Halo: Combat Evolved

Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori's 2001 score opens with a Gregorian chant that became the most recognized theme in shooter history, generating over 80 million streams. Its monastic choir, electric guitar riffs, and orchestral sweep elevated a console launch title into an epic that defined Xbox's identity. The soundtrack is more iconic in first-person shooters than any from DOOM (2016), and its live recording quality outperforms the average synth-based score of the era.