Halo Reach (Original Game Soundtrack)

As is expected for a game with a plot that ends with the noble Spartans making the ultimate sacrifice and getting blown to bits for the good of future humanity, Halo: Reach is the most somber of the Halo soundtracks. The sixth and the purportedly final installment in the series was painstakingly pieced together from five hours of music in the game and made available as a digital download and a two-CD set. Bungie's Marty O' Donnell, along with fellow audio designers and composers Mike Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, and Stan LePard succeeded in their goal of turning the listening experience from a backdrop for game play into one that works as a standalone listening experience. Obviously, Reach is a soundtrack that will appeal most to the huge number of Halo fans (in the first week of sales, it was reported that over 70 million games had been played on X-Boxes alone), but songs like "Unreconciled," and "Ghosts and Glass" are emotionally moving enough that they will appeal to fans of symphonic scores, and chunky, action-packed guitar riffs alike. ~ Jason Lymangrover, Rovi