Halo Wars really is quite a spectacular RTS game. First and foremost: the game was made solely for the Xbox 360 console and controller. Some may question whether or not this was a good decision and if the RTS will hold up without a mouse and keyboard. I can easily assure everyone that Halo Wars will dazzle you with how easy the control scheme is to grasp and use in large battle epic warfare. The controls are simple and intuitive allowing for split second instinctual decisions to be made quickly. They are not laborious controls, but uncomplicated by design. Which will leave you wondering why no other console RTS made inherently mouse and keyboard tasks so basic to accomplish with a controller. All console RTS games will copy the Halo Wars control scheme for years. It’s The Matrix of the console RTS scene.
Like any good Halo game, the core gameplay is extremely combat oriented. Players of any skill and caliber will be able to field an army, starting fast paced battles almost instantaneously. How you manage that army and react to your opponent is part of the strategic nature of any good RTS. The supply gathering is simple allowing for more devotion to the all encompassing stellar combat. Create a supply pad at your base to generate supplies; then supplies will be shipped in from the Spirit of Fire (your command ship orbiting the planet). This allows for minimal interaction with “supply gathering”; something that becomes a chore and distraction from what is really on the Halo players’ mind: high impact warfare, of which Halo Wars has plenty.
The game oozes Halo in a beautiful fashion. As an artist (and having worked on the game) I can say with full confidence that Halo Wars is an amazing piece of art. To put it simply, the game is gorgeous. The art will tell your eyes, to tell your mouth, to drool. A grunt feels like a grunt, and an elite is an elite, and the Spartans will live up to the reputation bestowed upon it by the famous Master Chief. Everything looks, moves, sounds, and feels like their counterparts in other Halo games; it perfectly matches and fits within the universe. If you’ve never played a Halo game, then Halo Wars would be the perfect starting point setting 20 years before the events in the first game, Halo: Combat Evolved. The story is amazing and excellently well told. I envision many sleepless nights for excited anxious gamers. Playing through the stellar campaign missions, pushing forward wanting to see what happens next in the storyline.
If anyone still doesn’t believe me about how great Halo Wars is, then here is a list of great aspects from the game that I haven’t touched upon:
Fantastic Co-op missions up to 2 players,
Skirmish mode versus amazing Ai,
Live multiplayer,
Play as the malevolent Covenant in skirmish and Xbox Live,
more exciting features that I cannot mention!
As stated in the title, if you have a Xbox Live Gold account you can download the demo tomorrow Feb. 5th! So there’s practically no wait for you, go experience a portion of the game for yourself. That will convince anyone of the greatness of Halo Wars.
Here’s a link to some Halo Wars information straight from Xbox.com. Included is a description about the demo and some documentary videos on the game.
Halo Wars | Official Site
Halo Wars | Community Site
Go out and enjoy Halo Wars!
