Sumthing Else Music Works has released the official soundtrack for Halo Wars 2, the action-packed real-time strategy (RTS) game on the biggest Halo battlefield to date. In Halo Wars 2, players lead armies of Spartans and other Halo fighting forces like Warthogs, Scorpions, and new units in a brutal war against a terrifying new enemy, The Banished. The soundtrack features more than two hours of original music by composing team Gordy Haab, Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White, and builds on the legendary legacy of Halo music by Martin O'Donnell, Michael Salvatori and other great composers. The score was recorded at the iconic 20th Century Fox Studios...

Fans of the previous Halo game soundtracks won't be disappointed by what Gordy Haab, Brian Trifon and Brian Lee White have managed to conjure up here. In fact, I'd argue this is the most impressive Halo score to date. While there may not be any obvious standout memorable themes like with the classic Halo 3 score, what the composers deliver here is a constant attack on the listener's senses. So, while there are numerous epic battle themes ('It's Done' been one of the standout tracks), there are also plenty of more melancholic and beautiful moments (like 'Arise, Goodbye').

You can instantly tell that this is a Halo score. While the composers do subtly pay homage to some of the previous music, what they do more impressively is capture the essence of the Halo universe through their compositions. It sounds like their either huge fans of the franchise, spent hours listening to the previous scores... or just got very, very lucky.

The album contains 38 tracks (2 hr, 10 sec) and, try as I might, I couldn't find a track I didn't enjoy.

10

Darren Rea