Halo Wars attempts to popularize the RTS on consoles using the expansive Halo Universe with a degree of success
Fact: I didn't care a lick about Halo Wars until I decided to one day download the demo and give it a try.
Fact: I enjoyed it!
I never intended to buy this game, mainly due to my disinterest in RTS', but playing the demo version for 10+ hours actually made me re-think the genre, and to realize how good this game actually was . Granted, my knowledge in this genre is relatively non-existent, but from my very limited understanding this game can hold it's own.
Halo Wars is a type of prequel to the main trilogy of games, in the way that it explores certain events of the Human/Covenant conflict before master Chief discovered the first Halo.
Set 20 years prior, the story follows the Captain and crew of 'The Spirit of Fire', and their discovery and halting of the Covenant trying amass a vast Forerunner Fleet. In being part of the Halo series, the story fits into the epic Universe Budgie have laid out, with references to other materials as well as the original games.
The campaign mode which will see you discover said story, is repetitively short, with only 15 missions. Experienced RTS players, people who pick the game up easily or those playing it on lower difficulties will be able to finish the story in roughly 10 or so hours. Each mission has a different objective, surrounding the basic RTS formula. You'll have fight off enemy fire as you help evacuate a city, defend a marked position and relocate a large explosive object. The missions feel well structured and you can tell time and effort went into making each one feel 'Halo'
As any Halo game before it would suggest, the real muscle behind this game is the multiplayer. There are two modes, Standard (where you start from scratch, building up an army to tackle your opponent) and Deathmatch (where you start with a large number of supplies, allowing you to start blowing each other up). There are a series of maps influenced by the games solo story, as well as others inspired from the Halo trilogy.
The most interesting part to these multiplayer games is the inclusion of the Leaders and their special powers. The Leaders for both sides are, Captain Cutter, Sergeant Forge, Professor Anders, The Arbiter, Brute Chieftain and The Prophet of Regret Each Leader is given a super power, an ability and a special unit of their own. For example, Captain Cutter can train ODST's, where as the other Human leader Forge has Cyclops', a special mech armor unit. My personal favorites out of the special units are Suicide Grunt, only available when playing as The Arbiter.
Much like any other RTS game, Halo Wars has a wealth of different units to command. There is everything you could expect from the Halo Universe, Grunts, Elites, Spartans, Warthogs etc, as well as a few new units made especially for the game. Units such as the Covenant anti-air aircraft vampire and the humans uber unit vulture, are added to balance things up. Of course in my opinion, the Scarab is the be all and end all in ways of Unit selection.
The visual presentation of this game is impressive. Both online and off, there is no detectable frame rate drop, only in the case of bad internet connections between players. There is a level of detail to everything on screen, even on the smallest Marine and Spartan units.
Soundtracks from other Halo games have made there way into HW, including all the little sounds from energy swords, to Machine guns, to Warthog screeching over the terrain. Just everything about this game oozes Halo.
This game isn't perfect, as an RTS it isn't one of the best. As I said at the beginning of this review, my knowledge of this genre is limited, but even I can see the shallow aspects of Halo Wars, I personally believe the ability to 'rush' is evidence of this.
In terms of the Halo structure, this game fits in pretty good, certainly pleasing fans of the series.
in closing, Halo Wars isn't for anyone. For avid fans of the series they will find a rewarding and rich halo experience. For anyone else who doesn't really care either way, this game probably won't be worth it.
Halo:Combat Evolved broke the FPS genre onto the console, ushering in a new way of approaching game design. Halo Wars feels like the same sort of push in terms of RTS, but sadly just lacks that little magic we all felt in 2002