Ensemble Studios, a studio well known in the real-time strategy market for PCs and mostly for its Age of Empires series, has delved into the popular franchise of Halo. Ensemble knew they wanted to attack the console market for its next real-time strategy and just didn’t know when or what series it would strike. It is an attempt to mix two types of people; those who play shooters and those who play real-time strategies. It is an odd mix to try and cover especially with such a large market. But, it almost makes sense in more ways than one to grab a hold of the Halo market and start there. While console real-time strategy games have failed in the past, Ensemble Studios was hell bent on making Halo Wars as console friendly as possible but do they succeed?
 

Gameplay

Halo Wars is a loaded game. If you’ve seen or played other console RTSs in the past, then you already know how they failed, (I’m looking at you Command & Conquer and LOTR). Halo Wars could be the one real-time strategy that might actually break the trend of console RTS’s. It should also be noted that this is the first Halo title built outside of Bungie, which is something I’m sure even Microsoft might’ve cringed about on the inside considering their past and now defunct relationship with Bungie. Ensemble Studios knew they were taking on a big risk considering they were building the game from the ground up. Yes, the Xbox 360 controller is a bit limited in its use for a real-time strategy, but if mapped correctly could make your gameplay experience quite satisfying, even if a little simple.

With Master Chief no where to be found, you get set up in story with Sergeant John Forge teamed with the sidekick Cerena, Professor Anders and Captain Cutter aboard the Spirit of Fire. The game is set 20 years before the Halo trilogy begins, although it doesn’t quite affect the continuity of the games much. The Covenant is hell bent on their mission to find the ultimate weapon and you’re (UNSC) in a middle of a war to stop them at all costs. Obviously, you can’t have a Halo game without the Flood for good measure.  In between the action, pre-rendered cut scenes keep the story moving albeit being a bit jumpy at times, story wise.

There is some in-game chatter on the ground to set up the missions for you as the gameplay begins and you’re just itching to take control of that army. While it isn’t the second coming addition to the Halo universe, it certainly is an admirable effort to bring some light to how the adventure with Master Chief began. The campaign spans 15 missions with mini-objectives in each to keep you busy despite the fact each mission is short and sweet.

As with all real-time strategies, you start from scratch on the ground or from a pre-organized set of units. Every unit has its own special abilities, which is something you’ll learn about in the tutorial at the beginning of the game. Each mission requires a set of objectives to complete to move on and you’ll get word from Cpt. Cutter when to move to the next target. You’ll either be attacking Covenant bases, flying through escort missions or building your own base to survive the overwhelming attacks. Each level has a set of achievements locked in as well as unlockables within the game itself. Skulls and Black Boxes for Halo lore helps keep the replayability in tact. The optional objectives help make things interesting and keep you busy if you feel the need to be a completist. It adds points to your overall score and gives you medals for each completed objective. It helps especially considering the fact that missions are short and are fairly straightforward. It’s disappointing if hardcore RTS players want to start setting up tech trees or further extend your mission life.

The campaign is all seen from the eyes of the UNSC which is unfortunate because yet again we are only seeing this from one point of view. It would’ve been nice to have the opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes on the Covenant side. However, you are given the chance to play as the Covenant in multiplayer. There is a 2 player co-op in which you are given the chance to go through the single-player campaign or team up against AI opponents or online. The game splits up teams into different colors to obviously keep things in order. The online mode supports additional maps and up to 3-on-3 battles. While play strategies aren’t much different between the two armies, each side has its own unique set of units and special abilities.

While everything about the missions in Halo Wars play out fine, they are way too short and the low unit caps and small levels don’t give one the chance to think twice about the game. While it is nice to play as the one opposition, it would’ve been nice to see things from the other side. Here’s a hint Ensemble, let us create our own massive armies at will and launch the ultimate attack against the Covenant. Too often are our armies overwhelmed and having to retreat in some missions, which isn’t too comforting. It’s still a bonus though when you extend the life of the game online where the real challenge is. Unfortunately with the developer swept under the rug, don’t expect any DLC to bring new life to the game any time soon.

There is a laundry list of games that have tried and failed to try and bring console RTS games to life. Each have varied control schemes that stemmed from being overwhelming to a down right mess. Halo Wars tries things differently especially considering the fact that Ensemble was already developing their control system before Halo Wars was given to them. You’ll be using most of the face buttons, the two bumpers and the d-pad, which makes things seem as seamless as if you’re using a mouse and keyboard. It works, although when you reach missions that require a bit of quickness, like the escort ones, you’ll find yourself a little clumsy at times unless you’re familiar with the control scheme from the start. Either way, Halo Wars does provide a fun environment that should be entertainment for the Halo fan.

Graphics

Pre-rendered cut scenes are always a treat when looking at a massive game like this. They are the high point that take place after every gameplay sequence and have a story to tell. It’s weird that it jumps from gameplay engine to cut-scene but something has to give in order to tell a story especially in the Halo universe. You’ll be traveling across the universe visiting different terrains, which sets the stage for your upcoming mission. Even the units on the ground are fairly well designed and each has their own identity. Presentation is key in a Halo title and if it isn’t epic, then you failed before we even reached the gameplay.  Ensemble Studios has done an admirable job in this area and has given us the Halo experience, which makes us think for a second that this was Bungie’s work. There is a level of polish spread throughout Halo Wars that keeps up the Halo lore. The game looks no different than a Halo title from the original trilogy. It’s everything you could imagine that a Halo title could be in an RTS form.

Sound

Again, you can’t go without comparing this piece of work to Bungie’s Marty O’Donnell. Stephen Rippy, from Age of Empires, takes the reigns in this department taking inspiration from O’Donnell to give Halo Wars its own piece of life. The Halo theme is there in all its glory and then the soundtrack moves from there to a massive 25 track list which makes sense considering the 15 mission list. You have to have some kind of variety without playing the same theme over and over again. The Halo theme can only keep you interested for so long. Voice acting between characters is fairly well done although seems forced at times and isn’t quite natural in certain areas which is where the plot suffers as well.

Plasma Factor

There is a lot that keeps Halo Wars simple. The control scheme is easy to get used and helps keep you moving through the missions. The gameplay takes precedent overall, and with Ensemble Studios taking extra time in development to map Halo Wars to its control engine, it gives it the edge it needs to step ahead of games like Lord of the Rings that have tried to present a seamless RTS experience.  To add to the simplicity of the control scheme, the replayability is strong in presence. Black Boxes and Skulls harken back to the days of the original Halo games that give us those Skulls in the first place to jump back when finished with the original campaign.

The one negative drawback about Halo Wars is its short campaign. While, you may think that a 15 mission is strong for a Halo game, once you actually sit down with the game you’ll realize that it can easily be beaten in a couple of days. It doesn’t take much to get the most out of this campaign.

Another interesting problem is its lack of separation of Hero units. You get alerts whenever your Hero unit is taken down and you must wander over and cover him while he or she recovers. If the Hero units were separate it would keep things a little more organized

Conclusion

Halo Wars is an entertaining real time strategy that sets out on a mission to bring Halo players and RTS players together for the first time. It succeeds in certain ways while fails in others. Sometimes you’ll get the most out of Halo Wars while other times you’ll think about why you wasted your time in the first place. Halo Wars does succeed in giving us a pretty decent real-time strategy that is actually of quality and relevance on the console market. Yes, PC gamers will whine that it isn’t on PC, but it doesn’t need to be. It was built specifically for the console market and needs to have its chance at life here. PC gamers can’t have everything and this is one of those things that should stay away from PC, at least for now. While, it’s unfortunate that Ensemble Studios is gone, it’s at least a shining example of what happens when you put in this kind of effort to a game that needs this kind of attention to be successful. Halo Wars, whether or not you think is worth the 60 bucks is still a high quality RTS that stands out above the rest.