Excellent strategy game, the best Xbox has to offer. Very good for an RTS novice and/or Halo fan Low live
I first bought it on release, purely because it's a Halo game, I did not know what to expect and had never really played a strategy game before. I don't regret it at all.
The campaign is exciting and missions differ throughout, keeping you engaged from start to finish.
Sadly, flood and covenant are not playable in campaign and flood isn't at all.
Each leader has different powers for online and skirmish games, with the 3 UNSC leaders and 3 Covenant leaders having a destruction power and a special unit, this gives online games more substance.
The maps are a bit small for my liking and there is an insanely low population cap on units, meaning large wars are almost impossible.
Recently the online population has dropped to less than 5,000 so don't buy DLC because you will never find games. Despite this, 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 Skirmish games are still quick to find, offering an enjoyable experience for anyone.
Halo Wars is genuinely my favourite Halo game, surpassing even Halo 1 and Halo 3!!
If you love RTS games, buy this!!
If you are new to them, maybe rent it first.