xLAN - Halo Wars

NinjaSock writes:

Halo Wars

Genre: RTS
Release Date: 27th February 2009
Developer: Ensemble Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Rating: PG
Platform: Xbox 360

“Halo” is a name associated with a number of things. First and foremost it is well known as the first really successful console First Person Shooter. Secondly, Halo or more specifically Halo 2 was the game that caused online multiplayer on consoles to be the extraordinary success is it today. It is also no secret that RTS games on console have been average at best, with the major problem being that the limitations of using a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard.

Halo Wars is the first RTS game to be built ground-up for console and coincidentally is the final game to ever be produced be Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires series). So not only does it have to live up to the Halo name, but Halo Wars will also be seen as the swansong of a studio that has been adored by RTS fans for over a decade. So Halo Wars has many expectations riding on its shoulders.

Set twenty years prior to the events in Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo Wars tells the story of the Spirit of Fire, a UNSC ship charged with investigating a covenant attack on the planet Harvest. As always, they find more than they bargained for and Captain Cutter and his crew realise they are the only ones who can prevent the covenant from destroying humanity as they know it. As Halo Wars is set before the original FPS game, don’t expect the familiar faces and names to appear as more than passing references as it is definitely a stand-alone game, albeit set in the same universe as the shooter trilogy. Despite the obvious clichés tied up with the story, it fits in well with the other Halo games, which have never been had particularly ground breaking themes. Ensemble has however weaved an engaging story around this seemingly bland theme, proving that the tried and true “Good vs. Evil” formula is not always a bad thing.

The pacing is superb, and I found myself wanting to pass the scenarios in order to uncover the next piece of the puzzle, revealed by one of the many well-crafted cut scenes that occur between subsequent missions. This made it all the more disappointing to find that the main campaign clocks in at a rather feeble 15 missions and can be easily finished in a nights play if the difficulty is set within your skill range. It is also rather disappointing that there is only the single Human campaign, especially since almost every RTS ever has had a campaign for each playable race. Halo Wars is not doing too much service to fans of the genre in that respect.

Visually the game is stunning. Halo Wars is filled with bright vibrant colours, which is in pleasant contrast to the brown and bloom we see from a lot of modern games. The cut scenes are perfectly rendered and even manage to trump the visual accomplishments of Gears of War 2, raising the bar for other games on the Xbox 360. Sadly the detail is not that noticeable most of the time as the gameplay requires you to zoom back from the action in order to manage units at any sort of speed.

Halo Wars

Halo wars

Halo Wars

Initially I had set prepared myself to be disappointed with multiplayer due to Halo Wars only having two playable races, so it came as a pleasurable surprise to find that Ensemble has implemented a “team leader” system. The leader you choose gives access to different unique units and leader powers, providing some vital variance to the multiplayer. For example, if you pick Sergeant Forge (the main protagonist in the campaign), you gain access to the powerful “Grizzly” scorpion tank that is capable of dishing out some serious damage to the enemy infantry.

The skirmish tactics are based around the classic “rock, paper, scissors” format that Ensemble has made their bread and butter. This can causes tactics to feel rather shallow at times, with the majority of players tending to just move mass groups of counter units around the battlefield. The format is however executed well in true Ensemble form and the different unit types provide just enough depth to satisfy RTS fans whilst keeping it simple enough for the casual gamers. Base building is sadly rather simplistic, with set locations to build on and only six different building types. There is also no resource gathering other than constructing a supply pad/warehouse and watching the ticker go up.

True to halo form, the online multiplayer is well executed and reasonably populated, meaning it is not at all hard to find a match on Xbox Live. The net code works well and despite the always frustrating latency associated with living in New Zealand, it is most defiantly still playable and enjoyable. Fans of the original trilogy will love seeing that Blood Gulch has been recreated for multiplayer but I am sad to report that the map roster roster is, like the campaign, rather brief. Halo Wars could most certainly do with some map packs, and knowing Microsoft, I’m sure they will be arriving soon with a price tag on their heads.

The major flaw with Halo Wars is still of course the controls. Designing an RTS game on console has always sounded like insanity due to the limitations of a 14 input controller but Ensemble have managed that particular challenge quite well. Every single input on the controller has been assigned to a hot key with the shoulder buttons being used for unit selection and the d-pad used for jumping rapidly around the screen to points of interest. The cursor snaps to units and important features as you move towards them, kind of like the auto-aim the original FPS series made so popular with console shooters. However, anyone who is used to the fast, responsive keyboard hotkey and mouse tracking familiar to RTS gaming on the PC is going to feel encumbered by the controller-based gameplay. More often than not I found myself frustrated with not being able to quite select the units I wanted to. Splitting individual units and groups of units off from a main group is nigh impossible and once you have managed to select that group you are unable to assign them to a button on the controller, resulting in defence missions turning into a nightmare and micromanagement becoming rather hard to do effectively. It is obviously still possible to do complex unit movements despite this, as proved by a few punishing losses received in some of my online matches but it still feels a bit clunky and not quite right.

Halo Wars is definitely the best a RTS game can be on console, with the controller being the only real negative to this game. This alone may cause fans of the genre on PC to stay away from it, but Halo Wars really is a must have for fans of the Halo universe and anyone who hasn’t dabbled in the genre before. It will be interesting to see just how well Halo Wars does and if it has the dizzying success of its FPS predecessor we may soon see other popular titles branching out in similar ways. Regardless, it is certainly a fitting send off for a game studio that will be sorely missed.