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Xbox 360 - Strategy
Product Description
Halo Wars (Xbox 360) is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios in the first attempt of any non-Bungie studio to get their teeth stuck into the Halo series of games.
Despite being the creators of the “Age of Empires” games (which can be much slower and more strategic in the sense that more time is spent on resource gathering and fortress building) Ensemble have followed the traditional and critically acclaimed style of the Halo series developed by Bungie, characterised by smaller environments, fast action and an excellent multiplayer mode.
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Despite being the creators of the “Age of Empires” games (which can be much slower and more strategic in the sense that more time is spent on resource gathering and fortress building) Ensemble have followed the traditional and critically acclaimed style of the Halo series developed by Bungie, characterised by smaller environments, fast action and an excellent multiplayer mode.
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Halo Wars (Xbox 360) Review
Ensemble's Halo RTS takes Bungie franchise to a new universe.
Halo Wars allows players to take control of either the United Nations Space Command's forces or the Covenant horde in a real-time strategy (RTS) version of the Halo series developed by Ensemble. Ensemble's reputation at creating world-class RTS game series like Age of Empires can be seen in this game, with the inclusion of classic elements of RTS titles, such as a well thought out multiplayer mode of up to 6 players competing together at once and features such as extensively detailed and brilliantly designed environments in which to explore and engage in battle.
Graphics and Presentation
Halo Wars follows on in the footsteps of previous Halo titles with a huge range of diverse environments for players to compete in. These environments vary from snowy tundra to huge forest/jungle areas and Covenant tech building installations. For once the cut scenes in a game are actually bearable with stunning visuals shown off and it feels like they're not just for show, meaning that they're not filling a void, like so many cut scenes tend to do in other games.
Obviously the graphical contrast between gameplay and cut scenes is noticeable, with the former being of a lower standard, but there's not that much of a difference that would make it bother the player. Battles and explosions of various vehicles can look extremely impressive and the camera angles enable players to zoom in and out of different objects and buildings and there is a fresh contrast in weaponry between the United Nations Space Command's (UNSC's) more mechanic, traditional weapons and the energy-powered bursts of blue and red light emitted by the Covenant arsenal.
The only minus points here must go to the lack of detail on the broad environments on the whole, but this is understandable and compensated for by the fantastically rendered vehicles, buildings and units of both sides and also the slight slowdown that you can experience when there are explosions and tons of individuals running around and fighting on screen at the same time, which again is understandable.
Sound
Again Ensemble have taken note from the huge successes of Bungie's Halo games in the past and conformed to a traditional Halo soundtrack that sets the mood and momentum for different scenarios. Obviously sticking with this soundtrack means strong, orchestral audio that really does fit in with the Halo games and keeps it modern. Voice acting is also pretty good on the whole, especially in the cut scenes, and it doesn't sound like they just paid Dave the caretaker to come in on the weekend and do it all himself which is always a plus. The sound effects on the whole are convincing and can be recognised from previous Halo titles such as the hum of energy weapons as they charge up and fire, landing on a poor UNSC vehicle.
Gameplay
Halo Wars sticks to the Halo way of gameplay; by this I mean that you don't have to spend ages as a player working out where you'll put your main buildings, or how to extensively gather resources all of the time. It's more of a short process with more emphasis on kicking the proverbial ass of the enemy rather than faffing around for endless hours, which is what the fans of the Halo franchise have come to expect. That said, this obviously means that the game arguably won't suit players who are fans of the 'traditional' RTS games that Ensemble have produced in the past like Age of Empires, but hey, chances are that if you're interested in buying Halo Wars anyway then you'll already be a fan of the Halo gameplay and won't have a problem with it.
The Halo Wars campaign mode has an OK amount of replayability despite being a bit short (with only 15 missions available), as players have the option of finding hidden skulls that give you further unlocks as you carry on playing and also completing the various achievements to add to your gamer score.
The campaign storyline itself is very interesting without giving too much away and it's dated about twenty years before Halo: Combat Evolved starts off. The other negative of the single player mode apart from its short length is the inability to play as the Covenant, which would obviously provide an additional tint to the gameplay that could attract players for a much longer amount of time. In the single player game mode ultimately players must work as the UNSC force to destroy the Covenant in various environments, however of course this can always lack a bit of replay value as once the fight is finished, some might think it's not worth going back for a second time round.
Ensemble (happily) have developed Halo Wars around the fact that it would be mainly a console title, meaning that the controls are simple and easy to pick up for any player; one of the main deterrents for people playing RTS games on the PC in the past has been the huge number of controls that players must educate themselves on before they're able to play it to a good standard, however Ensemble is the opposite of this.
You probably wouldn't even have to bother picking up the manual before starting up the campaign mode, which is always good. This control system is simple; use the left analogue stick to hover over your unit, press A to select him and move the cursor to the area you want to send him or over the enemy that you want him to attack and press X. Vehicles and units also have power attacks that you can enable by pressing Y, but these special attacks need to be allowed to regenerate so you can't use them all of the time.
As mentioned before, there is a lot of emphasis on battling with the enemy rather than spending the majority of time building bases and stations and managing resources, but these factors are still important. It's a fine balance between this and engaging in fighting with the enemy, which is why the idea of the RTS still flourishes despite players having set bases and limited freedom on where to place them.
Xbox Live enables up to 6 players to face off in some Halo Wars RTS skirmish action. Using a similar matchmaking system to Halo 2 and Halo 3, your True Skill rank will match you up against players of a similar skill level, meaning you will have a lot more fun playing people that are as good as you rather than getting destroyed by some of the best players in the world (if you're not up there with them!).
In game you can play as either the UNSC forces or the Covenant; sadly not the Flood, but they are in the campaign mode. Xbox Live also lets people play through the campaign in co-operative mode, or set up custom games to play against AI opponents or other players in 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3 matches. Multiplayer is definitely where the game comes into its own, with a wide range of different maps to compete against others on whilst not having to test yourself against the AI.
Closing Comments
All in all, Halo Wars would make a welcome addition to anyone's game collection, despite a relatively short and slightly repetitive campaign mode (if playing through it more than twice). Graphical class and an original Halo soundtrack mean that the game sticks to its Halo roots isn’t only limited to the gameplay, where short bursts of fun and clearly defined objectives again reflect the Halo-ness of Ensemble's production. Halo fans will definitely love this game even if they're not fans of the RTS genre of titles, whilst RTS fans might feel that the game isn't as strategic as they would hope for compared to more traditional RTS titles; but then again, who doesn't love Halo?
4/5
Rich Lawlor
Halo Wars allows players to take control of either the United Nations Space Command's forces or the Covenant horde in a real-time strategy (RTS) version of the Halo series developed by Ensemble. Ensemble's reputation at creating world-class RTS game series like Age of Empires can be seen in this game, with the inclusion of classic elements of RTS titles, such as a well thought out multiplayer mode of up to 6 players competing together at once and features such as extensively detailed and brilliantly designed environments in which to explore and engage in battle.
Graphics and Presentation
Halo Wars follows on in the footsteps of previous Halo titles with a huge range of diverse environments for players to compete in. These environments vary from snowy tundra to huge forest/jungle areas and Covenant tech building installations. For once the cut scenes in a game are actually bearable with stunning visuals shown off and it feels like they're not just for show, meaning that they're not filling a void, like so many cut scenes tend to do in other games. Obviously the graphical contrast between gameplay and cut scenes is noticeable, with the former being of a lower standard, but there's not that much of a difference that would make it bother the player. Battles and explosions of various vehicles can look extremely impressive and the camera angles enable players to zoom in and out of different objects and buildings and there is a fresh contrast in weaponry between the United Nations Space Command's (UNSC's) more mechanic, traditional weapons and the energy-powered bursts of blue and red light emitted by the Covenant arsenal.
The only minus points here must go to the lack of detail on the broad environments on the whole, but this is understandable and compensated for by the fantastically rendered vehicles, buildings and units of both sides and also the slight slowdown that you can experience when there are explosions and tons of individuals running around and fighting on screen at the same time, which again is understandable.
Sound
Again Ensemble have taken note from the huge successes of Bungie's Halo games in the past and conformed to a traditional Halo soundtrack that sets the mood and momentum for different scenarios. Obviously sticking with this soundtrack means strong, orchestral audio that really does fit in with the Halo games and keeps it modern. Voice acting is also pretty good on the whole, especially in the cut scenes, and it doesn't sound like they just paid Dave the caretaker to come in on the weekend and do it all himself which is always a plus. The sound effects on the whole are convincing and can be recognised from previous Halo titles such as the hum of energy weapons as they charge up and fire, landing on a poor UNSC vehicle.
Gameplay
Halo Wars sticks to the Halo way of gameplay; by this I mean that you don't have to spend ages as a player working out where you'll put your main buildings, or how to extensively gather resources all of the time. It's more of a short process with more emphasis on kicking the proverbial ass of the enemy rather than faffing around for endless hours, which is what the fans of the Halo franchise have come to expect. That said, this obviously means that the game arguably won't suit players who are fans of the 'traditional' RTS games that Ensemble have produced in the past like Age of Empires, but hey, chances are that if you're interested in buying Halo Wars anyway then you'll already be a fan of the Halo gameplay and won't have a problem with it.
The Halo Wars campaign mode has an OK amount of replayability despite being a bit short (with only 15 missions available), as players have the option of finding hidden skulls that give you further unlocks as you carry on playing and also completing the various achievements to add to your gamer score. The campaign storyline itself is very interesting without giving too much away and it's dated about twenty years before Halo: Combat Evolved starts off. The other negative of the single player mode apart from its short length is the inability to play as the Covenant, which would obviously provide an additional tint to the gameplay that could attract players for a much longer amount of time. In the single player game mode ultimately players must work as the UNSC force to destroy the Covenant in various environments, however of course this can always lack a bit of replay value as once the fight is finished, some might think it's not worth going back for a second time round.
Ensemble (happily) have developed Halo Wars around the fact that it would be mainly a console title, meaning that the controls are simple and easy to pick up for any player; one of the main deterrents for people playing RTS games on the PC in the past has been the huge number of controls that players must educate themselves on before they're able to play it to a good standard, however Ensemble is the opposite of this. You probably wouldn't even have to bother picking up the manual before starting up the campaign mode, which is always good. This control system is simple; use the left analogue stick to hover over your unit, press A to select him and move the cursor to the area you want to send him or over the enemy that you want him to attack and press X. Vehicles and units also have power attacks that you can enable by pressing Y, but these special attacks need to be allowed to regenerate so you can't use them all of the time.
As mentioned before, there is a lot of emphasis on battling with the enemy rather than spending the majority of time building bases and stations and managing resources, but these factors are still important. It's a fine balance between this and engaging in fighting with the enemy, which is why the idea of the RTS still flourishes despite players having set bases and limited freedom on where to place them.
Xbox Live enables up to 6 players to face off in some Halo Wars RTS skirmish action. Using a similar matchmaking system to Halo 2 and Halo 3, your True Skill rank will match you up against players of a similar skill level, meaning you will have a lot more fun playing people that are as good as you rather than getting destroyed by some of the best players in the world (if you're not up there with them!). In game you can play as either the UNSC forces or the Covenant; sadly not the Flood, but they are in the campaign mode. Xbox Live also lets people play through the campaign in co-operative mode, or set up custom games to play against AI opponents or other players in 1v1, 2v2 or 3v3 matches. Multiplayer is definitely where the game comes into its own, with a wide range of different maps to compete against others on whilst not having to test yourself against the AI.
Closing Comments
All in all, Halo Wars would make a welcome addition to anyone's game collection, despite a relatively short and slightly repetitive campaign mode (if playing through it more than twice). Graphical class and an original Halo soundtrack mean that the game sticks to its Halo roots isn’t only limited to the gameplay, where short bursts of fun and clearly defined objectives again reflect the Halo-ness of Ensemble's production. Halo fans will definitely love this game even if they're not fans of the RTS genre of titles, whilst RTS fans might feel that the game isn't as strategic as they would hope for compared to more traditional RTS titles; but then again, who doesn't love Halo?
4/5
Rich Lawlor
_pc716_1.jpg "Halo 3: ODST | Xbox 360")
_pc841_1.jpg "Halo 3 - Classics Edition | Xbox 360")
_pc1322_1.jpg "Halo 2 | PC")
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