Musical Rainfall

CURRENT MUSIC:
Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori - "Deference For Darkness"
Halo 3: ODST Original Soundtrack

Remember long ago when I posted something about Halo 3: ODST's soundtrack? Of course you don't. That was a long time ago, back when I was posting good-quality entries like a madman. Nowadays, I just feel like a poor bastard in need of catharsis. A different time... a different era. But I digress.



For those who aren't familiar with this game or soundtrack, let me give a brief summation. While the main core of the Halo games focused on humanity's (losing) war against the religious-driven organization known as the Covenant (via the missions undertaken by the supersoldier known as Master Chief), ODST delved off the beaten path by focusing on a different group of heroes. The campaign consists of the titular Orbital Drop Shock Troopers: special forces soldiers who are deployed (as their motto goes:) "Feet first into Hell" via drop pods launched from orbit.

Set in the same time frame as Halo 2, you take control of an ODST known as "the Rookie" deployed in the ruins of New Mombasa, Kenya after an enemy carrier abruptly takes off and botches his squad's jump. The Rookie gets knocked unconscious and reawakens several hours later in the city ruins, where night has fallen, the allied radios stay silent, and the Covenant are on high patrol searching for survivors. Alone in enemy-controlled territory, the Rookie must traverse the war-torn city in search of (clues to track) his fellow ODST squadmates, scattered due to the aforementioned carrier.

I mentioned long ago that I never had a chance to play the campaign, but I bought the soundtrack anyway. Well, two weeks ago a friend asked me to join him on a legendary-difficulty co-op campaign playthrough. After playing through a part of the story and getting to hear a good portion of the soundtrack be played in-game, my original thought of "film noir" still comes to mind. I was correct in that thought - according to Martin O'Donnell, "the designers of ODST wanted to create the atmosphere of a 'film noir' detective story along with the high energy feel of a Halo game."

While a great deal of ODST's score conveys that feeling, I believe that "Deference For Darkness" is a prime example of what Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori aimed to accomplish. After the Rookie finds his first clue (the helmet of one of his superiors, lodged forcefully into a television screen) he looks around, realizing that his squad could be anywhere and that his search has just begun. "Deference For Darkness" begins playing, aurally conveying the feel that the Rookie is fighting on his own.

Of particular note in this track is the first segment, titled "Rain" (it plays from the beginning to 3:07 if you're listening along). A beautiful piece consisting of a piano, a saxaphone, and the strings, it captures the elegance of a film noir quite well. The surroundings accompanying the piece in-game - the darkness, the occasional Covenant patrol, and the signs of sporadic firefights between patrols and the mostly-dead human defenders - all add to the atmosphere, and it makes for a mystery begging to be solved.

Try playing this track (and particularly that segment) when you're by yourself at night. You could be in the city walking the streets or driving at the outskirts of town where it's dark. Regardless, you'll feel more alone than you've ever felt before - but at the same time, it doesn't necessarily feel like a bad thing.

Oh, and to make this feel even more fitting: listen to the "Rain" segment while you have Rainy Mood going in the background. The end result is just perfect - too perfect for words, really.