Needledrop - Halo 2
My Needledrop of choice - that 'Gravemind' level where Breaking Benjamin's 'Blow Me Away' starts playing.
With the ‘Halo’ series turning over $10 billion in revenue, there is no question that ‘Halo’ has made some serious impact across the two decades of its existence. Starting with Halo: Combat Evolved as the critically and commercially successful flagship FPS, sold along the original Xbox console back in 2001, it has continued to keep hold of gaming audiences. It did this with impressive competitive gameplay, stunning scenery and (you guessed it) a beautiful soundtrack. On top of these factors, there was one needledrop moment inside of Halo 2 that really spoke to me - I’m going to explore that. Here’s my plan:
The foundation of the Halo Series
Who contributed towards Halo 2’s soundtrack
The Needledrop - Breaking Benjamin’s ‘Blow Me Away’
What can industries learn from this?
The foundation of the Halo series
Personally, Halo was just one of those game series that really stood out to me during the 00’s. After doing some research, I realise that this game was released the same year as GTA 3 and Final Fantasy X which are both incredible - but it was released only a year after Perfect Dark and Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask! For some reason that surprised me, perhaps thats a testament to the budget that went into Halo: Combat Evolved when it was first released. I mean, by 2006 (5 years after its release) it generated $170 million revenue solely through Xbox sales. So the critically acclaimed foundation, as well as their financial foundation, was prepped and ready for Halo 2.
Halo: Combat Evolved’s soundtrack was composed and produced by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. It was a beautifully composed set of strong consistent themes amongst chanting, string orchestra, and percussion. This theme ebbed and flowed throughout the game depending on the combat, storyline and circumstance and set a solid, predictable tone for Halo and gave it a feeling of ‘epicness’.
Many similar games had outstanding soundtracks, and to mention once again, Final Fantasy X was a great example of this. My guess is that back in the early ‘00s, investing in an impressive soundtrack was more of a creative choice rather than a commercial one. Soundtracks at this time weren’t chart-worthy in western markets despite the game sales being massive. The legal format of choice was largely physical (with the emergence of digital piracy growing rapidly) and once you have sold the game, that was enough for a game company. There was little room proportionately for a gaming publisher to think that selling the soundtrack at scale would be worth it.
Now, Halo: Combat Evolved’s music was great in itself…but then you heard the opening guitar solo of Halo 2.
2. Who contributed towards Halo 2’s soundtrack
Yeah that solo was Steve Vai. Steve Vai, rolls in with the Mjolnir Mix of the intro Halo riff that we knew and loved, but ripped it on a guitar solo and squealed it into a meaty assault of distorted power chords that rebooted the love of the franchise and the innate requirement for immediate assault riflin’.
There was a ‘rockier’ edge to the soundtrack that merged with the orchestral expectations well. Hoobastank contributed the song ‘Connected’ which featured on the soundtrack (but not in-game). Incubus went and created a 4-track movement suite there too, and said:
“‘Halo’ is the only videogame that ever inspired us to write a whole suite,” Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger tells Billboard. “Now if we could only stop playing ‘Halo,’ we might actually be able to write another one.“
So how did they all get involved? Who was the mastermind behind this? Halo 2’s co-producer - Nile Rodgers. Only one of the most legendary and prolific music producers of all time. This article interviewing Nile Rodgers back in 2004 is a really insightful piece of him discussing the lack of attention in gaming soundtracks so much that he created a record label called ‘Sumthing Else’ that produced Halo and Halo 2 soundtracks. Halo 2’s soundtrack sold 70,000 copies within 2 days, overshadowing the 40,000 life-of-product sales for the original soundtrack. He saw there could have been a real demand for gaming soundtracks and proved its importance, not only with the sales figures, not only with Breaking Benjamin’s ‘Blow Me Away’ getting platinum status 16 years later (being one of the only game-made tracks to hit platinum too), but by the critical acclaim this game and soundtrack has.
Unforunately, since then Nile has suspended Sumthing Else records due to his touring schedule, and left an impressive legacy.
3. The Needledrop - Breaking Benjamin’s ‘Blow Me Away’
Despite having a great selection of moments in Halo 2’s soundtrack, Breaking Benjamin’s ‘Blow Me Away’ is my Needledrop of choice. I’m not taking away from the fact that Steve Vai made my face melt upon the disc landing in the tray, or the fact that Nile Rodger’s Midas touch had made this all happen…
It was the way that this track was used that made such an impact. Towards the end of the level ‘Gravemind’, your travelling AI assistant, Cortana, takes you on a detour that happens to go into a mausoleum where two enemy factions are fighting each other. Cortana famously lands you with the following philosophical quandary:
“You might consider sitting this one out.“
In my opinion, there are two types of people: The strategic kind that sit back, wait until they battle each other down so the numbers are minimal and go in to clean up. Or, people that have an uncontrollable reaction to the initial riff kicking in and whipping out the rocket launcher you’ve been saving and spamming all of your grenades in the hope that you at least kill a grunt or two in the process.
This was my first experience where a custom track has cut through to gameplay, but in context. The context was that this track will ONLY EVER be played if you are in that level at that time, during that combat. You couldn’t help but associate this track with the adrenaline of arguably the most chaotic fight in the whole game, where you have the most opportunity for optional creativity. The end of the level ‘Gravemind’ was manufactured as a performance for that track. It just so happened that your audience were getting coated in an explosive purple haze of extra-terrestrial gloop at the same time.
Yes the track was great in itself and has proven that with its platinum status, but did the contextual use within Halo 2 set a lasting impression that affected its overall reputation? How much of an impact did reserving a section of a whole level to give this track room to work its magic have on this track, this artist, this game, this level, the lasting reputation and the potential introduction of this genre to new listeners etc?
4. What can Industries learn from this?
Let’s start with the gaming industry
I have no feedback for this. You did this, and it came across great. Well done. Let’s do more bespoke features like that and it doesn’t have to be just for music either. It is clear what effect music had on the narrative and experience of this game, and bringing in some impressive music orchestration, production and context has stood the test of time both for the game and the soundtrack. I will dive into more examples in future posts.
Music industry - How can you find this opportunity?
Nile Rodgers, in his interview I mentioned above, stated that he knew his audience because he was a fan of gaming, and he trusted his musical experience with his gaming sense. This proved the benefit of getting genuine gaming fans to lead that discussion, to avoid the risk of ‘shoehorning’. The last thing you need is your reps speaking to Gran Turismo and having every car pre-loaded with U2’s next album. Gamers just want to game, so help them game by nurturing the experience of the gamer with your music, and context is absolutely king here.
TLDR:
Music strategically placed in game design benefits the gaming experience and our relationship with the music together. However, this combination is very bad for grunts.