There’s a lot going on for the gameplay that we simply can’t cover within the confines of a review, but at least you should come away knowing that there’s a lot of diversity in the gameplay to try out different strategies and tactics on your opposition. Multiplayer sessions can be set from 1 vs. 1 to 3 vs. 3. Having the ability to support six players online, each with their own army of 50 units strong, the battles can truly be epic when players take their time to build up before a climatic battle. Experiencing no lag, and becoming captivated to learn new strategies on the fly, every match has been unique in its own right when I faced off against the developers and many of my colleagues. If competitive multiplayer isn’t your thing, then perhaps the co-op mode will pique your interest. Playing through the entire campaign from start to finish with a friend is going to be one of the intriguing features that should lure those on the fence determining if they want to buy the game or not. Whether it’s through Xbox Live or System Link, the cooperative possibilities are going to be attracting to almost everyone.
After covering all that, there has to be something that Ensemble didn’t properly implement, right? Well to start off, Halo Wars is essentially an action-RTS if there ever was one. There’s little emphasis on building bases, collecting resources and fortifying, which hurt the game’s tactical aspects. Not being able to build up a legendary impenetrable fortress is one of the most alluring features of an RTS and sadly Halo Wars doesn’t feature that. Instead, you build bases on base slots and the only form of defense is putting up four turrets in the assigned turret slots.
Another issue is that, if you’re a fan of the Brutes, you best be prepared for a lack of face time in the campaign as they only show up in one mission and are never to be seen again. The last two issues are based on the fact there’s no Covenant campaign (though, it’s excusable as you can play as Covenant in multiplayer) and the shortage of playable Flood leader in the multiplayer. To be honest though, the Flood only has one leader in the form of Gravemind and he doesn’t sound too enticing to use. Their inclusion would’ve been an impossibly complex group to implement into the game without pushing the game back to a later release date.
So what does this all boil down to? Well first off, it’s the best RTS on the Xbox 360. Though this isn’t stating much, any forthcoming RTS will undoubtedly have to compare to Halo Wars in the future. Ensemble Studios did their job in creating an accessible RTS that newcomers won’t have too much trouble playing thirty minute sessions. If there’s one facet of the game that should be taken away from the game, it would have to be the gorgeous cinematics Ensemble Studios has put together. Halo Wars is basically worth the purchase for the cinematic scenes alone.
