Halo Wars is the next big real-time strategy game from Ensemble Studios, creators of “Age of Empires.” Designed exclusively for the Xbox 360, Halo Wars allows you to take charge of the human UNSC armies and see the Halo universe from a totally new perspective. Halo Wars takes place before Halo 1 during the UNSC’s first deadly encounters with the Covenant.
Players lead the crew of the UNSC’s “Spirit of Fire” from initial skirmishes to an all out war against the evil Covenant. [Ensemble Studios]

PUBLISHER: Microsoft
DEVELOPER: Ensemble Studios
GENRE(S): Real-Time Strategy
PLAYERS: 6
ESRB RATING: T (Teen)
RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2009

Our Review

The tutorial was informative and quickly introduces the simple control scheme, and much like my first Halo experience, I found the button layout intuitive and very approachable.

The first demo mission had a simple objective – collect some marines and retake your base. You spend some time guiding a warthog through a series of waypioints, picking up additional marines and fighting some isolated covenant along the way. Eventually you arrive at the base, and you throw all the marines you’ve gathered into the assualt. Needless to say, the Covenant don’t really stand a chance.

The second mission starts with you rebuilding the base you just took, and you get a look at the supply and provision aspect of the game. Assembling new structures like barracks and generators is very straightforward, and before too long, I found myself with a sizable force of UNSC Marines, warthogs, and a few scorpions. While training up, my base was attacked by a couple lone Covenant drop ships, so I installed and upgraded some turrets. After I was certain my base was reasonably well defended, I took my force out into the field.

Soon, I encountered a Covenant base, and launched an attack. Combat was smooth, and it was very easy to control the entire UNSC force. After a short battle, the covenant forces were defeated, and the enemy base was laid waste.

There also extensive cut scenes that gave some back story, and it’s clear that Halo Wars is doing all it can to fill some very big shoes. Even so, I think this is going to be a pretty popular RTS – especially with Halo fans – who may not even notice this isn’t a Bungie game.