Halo 2, Vol. 2

This soundtrack has all the game music, except the instrumental Incubus and Breaking Benjamin pieces. While Volume 1 was great, it was missing some genuinely good compositions. This is the big reason why I was anticipating this release since last year and I'm very pleased they added everything.

If you've played the game, then you know exactly what the music is and that's what you'll get when you buy Volume 2, nothing more and nothing less. If you haven't played the game, think rock and instrumental mixed together with some very interesting vocals, flutes, and guitars to form a sort of trance-like dance music. It's very original and is somewhat of a narcotic for the auditory senses. You just want to keep listening to it over and over. It's a real work of genius.

The only gripe I have is that the suites feel a bit stitched together. It would have been nice to just separate them out on the CD so one can skip between pieces as desired. The suite structure forces...Read more

Although Halo 2 Volume 1 was deservedly the best-selling video game soundtrack ever, it was a dissapointment overall because of the Incubus music. It took up nearly half of the album, but it had nothing to do with the game. Instead, it just got in the way of the scoring. The whole soundtrack just felt too commercial. There was so much music from the game that I was heartbroken to not find there.

Fortunately, however, composer Marty O'Donnell is just as generous as he is talented. This is the Halo 2 Soundtrack I've been waiting for for over a year: here all of the music sorely missed from the first volume is available without interruption. It's put in an order that reminds you of the way the game progresses. No, the order is not entirely faithful, meaning that it does skip around to some extent, but every theme will remind you of where you were in the game when you originally heard it. Words cannot describe the beauty of "Unforgotten," and I don't know any Halo fan who is...Read more

Like the description states, Halo 2 Volume 2 uses a suite structure for the music. In this aspect, I find the music very pleasing throughout. I find it rather enjoyable for the most part, but it's my opinion, Marty O'Donnel could have created better transitions between some of the pieces.

One thing I do have to say. Some of the music, such as the horns from Prologue for example, carry over onto other tracks. While it gives the album as a whole a better sense of cohesiveness, sometimes I think, "I just heard this!"

I'm a fan of the Halo games foremost, but I'm also a fan of the music. I've waited for much of this music to come out since I've played the game and was dismayed to find Volume 1 didn't contain certain pieces, such as Epilogue. Beautiful string-work there. Mombasa Suite is another piece I very much enjoy. If you've seen the E3 demo (now included in Halo: Combat Evolved, under Demos, I believe), you'll notice the first set was used in that. It also...Read more