25 Greatest Musical Tracks From The Halo Series

14. The Rookie - Halo 3: ODST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Xyeek3dhUEg Halo 3: ODST's soundtrack stood out because of its innovative ideas towards both action, character, and mystery. Gone were the old themes and in their place was something purely magical. One of the very first pieces of audio, "The Rookie", kickstarted ODST"s rise towards originality. "The Rookie" is bold in its nature for two distinct reasons. While the Halo trilogy featured a main protagonist who was nearly invincible and larger than life, Halo 3: ODST featured a simple marine simply named the Rookie. No other information is given other than he's the clear hero of the game.....and he's only human, unlike his godlike predecessor. "The Rookie" charts its course carefully along these lines by making things more somber and understated, giving it that strong human-like quality that gives the player the idea that it's about much more than an unstoppable man in armor kicking alien ass. It's about humans as well, and "The Rookie" symbolizes that idea by its distinct clarity and mellow sound, exchanging the old themes and orchestras with a simplified human theme instead. "The Rookie" is also a tune about isolation. After the second half of the song (which occurs during the first cutscene of the game), we're introduced to a noire-style sound that not only fits well with its environment (which is a desolate city overrun with aliens during nightfall), but with the Rookie as well. Since Halo 3: ODST is a story about one marine searching for the rest of his teammates, Martin O'Donnel and Michael Salvatori took the detective approach and comprised a new score about one human marine looking for his squad all by himself, looking for clues to their whereabouts. Of course "The Rookie" is only the tip of the iceberg with that idea, as seen further down the list. But the very first track off of ODST gives a strong first impression that it's no Halo 1, 2, or 3. It's a new beast.