For the last seven years Bungie’s Halo trilogy has pretty much been the benchmark for the console first person shooter (FPS).   The Microsoft exclusive sci-fi series has not only shifted millions of games, but also vast quantities of hardware units.  If you haven’t heard of Halo, then you’ve probably accidentally stumbled across this article from a spurious Google search for ‘Angel accessories’.  If that’s the case then I apologise, for all you’ll find here is wit, intelligence and lots of stuff about shooting aliens…  Double Kill!

Hang on a minute though, what’s this?  Halo Wars isn’t by Bungie!  It’s also not a shooter, in fact it couldn’t be further away, it’s a…  A Real Time Strategy!  Shock, horror, calamity and all other types of stunned expletives, Ensemble Studios what have you done to our beloved franchise?  Lets just say that from now on Halo has just got a little bigger, it’s pushing the boundaries in a direction I didn’t anticipate.  If anything you’d think that Microsoft would want to play it safe and branch out into a more established genre such as racing.  But would a Warthog version of Mario Kart be as epic or true to Halo, I very much doubt it.

Ensemble Studios, who have now sadly been disbanded, created Halo Wars as their swansong ‘from the ground up’ for the Xbox 360.  Gone are the clunky PC controls shoehorned into a joypad in a classic ‘that’ll do’ fashion.  You’ll not be confused or unsure of how to issue a command, it’s all so in-yer-face that there’s never any doubt.  Multi-layered menus?  Forget them, you won’t find any within Halo Wars.  The beauty is that all the little idiosyncrasies of the typical RTS have been chopped.  Let’s face it, while playing Command & Conquer with your little men having their tiny posteriors handed back to them on a diminutive plate, do you bother changing their stance to ‘run like a girl’?  Heck no!  You just sacrifice their sorry little arses and go make some more in your barracks.  It’s what they would have wanted and their insignificant lives are cheap anyway.   So, detailed and convoluted tactical commands are out of the window, instead you are presented with the friendliest controls yet seen in an RTS.

At its heart Halo Wars is fairly standard to the genre, you have the resource management, base building and unit production.  Once again there is no overly complex methodology behind this, you can only build a base on an allocated site and individual buildings once bought pop up from slots attached to your base.  So you can start with a couple of supply pads to bring in the hard cash, and then follow up with barracks to start training infantry.  You may then choose to increase your technology level with a reactor, giving access to more advanced units.  On top of this you can build a vehicle depot, an airpad and even an armoury to unlock some special upgrades.  Should you start running out of available slots then you can expand your base to give a few more (at a cost of course).  Before you know it you have your own homegrown army comprising of varying infantry, vehicles and aircraft.  

The units themselves are instantly recognisable from marines with assault rifles, to Warthogs and Hornets.  On top of this Ensemble have chucked in a few not seen before, such as the massive Vulture ‘super unit’.  It’s great commanding your very own Halo army, especially with bona fide secondary attacks such as the Warthog ‘splatter’ and the Spartan ‘vehicle jack’.  Of course, I’ve not mentioned our favourite enemy as yet: The Covenant.  Yep, they’re all there – Grunts, Elites, Hunters, Wraiths, Banshees and even Scarabs, plus they have a few new additions to show off as well.  One thing’s for sure, you can’t mistake the units, and this makes the combat in Halo Wars instantly understandable.  For example, pretty much everyone is already going to know that a UNSC Scorpion tank is stronger than a Covenant Ghost. 

Halo has always been about conflict and humankinds’ struggle for survival against seemingly desperate odds.  Let’s face it, if a game wants to associate itself to the inherently violent nature of the FPS trilogy, it needs to be able to throw a few punches.  Fortunately Halo Wars bares its knuckles well, and directing localised skirmishes or full on assaults are very satisfying.  You don’t have to concentrate too hard on grouping, units are selected as either your total army, all on screen, or by holding the ‘A’ button and selecting units within a small radius.  Further to this you can cycle through the unit types by tapping the right trigger.  For example, you can send in your marines to soften things up and then follow with an onslaught from your heavier units.  A useful onscreen mini-map alerts you to areas where your forces are engaged in battle, you can easily switch between these locations with a press of the D-pad.  So although you may send your men off in several different locations, keeping track of them all is a doddle.  When you find one group struggling against the odds additional units can be effortlessly drafted-in to bolster the ranks.

Bungie has made no secret that the Halo games will not always revolve around one certain Spartan 117.  Indeed the forthcoming ‘Halo ODST’ will not feature Master Chief as the main protagonist, and the same applies to Ensemble’s Halo Wars.  In fact the story is set 20 years prior to the ‘Halo Event’.  The main hero is the double-hard ‘bar-steward’ Sergeant Forge.  You see the campaign story evolve through Forge’s perspective, and interspersed through the campaign missions are some truly impressive CGI cutscenes.  The story has also been authentically created to build up to the events that we know of in Halo CE.  Cross-references to other battles involving the Pillar of Autumn and the infamous Captain Keyes further press home the chronological accuracy.  Both the cinematics and the game missions simply ooze Halo from their very pores, this doesn’t feel like an RTS with a Halo veneer, it just ‘is Halo’.  The attention to detail is simply stunning, from the animation of the units, to the Forerunner structures that are a major feature of the battlegrounds.  Imagine flying a Banshee in Halo 3 surveying the ongoing battle far below – that’s how good Halo Wars looks.  Equally, the sounds of the weapons, vehicles and even the yelps of perishing Grunts have been used to optimum effect. 

The missions are really quite varied, very rarely do you find yourself engaging in the typical ‘base killing’ fare that is so often found in RTS games.  It may be that you’re rescuing isolated allies that have been cut off by the ‘Flood’ (yes they make an appearance too), or preventing the detonation of a Covenant bomb.  The variety is all very welcome which keeps you wondering what the next mission is going to offer.  However, the campaign is comparatively short and the 15 missions won’t keep you going for long at 30 to 40 minutes a shot.  You can only play the campaign as the UNSC, which is a little disappointing in view of the fact that the Covenant are available in multiplayer games.  But you can always crank the difficulty up to Legendary, invite an online friend and play through again.

Multiplayer has always been one of Halo’s strongest points and Ensemble have done all possible to capitalise on this aspect.  The online options, although not as customisable as the FPS counterpart, are as accessible.  Matches for up to 3 versus 3 can be quickly and easily found, and as mentioned you can also play through the entire campaign co-operatively.  With over a million copies of Halo Wars already shifted off the shelves, you’re also never likely to be waiting around too long to find a match.  You can sharpen your skills against the A.I. in any of the multiplayer game types, on any of the 14 ‘skirmish’ maps.

Is Halo Wars the definitive console RTS? ...... Definitely.  However, it’s not quite perfection.  Die-hard PC strategists will no doubt mock Halo Wars for it’s ‘noobishness’  (look that one up in the dictionary).  Whilst the control interface has been honed to the bare-bone essentials, some will miss the inability to create balanced groups of forces.  Also, the strategy mostly boils down to ‘create lots of troops and keep chucking them at your enemy’.  But that said, this is a revolution for those of us who can’t be bothered to keep upgrading their PC’s to play the latest RTS.  Above all Halo Wars is fun; it will appeal to many Halo fans and unquestionably the casual tactician looking to give their reflexes a rest.  Although the campaign is short there is an attraction to replay the wide-ranging and entertaining missions, particularly online.  When you’ve had your fill of the campaign, the multiplayer skirmishes will keep you coming back for more.   Don’t get me wrong, this game won’t convert all and sundry to the RTS genre, nonetheless it does present the most accessible and appealing entrance to the newcomer.  Well done to the late Ensemble Studios for bringing us the ultimate Halo real-time strategy, may you rest in peace.

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