Derrick
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- Nov 22, 2010
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It’s not perfect, but Halo Wars is fun and a prime example of how an RTS on console should work.
It’s not perfect, but Halo Wars is fun and a prime example of how an RTS on console should work.
It's the year 2531, 20 years before the Halo incident. Sergeant John Forge, perched safely atop a sniper tower overlooking Blood Gulch Canyon, scans the horizon… his eyes searching for any sign of enemy forces. The sunlight wreaks havoc with his vision as the rays of the morning sun reflect off objects in the distance. Intel reports that the Covenant are preparing to attack the UNSC stronghold behind him, the closest thing to a home the Sergeant has had in months.
It’s going to happen. The only question is when... Forge - alone but never afraid - rests at his vantage point for what seems like an eternity before he hears it. The familiar sound of Wraith engines working furiously in the distance. He reaches for the field binoculars beside him, focusing his ears on the soft hum. He tries to discern the sound’s point of origin. Lifting the binoculars to his sweat-drenched face, he methodically studies the landscape, eventually spotting the familiar silhouette of far-off grunts - a lot of them, all providing lacklustre protection for the Locusts and Wraiths that follow.
A wry smile forms across his lips, as his mind is lost to thoughts of the inevitable skirmish that will follow between these alien forms and his battle-hardened troops. Something calls for his attention elsewhere, as the lenses of the binoculars catch the light of a peculiar object to the west of the Covenant forces. His smile morphs into a vicious snarl, as his mind slowly calculates what his eyes are witnessing: a massive rectangular shape, its curvaceous form shimmering brilliant white in the distance. Forge’s bellow is so menacing that the Grunt’s hearts grow cold with fear at the thought of the enemy they now face.
“Professor Anders! What the hell is that Xbox doing on my RTS battlefield?” The answer to your question is simple, Sergeant Forge: that Xbox is rocking the hell out of your RTS battlefield. To put it simply, Halo Wars is a success in almost every way. Ensemble Studios has taken the Halo universe and given it their own personal touch. As an RTS title that has been adapted specifically with a console controller in mind, it has been somewhat simplified to suit the requirements imposed by the controls - but whether you perceive this negatively is your choice. The fact of the matter is: the game just works. It has some great game mechanics, it’s a faithful recreation of the Halo universe, and it’s astoundingly fun.
Halo Wars serves as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. As such, there’s no Master Chief and the whole gigantic doughnut- in-space thing hasn’t happened yet. As usual, the Covenant are searching for ‘stuff’ (i.e. ancient relics) that’ll do ‘things’ (i.e. destroy all humanity, systematically steal candy from babies across the galaxy, bring the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to life – you know, the usual). Naturally, the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) is hot on the heels of the Covenant. The story isn’t particularly revolutionary, but it’s exciting and the pre-rendered cut scenes that portray Halo War’s suitably epic tale are well crafted. It would have been nice to see a separate campaign geared at giving players control of the Covenant forces, but I’m just nitpicking here.
The story takes players to some interesting locations, and each mission played is as well constructed as the last. The objectives that you’ll be completing are varied, and a couple of the missions even have light puzzle elements thrown in. Getting down to the business of actually playing the game, it has to be said that some RTS veterans are highly likely to throw their toys at the simpler-than usual nature of Halo Wars.
As with some other console RTSs, the cursor sits at the centre of the viewing area, with camera control dedicated to the left (for scrolling) and right (for rotation and zooming) sticks. Selecting and directing units involve pressing the A and X buttons respectively, while almost every unit in the game has a satisfying secondary ability that is fired off by simply choosing a target and pressing Y. Certain complexities that we have become accustomed to in our RTS games (such as control groups) are missing from the game, but the controls are intuitive enough and you’ll soon find new ways to quickly and efficiently move around the battlefield. The D-pad, for example, is used to quickly jump to key locations around the map and to access the Leader Menu to activate super powers.
The left and right bumpers are used to select all of your units across the map, or all of the units onscreen at any given time. The left trigger enables fast scrolling around the map, while the right cycles through units in your current selection. All of these controls work together brilliantly, and while they do take some getting used to initially, Ensemble has created a great control system that utilises radial menus and easily memorised button presses. The game is definitely geared less towards micromanagement, which works in the game’s favour. The prefabricated bases (like those seen in the first Battle for Middle-earth title) require some strategic decisions from the player. Devoting too many of your base’s nodes to resource gathering (the game has only one resource – supplies which are gained by building Supply Pads when playing as the UNSC and Warehouses as the Covenant) will hurt your unit production.
Tech level is determined by constructing technological structures (Reactors for the UNSC and the temple for the Covenant), which grant access to new units and upgrades. Turrets can also be built on certain nodes situated around bases to provide dedicated base defences. Halo Wars works on a rockpaper- scissors combat system: aircraft smash vehicles, vehicles demolish infantry, and infantry dominate aircraft. Specialist units such as the Covenant Hunter, an infantry unit that is efficient against vehicles, serve to mix things up a bit. Units gain experience in battle and become veterans, meaning that they hit harder and can take more punishment.
The units are all recognisable and most of them tout kick-ass secondary abilities (like the Warthog’s Ram ability, which is useful for taking down infantry in tight situations).
On the technical front, there isn’t much to complain about. Ensemble has developed a good-looking game, and the audio - like the rest of the game - is very Halo… if you know what I mean. Halo Wars is by no means perfect. The campaign doesn’t last very long, but replay value is enhanced by collectible Skull and Black Boxes in each mission.
Some will argue that the game is an oversimplification of the genre. I say, this is not the case: it’s merely a streamlined RTS experience. Take the game out for a spin and decide for yourself. To finish off all the rambling, I’d just like to say, farewell Ensemble - you will be missed. Thank you for the great games that you have treated us to over the years. Thank you especially for delivering to gamers one of the greatest parting gifts that we could hope for.
It’s not perfect, but Halo Wars is fun and a prime example of how an RTS on console should work.
It's the year 2531, 20 years before the Halo incident. Sergeant John Forge, perched safely atop a sniper tower overlooking Blood Gulch Canyon, scans the horizon… his eyes searching for any sign of enemy forces. The sunlight wreaks havoc with his vision as the rays of the morning sun reflect off objects in the distance. Intel reports that the Covenant are preparing to attack the UNSC stronghold behind him, the closest thing to a home the Sergeant has had in months.
It’s going to happen. The only question is when... Forge - alone but never afraid - rests at his vantage point for what seems like an eternity before he hears it. The familiar sound of Wraith engines working furiously in the distance. He reaches for the field binoculars beside him, focusing his ears on the soft hum. He tries to discern the sound’s point of origin. Lifting the binoculars to his sweat-drenched face, he methodically studies the landscape, eventually spotting the familiar silhouette of far-off grunts - a lot of them, all providing lacklustre protection for the Locusts and Wraiths that follow.
A wry smile forms across his lips, as his mind is lost to thoughts of the inevitable skirmish that will follow between these alien forms and his battle-hardened troops. Something calls for his attention elsewhere, as the lenses of the binoculars catch the light of a peculiar object to the west of the Covenant forces. His smile morphs into a vicious snarl, as his mind slowly calculates what his eyes are witnessing: a massive rectangular shape, its curvaceous form shimmering brilliant white in the distance. Forge’s bellow is so menacing that the Grunt’s hearts grow cold with fear at the thought of the enemy they now face.
“Professor Anders! What the hell is that Xbox doing on my RTS battlefield?” The answer to your question is simple, Sergeant Forge: that Xbox is rocking the hell out of your RTS battlefield. To put it simply, Halo Wars is a success in almost every way. Ensemble Studios has taken the Halo universe and given it their own personal touch. As an RTS title that has been adapted specifically with a console controller in mind, it has been somewhat simplified to suit the requirements imposed by the controls - but whether you perceive this negatively is your choice. The fact of the matter is: the game just works. It has some great game mechanics, it’s a faithful recreation of the Halo universe, and it’s astoundingly fun.
Halo Wars serves as a prequel to Halo: Combat Evolved. As such, there’s no Master Chief and the whole gigantic doughnut- in-space thing hasn’t happened yet. As usual, the Covenant are searching for ‘stuff’ (i.e. ancient relics) that’ll do ‘things’ (i.e. destroy all humanity, systematically steal candy from babies across the galaxy, bring the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to life – you know, the usual). Naturally, the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) is hot on the heels of the Covenant. The story isn’t particularly revolutionary, but it’s exciting and the pre-rendered cut scenes that portray Halo War’s suitably epic tale are well crafted. It would have been nice to see a separate campaign geared at giving players control of the Covenant forces, but I’m just nitpicking here.
The story takes players to some interesting locations, and each mission played is as well constructed as the last. The objectives that you’ll be completing are varied, and a couple of the missions even have light puzzle elements thrown in. Getting down to the business of actually playing the game, it has to be said that some RTS veterans are highly likely to throw their toys at the simpler-than usual nature of Halo Wars.
As with some other console RTSs, the cursor sits at the centre of the viewing area, with camera control dedicated to the left (for scrolling) and right (for rotation and zooming) sticks. Selecting and directing units involve pressing the A and X buttons respectively, while almost every unit in the game has a satisfying secondary ability that is fired off by simply choosing a target and pressing Y. Certain complexities that we have become accustomed to in our RTS games (such as control groups) are missing from the game, but the controls are intuitive enough and you’ll soon find new ways to quickly and efficiently move around the battlefield. The D-pad, for example, is used to quickly jump to key locations around the map and to access the Leader Menu to activate super powers.
The left and right bumpers are used to select all of your units across the map, or all of the units onscreen at any given time. The left trigger enables fast scrolling around the map, while the right cycles through units in your current selection. All of these controls work together brilliantly, and while they do take some getting used to initially, Ensemble has created a great control system that utilises radial menus and easily memorised button presses. The game is definitely geared less towards micromanagement, which works in the game’s favour. The prefabricated bases (like those seen in the first Battle for Middle-earth title) require some strategic decisions from the player. Devoting too many of your base’s nodes to resource gathering (the game has only one resource – supplies which are gained by building Supply Pads when playing as the UNSC and Warehouses as the Covenant) will hurt your unit production.
Tech level is determined by constructing technological structures (Reactors for the UNSC and the temple for the Covenant), which grant access to new units and upgrades. Turrets can also be built on certain nodes situated around bases to provide dedicated base defences. Halo Wars works on a rockpaper- scissors combat system: aircraft smash vehicles, vehicles demolish infantry, and infantry dominate aircraft. Specialist units such as the Covenant Hunter, an infantry unit that is efficient against vehicles, serve to mix things up a bit. Units gain experience in battle and become veterans, meaning that they hit harder and can take more punishment.
The units are all recognisable and most of them tout kick-ass secondary abilities (like the Warthog’s Ram ability, which is useful for taking down infantry in tight situations).
On the technical front, there isn’t much to complain about. Ensemble has developed a good-looking game, and the audio - like the rest of the game - is very Halo… if you know what I mean. Halo Wars is by no means perfect. The campaign doesn’t last very long, but replay value is enhanced by collectible Skull and Black Boxes in each mission.
Some will argue that the game is an oversimplification of the genre. I say, this is not the case: it’s merely a streamlined RTS experience. Take the game out for a spin and decide for yourself. To finish off all the rambling, I’d just like to say, farewell Ensemble - you will be missed. Thank you for the great games that you have treated us to over the years. Thank you especially for delivering to gamers one of the greatest parting gifts that we could hope for.