E3 2010: Marty O’Donnell Rocks Out in Halo Reach

While E3 is officially over, we still have a ton of coverage to share with you. We’re going to try to wrap things up through this weekend to get back to our regularly scheduled programming, but we hope you’ve enjoyed the coverage thus far. Today we were able to get a peek at Bungie’s big new Halo prequel, Halo: Reach. The game itself is shaping up quite nicely with a combination of gameplay styles, including squad-based combat and futuristic dogfights in outer space. They’re also touting upgraded firefight mode that was introduced in ODST, now with matchmaking and a lot of customization.

But about that music. Yes, of course Marty O’Donnell is working on it, and he has something very different in store for fans.

Hit the jump for our preview of Halo: Reach’s powerful soundtrack.

There were two pieces featured in the playthrough that we saw. The first half of the demo took place on Reach, which is the human military stronghold. As I mentioned, we saw squad-based combat that looked like a blast to play, and this was accompanied by a an amazing rock track that not only surprised me, but sounded great with the new gameplay mechanics. There was shredding electric guitars, synthesizers, and powerful rock percussion, taking an almost Command & Conquer-like approach. It definitely caught my attention, and I want more.

The second track was a bit more minimalistic. It was featured during the chaotic ship battle in outer space. Here we were treated to rhythmic bongos, a heavy bass drum, and reverberating hi-hats only. It was intense despite the minimalistic nature of the–I’ll say sounds instead of music–and when I really thought about combat in the vacuum of space, such an approach really makes a lot of sense and is truly quite clever even if it won’t make for an interesting listening experience outside of the game.

That’s all we’ve heard from Halo: Reach thus far, and unfortunately the team was unable to tell me exactly what Marty O’Donnell was up to. Apparently he locks himself in his department until his scores are finished, so they haven’t heard the majority of the game’s music yet. Still, we’re looking forward to it, and hoping to see the Halo: Reach soundtrack evolve once again into something entirely brand new like we saw with ODST.

What do you think of rock music appearing so prominently in the Halo universe? Are you looking forward to hearing more?