A deeper look at ODST-- what worked and what didn't in this small-team, short-cycle Bungie experiment that landed with the profile of a fat expansion and the pricetag of a discounted full title.
A look at the first part of Halo 3: ODST, covering changes in gameplay as well as new characters and settings, and the interconnections between ODST and the rest of the Halo universe.
First episode of the new season of Master Chief Theater 3000... which might not feature the Master Chief, since it seems to be based on ODST...
It's not hard to see the appeal of the idea of the Firefight mode in Halo 3: ODST. If you follow Bungie's shooter roots back to Marathon, and to the PC shooter that really kicked off the modern era, Doom, you can see the start of it.
Doom didn't have discrete multiplayer 'levels' the way Marathon and Halo did. It had a series of Episodes, each broken down into Missions that comprised one map. Each map had a series of keys necessary to open a series of doors. The last door was the Exit and led to the next Mission. Between you and each key and each door were a number of demons to kill. You could tackle this challenge solo, or bring in some friends on a local network.
Of course, you could just as easily shoot your friends as the demons. You could also set up a game on any Mission map without any demons and just play deathmatch, or you could play a deathmatch game with continually respawning demons on it.
Marathon had a similar setting, an "Aliens" checkbox that put enemies from the campaign mode onto the multiplayer maps. So while it wasn't always referred to the same way, Marathon had all the current play modes: campaign solo, campaign co-op, multiplayer (deathmatch and objective) and deathmatch-with-aliens. That's essentially what Firefight is, except it's supposed to be more towards cooperative.
So we can now safely say that with the release of Halo 3: ODST, in combination with Halo 3's multiplayer mode, has finally brought all the features of a 1994 Mac shooter to Xbox Live.
I'm only half kidding.
I still can't believe that sheetmusic for the Halo franchise and other works by Bungie exists! Thank heaven that I just happened to be surfing around Youtube when I saw a link to this site. So far, it seems like a great community and I'm looking forward to seeing what they bring up next.
Peace.
Here is a transcription of Orbital Drop Shock Trooper from Halo 3: ODST.
Credits to Benjamin Bergem aka. The Halo-Dragon for his transcription of this song (http://rampancy.net/blog/HaloDragon/28/11/2009/Orbital_Drop_Shock_Troopers), as I relied rather heavily on his version for the middle section (specifically, bars 69-111, which is almost identical to his version).
This version attempts to incorporate more of the orchestral parts.
The alto sax solos from "Rain". The first two bits are separated by a 1-bar rest, but they should actually be multiple bar rests, just listen to the recording to figure out when to come in. The piano accompaniment can be found here: http://rampancy.net/blog/HaloDragon/05/10/2009/Another_Rain, and here: http://rampancy.net/blog/shadeslayer/29/11/2009/Rain_Piano_partial.
This is an extended part not found in "Another Rain". Benjamin Bergem's transcription can be used for the rest of the song: http://rampancy.net/blog/HaloDragon/05/10/2009/Another_Rain. After the second "all alone" alto sax solo, insert this music, and then cut back to "Another Rain". Finale Notepad wouldn't allow me to have two bass clefs in the staff, so the top line is in treble clef, but should be played an octave lower (8vb).
Cast Aside, from the track "No Stone Unturned" by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori, for a piano, a string ensemble and an oboe.
The epic piece "Orbital Drop Shock Trooper" composed by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori. This is a very big piece and it took a while to transcribe it, especially for piano, lots of different notes to pick between. Good luck, folks!
Degree of difficulty:
5
[b]4.7[/b]
4
3
2
1
Length:
3:42 minutes
(The actual piece is 3:43 minutes)
Please, rate and leave a comment.
Hello, I'm sorta new on this site, so I'll introduce myself real quick
I have recently become a Machinima Director and greatly appreciate Halo music. It has great musical quality and I enjoy it alot. I also play the violin, so I'm bound to organize a group to play some of these pieces.
Can some please make sheet music for full orchestra for Bits and Pieces? It's from ODST OST. It's quite a light, carefree, but very musical piece.
Thanks!
P.S. I might make One Final Effort Full Orchestra Scale, but I might have to base it off Jonathan Churchill's Piano Part.
Now that I've actually gotten my hands on the game, I've been able to add some more data to that Google Earth Network Layer for Halo 3: ODST.
Each of the 29 audio locations in the Mombasa Streets level are labeled. So far there's no additional information (screenshots, descriptions) but I will add that as I go through on my next playthrough.
