If you were to tell me a couple years ago that a major RTS title was coming exclusively to a console, and that it was carrying around the Halo brand name... well, let's say I'd check you into an insane asylum. But no joke, it came, it saw, it conquered. Halo Wars became one of the top-selling games in the last year, selling 1,000,000 copies extremely quickly. Let's explore why throughout the course of this review.
The main gripe about putting an RTS on a console is the controls. It seems that console RTS controls are always clunky and make the game hard to enjoy. Fortunately, Halo Wars completely re-did the control scheme, making it easy to learn and easy to use. Simple controls; A to select a unit or building, B to cancel a selection, X to move selected units to where you're pointing, Y to use a unit's secondary ability. The D-pad is used extensively as well; up to call down support and leader powers, left to cycle through your bases, right to move to the last alert you were told (if a base is under attack, or if your troops have encountered enemy troops), and down to cycle through armies. Selection is also easy in Halo Wars. LB to select all your units, RB to select all on-screen units, hold A to bring up a paintbrush and "paint" over the units you want to select, and RT to cycle through specific unit types of the selected units.
Carrying the Halo name is a big responsibility that could have killed this game. Most Halo fans were pissed off because it's an RTS, and most RTS fans were pissed off because it's Halo. For everything to work out, the game needs to be simple enough for first-time RTS fans to comprehend, but still complicated enough to give RTS fans what they want. Halo Wars landed this nicely. Supplies are automatic, so you don't have to worry about things like villagers chopping down trees, and there's a nice anti-unit system that will make it easy for even beginners to counter an enemy's army. Another system lies beyond that for the more RTS-savvy players.
The campaign is nice, albeit short, and on the highest difficulty, it provides a challenge that will make even hardcore RTS fans want to pull their hair out. A nice glimpse into the extended Halo storyline and beautifully-animated cutscenes make the campaign a memorable experience, from start to finish.
But enough about the campaign. We all know why people bought this game; Skirmish and multiplayer. The Skirmish mode lets you choose from 6 leaders, each with varying units, powers, and bonuses, and take the fight online with other people or against AIs with varying difficulties. Teamwork is essential in 4 or 6 player games; try to attack a base on your own, and your enemy's allies will make you regret it. Again, the game is simple enough for first-time RTS fans, but complicated enough to give hardcore-RTS fans who know what they're doing a slight advantage.
Altogether, Halo Wars comes off as a highly enjoyable game, complete with DLC to come. I'd give this game a well-deserved 9.5/10.
