25 Greatest Musical Tracks From The Halo Series

25. Fingerprints Are Broken - Halo Wars

I can't stress it enough how underwhelming Halo Wars was, especially during the post-era blitz of Halo 3's success. While the game returned to the origin's roots, it wasn't without sacrifice. The studio, Ensemble Studios, shut down and prevented any further contact with the game, basically allowing forcing it to take baby steps on its own. But even through all of that, Halo Wars managed to bring forth a different, yet wholly miniature, type of soundtrack that managed to stay on its own two feet. Although nowhere near as groundbreaking as Martin O'Donnell's involvement with the series, Stephen Rippy brought something interesting and idealistic to the RTS (Real Time Strategy) quality of the game, even if it was one night only. Coming in at #25 is one track in particular from Halo Wars stands out in regard to O'Donnell's work, mainly because of how Rippy almost replicates the nature and subtle emotion. "Fingerprints Are Broken" carries over those ideas, giving Halo Wars that slow, methodical pace with its dimmed down tone and scenic approach to its sound. Perhaps the stand-out feature here is how well incorporated the melodies, pianos, choirs, and other instruments fit in and mix well with the computer generated sound effects, bringing forth a flagship piece of audio for Halo Wars and giving it its own identity.