Music, evolved

Well I finished HALO 3 last night on Heroic (Hard, in layman's terms). What a blast! HALO is such an awesome series and I've loved every minute of it. It's sad to see it go, but as with Harry Potter, all good things must come to an end.

But on my way to work this morning I was struck by a thought. What was it, exactly, about the HALO series that has so enthralled me? Was it the story line? While it's great military sci-fi and the HALO universe is fascinating, the story is not exactly mind-blowing. A good read, but it won't change your life or have you in tears or really elicit any deeper emotion other than exhilaration and excitement. And the occasional "Shitshitshitshit need ammo, need ammo!! Where the hell is tha-OH GOD!! A HUNTER!! OH SH-"

Well, perhaps it was the online play, which has still yet to be matched in scope or success by any game prior to or since (with perhaps the exception of Counterstrike)? Again, I have to say that while I am a big fan of the multiplayer, it still doesn't give HALO that special something that makes it such a great franchise. Besides, I tend to get my ass handed to me every time and while I'm a good sport and always enjoy the challenges of online play, one can only take so many energy swords to the chest and unrelenting attacks on one's sexual orientation by prepubescent 10 year-olds before one must quit else the childless future of "Children of Men" start to look a little too inviting.

So what is it? Well, those of you that have known me for a while know that there are certain things that I simply cannot compromise on, notwithstanding of the limitations of available funds and the general laws of thermodynamics and gravity and such, and one of those things is sound. In particular, music. I am a huge fan of music and the equipment to play it, record it, store it, manipulate it, etc. I've had an iPod for a long time, my latest being my iPod touch, and before that I have always had some sort of music playing device be it a computer, CD player, or whatever. Also, lurking on a hard drive somewhere is a massive MP3 collection that will one day be resurrected when I get the time/funds to build a good media server.

As such, being something of an audiophile, I have added two pairs of rather extravagant headphones to my collection. My old set, is a pair of over-the-ear Sennheiser HD-590s which have served me for years as the best pair of cans I've ever owned. Seriously, you can hear things you never knew existed on your CDs with these babies. The other pair are earbuds to replace the abysmal iPod ones. These are Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 Pros, hands down the best earbuds you can buy short of selling several major organs or marrying Paris Hilton (of which the former may in fact be preferable). Even so, these still cost around $350 and $250 respectively. Someone once asked me why I needed $350 headphones, to which I looked at them strangely and said in my best "isn't it obvious" tone: "Because I couldn't afford the $600 ones."

What is my point? My point is this: Music. HALO has some of the best music composition of any game I have ever played. I actually own the soundtracks from HALO 1 & 2, and listen to them quite often. The music is simply stunning and supremely beautiful. It can make certain scenes in HALO go from run-of-the-mill shooter stuff, to pure poetry. The frantic and wanton destruction that you rain down upon your enemies, set to a soaring and dynamic score makes for delicious contrast that just makes me smile. I am particularly fond of "Covenant Dance" and "A Walk in the Woods", and of course "Halo" from the original soundtrack, as some great instrumental pieces. I particularly like "Truth and Reconciliation Suite" not only for it's length, but for it's range of emotion and depth, as well as "The Last Spartan" from HALO 2. I'm also rather partial to "4th Movement of the Odyssey". But the "Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix" from HALO 2 is by far my favorite for pure awesomeness. It makes you want to don your MJOLNIR armor and go f*ck up some Covenant. Maybe stomp on a few infection-form Flood or knock down a Scarab. As G'Kar would say, "They make a very agreeable thump."*

Martin O'Donnell, you are the man, my friend.

*From Babylon 5