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| Source // Xbox |
The second Halo spin-off the 1001 list throws our way is a real-time strategy game that aims to work on the consoles as well as Halo made first-person shooters work on them. That is to say, it's going to be dumbed down a little and fiddly to control precisely, but Halo Wars will nonetheless give you an action-packed time as you command the UNSC forces against all-comers from your birds-eye vantage point in the sky.
RTS games can be hit and miss, but I'd be lying if I wasn't looking forward to seeing what this one was about in detail. I'd heard of it, but that was about it. Now it's time to hear some more.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Fun Times
Halo Wars opens with some fancy CGI cutscenes, again showing off the Halo universe in a fair bit of glory - almost enough to get me to really invest in it all. We're a few decades from 'the Halo event', for those keeping track of the timeline, but all you need to know is that Nolan North is playing one of the soldiers who'll be tagging along with us for the story, so get used to his voice.
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| Source // Xbox |
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| Source // MobyGames |
He plays Sergeant Forge, the tough as nails, nothing phases me, reliable boots on the ground kinda guy who all these nameless UNSC grunts look up to, yet is still a clear few rungs of the ladder down from Master Chief.
You'll be commanding him and his many buddies from afar in this RTS made for consoles, by which I mean everything needs to work well with a controller, by which I mean the genre is arguably a little dumbed down from the norm, spiced up with action, and very welcoming to players like me who like to select all their units and target one poor enemy troop until their health bar disappears.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Base-building in Halo Wars is dirt-simple. Your base has slots for buildings, like barracks and vehicle depots, so you're never in any doubt as to where you can build something - at the base, or not at all.
Units require resources, which you can find in supply crates on the map or, far more reliably, by dedicating a slot or two on your base to a landing pad and supply depot. Better units require a power source of some sort, and advancing everything requires more power. It's about as simple as that.
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| Source // Xbox |
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| Source // Xbox |
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| Source // Xbox |
Chill out at the base and create an army, select everything with a single button, move your cursor to somewhere else on the map and order your troops to move there with another button, and you get to sit back and watch the action unfold.
Each unit has a special ability that you can use with a press of the Y button, such as ramming through things with the Warthog or lobbing a grenade, and leaders can call in air support in the form of beams of healing or beams of quite the opposite, capable of destroying an alien tank in a single hit.
Clearly, I don't even know the details of what they're called or how to summon them half of the time, but the fact that they're all at hand, readily accessible on a selection wheel once you have them available makes Halo Wars a game that almost anyone can play.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Missions can take on many forms, from destroying specific things to rescuing units within a time limit, and can be highly story related, such as escorting scientists through alien structures while defending them against the onslaught of enemies pouring out of the walls.
Final Words
That I don't know who these structures belong to, who we're fighting, why we're fighting, and so on is a matter for me to brush up on with the chatter and the in-game cutscenes and the like. It's Halo backstory for Halo fans, but even if you're not a fan, Halo Wars is an accessible, action-focused RTS on a console.
It is, in short, something I'm interested in getting back to because it's giving me similar vibes to the likes of Dawn of War or Company of Heroes. Completely different games, I suppose, but there's something about all three that I like.
So far as I'm aware, it's not an RTS that comes anywhere close to showing what the genre is capable of, but it might get some new players to have a look at it, especially with a name like Halo attached to it.
The fact that it is a little more focused on the action than the strategy, is appealing, but that's down to the limitations of the console, perhaps, as much as it was a design choice. But then action is great, isn't it? Who wants to sit around and build or farm resources for twenty minutes before doing anything?
RTS fans might scoff at anyone interest in Halo Wars, and Halo fans are probably puzzled as to why I think Halo Wars might be the best Halo game I've played, but that just goes to show that no matter how strange a game might seem to you, it is someone's idea of a damn good time.
I don't want to faff around with controls. Just let me call in a bunch of units to throw towards an enemy and let me sit back and watch all the explosions. If it doesn't work, then I didn't chuck enough bodies at the problem.
Is that the best way to play? Doubt it. Is it how I'm going to play the rest of Halo Wars? Until it stops working, yup.
Fun Facts
The campaign follows the UNSC, the multiplayer allows you to play as the Covenant, but the Flood only exist to be beaten.
Halo Wars, developed by Ensemble Studios, first released in 2009.
Version played: Xbox 360, 2009.