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Halo Wars has the soul of a Real-time Strategy (RTS). It’s the offspring of Microsoft’s love child and most popular First Person Shooter (FPS), Halo: Combat Evolved. But is that enough for fans of the two genres to cross?
In comparison to other creations from Ensemble Studios, Halo Wars can feel like a stripped down RTS with a Halo wrapper. Although your options are limited in how you get to set up your base and armies, Halo Wars is one of the best RTS games I’ve played on a console. Taking place 20 years before Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo Wars drops you in the middle of the war against the Covenant. You will be joining the crew on board a UNSC colony ship, the “Spirit of Fire”, and will witness the discovery of an ancient artifact during their journey to the planet Harvest. The style of cinematics-to-gameplay is similar to the ones seen in other Halo games of the series giving it a genuine feel. When it comes to gameplay, however, the Battle Rifle will not be the tool used to win these battles.
The story is decent and the gameplay is fun, but not spectacular. After watching a level introduction cinematic, you will progress into gameplay where you will be expected to take control and lead the UNSC to victory. Each level offers you a fixed space to expand on your firebase. Building up your base is essential to your survival and ultimately your key to victory, however, the road to victory is not always an exicting one. Because this game offers you a very basic RTS experience, there is only a few things you can do. You can create a barrack to breed your Marines, Spartans and Flame Throwers. But the battle can’t be won on foot alone! A Vehicle Depot and Airpad will also be available to deploy Warthogs, Cobras, Vultures and Scorpions into action.
The game isn’t all about defense, but offense as well. As you build your firebase and send your troops to engage with the enemy, you will be able to navigate and explore the map. The levels are filled with enemy bases and resources which help the growth of the base. Unless it is part of the mission, not much else will be found on the boards aside from the skulls you can collect. Controlling your troops and getting around the map will come like second nature to any gamer that picks up the controller. With a click of two or three buttons you can navigate your map, command your armies and build your base. This ease is due to the game being built from the ground up for the Xbox 360, avoiding all the PC porting issues that have been seen in the past. The feel of the game is one of a PC RTS and not a cheap console imitation, which is really what saves the game.
Once you get your army controlling fingers on your controller and launch the game, there are a few things you can do. First, you can watch the story unravel in Campaign mode or practice your skills in a skirmish. When you are ready to show your skills on LIVE, there is multiplayer to go toe-to-toe with your friends, or you can even play nice in a game of Co-op and kick serious Covenant butt! Co-op is the way to go if you are new to the genre, not to mention a lot more fun.
Halo Wars will feel like a game of ’My First RTS’ for all the well seasoned veterans of the genre, but a good solid starting point for those that have never played a strategy game. Because the game is set in the Halo universe, there is a limit to what can be created on the firebase. What really saves this game is the great controls that offer a natural feel on the console which lead to enjoyment while playing — not frustration. Halo Wars is all in all a solid game and will have a good amount of players on its servers for the first couple of months, however, I doubt it will persuade the FPS gamers to play this RTS long term.
This article appears on Hardcore Gamer Magazine.
