was doing the bulk of the work for 5. His work is so much more consistently listenable and I’m looking forward to it.
I agree with everything you said. Halo 1-3 had great tracks, tracks that were memorable and gave Halo itself an Identity. There was also a lot themes and once you hear them when playing the games you still know it’s from Halo the second they play. That’s what I like about Marty’s work, he really did give Halo it’s own unique feel and identity. Halo 1-3 music also added a lot to the story and lore. It created a good feel for the the covenant, the flood and especially the forerunners. Cryptic, mysterious, wondrous, heroic, dark, eerie it had it all. The Original trilogy soundtracks were very diverse and had a wide variety of different themes and tracks despite the remakes and recycled ones. When it comes to Halo 1-3 music I’m spoiled for choice.
I don’t mean to sound harsh or anything but I’m happy Neil Davidge is no longer doing the music, his stuff didn’t work for me. I think he could have done better with the new feel and atmosphere Halo 4 was going.
Halo 3 had the best soundtrack, and is probably one of my favorite orchestral bodies of work of all time. But I liked Halo 4 (probably vol 2 more than vol 1). Atonement (the main menu music) was very different and it took a while to grow on me, but I realized how beautiful it actually was, and then when it finished off with the piano melody from Halo 3 I just got all kinds of chills.
The rest of the music DID get very generic at times, primarily the action pieces. I love Arrival, but I know for a fact that there are probably a dozen action themes that sound similar. Halo 4’s music is strongest in its atmospheric pieces.
However, the ONE song that shines above everything else is 117. It’s probably my favorite composition in the series.
Halo 3 > Halo 1, 2, and 4, but 117 > Everything
I thought it was good music, but I voted no because it did not feel Halo. Something that would have continued or built upon the common themes that O’Donnel created would have been a whole lot better. Take Halo Wars for example, it wasn’t the same songs as the main trilogy, but yet you still knew it was Halo right from the the start.
I would prefer to not have any of the music from Halo 4 in future games for this reason
I really enjoyed all of the music in Halo 4. The main menu music (Atonement) made me feel like I was about to embark on a lonesome journey to save the galaxy and discover what “humanity” means to me along the way. That’s pretty “Halo-feeling” to me.
Other phenomenal songs are: Arrival, To Galaxy, 117, Sacrifice, Nemesis, Legacy, Green and Blue, and Revival. The soundtrack is definitely different from previous Halo games, but the same spirit is there. They still have an ancient and epic feel to them, it’s just a different style. I do miss Marty’s music, but the new score is amazing nevertheless.