For many shooter fans, Halo was the game that convinced them that you didn't need a keyboard and mouse to line up the perfect headshot – you could do it with a control pad on a home console. Halo Wars does the same thing for the real-time strategy game.
The RTS has long been the domain of PC gaming, thanks to its depth and complexity. With a screen full of tiny troops, bases and resources to manage, and full-scale combat that requires serious precision, how could simple game pads hope to compete with the sheer versatility of the keyboard and the accurate aiming power of the mouse?
In spite of a few glaring faults, Halo Wars illustrates that an RTS can work on a console. When this Xbox 360 game ships March 3, Halo junkies who are new to the genre will find an exciting campaign bolstered by a polished and unique multiplayer game. Experienced RTS fans will find a lot to like, too, but the simplistic game mechanics and sluggish controls mean that Xbox 360 still isn't an adequate replacement for the PC.
If you're going to redefine a genre, call in the experts. Halo Wars was created by the now-defunct Ensemble Studios, maker of the fantastic Age of Empires games. It has carefully re-created the Halo universe right down to the dull whine of the Warthog's engine. The fastidious attention to detail is one of Halo Wars' strongest points, and perhaps the aspect that fans of the series will appreciate most.
Halo Wars is a storyline prequel, with a plot unrelated to the shooters in the series. It's entertaining, but also pretty short for a strategy game: There are 15 missions, which took me about 40 minutes each on the standard difficulty level. The Halo series' standard Heroic and Legendary difficulty modes are available for players who enjoy upping the challenge. But the single-player game serves as little more than a primer for the multiplayer experience.
As an RTS, Halo Wars features all the usual trappings of the genre. But these are generally hobbled somewhat so they can work with a less adept game controller. For example: Military supply pads and Convenant warehouses generate resources perpetually, meaning that you don't really need to manage your economy.
What is precious, however, is space. Each map holds a number of predetermined base sites that players can capture. A base will provide you with a fixed number of building sites on which you can construct factories, supply pads and the like. Thus, deciding what to build and where is the bulk of the strategic experience. Upgrading your base will net you a maximum of seven building sites, but a single base simply won't provide enough space to support a well-rounded army.
It's a simple system, designed to make fielding an army as painless as possible. But Halo Wars' design suffers a bit from the fact that it is designed to be a more casual experience. If you understand rock-paper-scissors, you understand the combat: Vehicles beat infantry, infantry beat aircraft, and aircraft beat vehicles. You can fight as either the enemy Covenant or the UNSC heroes, and the slight differences between them mean you'll have to alter your play style a bit depending on your side.
Your opinion of Halo Wars, though, will likely be determined by how you feel about how the game controls with the Xbox 360 pad. Players familiar with first-person shooters (and how could you not be, if you're considering playing this) will feel right at home: The targeting cross hair is fixed on the center of the screen, shooter-like. While this works fine for covering wide swaths of ground, using it to make precise selections can be frustrating, particularly when you're dealing with large groups during a hectic firefight. Tapping the left and right bumper will quickly select all of your units, or just units in your current field of view, while the directional pad will allow you to jump between armies, bases and recent alerts.
With a little practice, you'll be able to quickly give large groups general orders, but I never quite escaped the feeling that I was wading about the battlefield instead of deftly commanding my armies. My relative inability to painlessly select and control individual units created battles that consisted primarily of throwing massed blobs into a firefight, and hoping I had brought the right mix of units.
While Halo Wars won't be relieving strategy fans of their mice and keyboards, Ensemble Studios has crafted a genuinely fun experience. There are drawbacks, but those new to the genre likely won't even notice them, and Halo fans won't care. Most importantly, console fans finally have a genuinely good real-time strategy experience on their gaming platform of choice.
Images courtesy Microsoft
WIRED Expertly captures the Halo ambiance, accessible gameplay
TIRED Sluggish controls, simple mechanics might turn off RTS veterans
$60, Microsoft
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