Halo Wars: A Review By Conan S.

Halo Wars is a real time strategy game (RTS) and a prequel to the bestselling Xbox 360 Trilogy, Halo. It takes place on Harvest, after the Covenant has recently taken control of the planet. You and your crew have arrived at Harvest on the Spirit of Fire with the intention of liberating the conquered planet.

When you start the game you are given control of Sergeant Forge, and must liberate a base to start your campaign. From there, you will need to create UNSC forces. There are many new military units, along with classic ones from the trilogy. There are many ways to play it. You can make a heavily armed army, with tanks and other heavy vehicles, but smaller; or you can produce a lighter armed army, with smaller units, but an extremely large and robust one. By the end of the game you could have hundreds of small units or 50 or so heavily armed tanks rolling across the plains of Harvest. You can also do a mixed army with several tanks and a hundred or so smaller units.

I personally do not like RTS’s that much. However, I thought this was an excellent game. The thing I dislike about the everyday RTS is the need to constantly find resources which takes up most of your play time. With Halo Wars, however, all you have to do is build a couple of supply pads on your base and you don’t have to worry. Halo Wars focuses mostly on the military strategy of the game and the action part, very little of your time will be spent trying to get supplies. Most of it will be spent constructing your army and moving them across the land to confront the enemy. I was also worried about the controls. The Xbox 360 controller does not give much room for RTS’s, but just like the old saying goes, a little goes a long way. They were able to make the controls very simple and efficient, but effective at the same time. There aren’t any tricky controls or complicated combinations you need; most of it is done through pressing a single button.

The Multiplayer is especially fun. If you have Xbox Live, you will spend hours trying to outwit your friends and conquer their bases. You can also do co-operative play with your friends. So you can challenge the Covenant together.

To conclude, this is a great game. No matter who you are you will love it, whether you like first person shooters or regular RTS’s. You should at least try it once. This game definitely lives up to its expectations and the greatness of the Halo Trilogy, along with giving you some background on the trilogy.