Developer: Ensemble Studios, 343 Industries
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Release date: December 20, 2016 (early access)
Platforms: PC, Xbox One (reviewed)
Back in 2009, Microsoft decided to take Bungie’s Halo universe and apply it to a real time strategy game. Moving the franchise from it’s run and gun core to an overhead view fell to Ensemble Studios, who proved up to the task, delivering a stripped down RTS experience set 20 years before Master Chief’s adventures. Halo Wars offered a solid story fleshed out with some beautifully animated cutscenes and good voice acting, all backed up by a suitably done musical score. It was a different way for fans of the franchise to pit the UNSC forces against the Covenant, and it worked out quite well.
Now, 343 Industries has stepped in and has given Halo Wars a new coat of paint and optimized it to run on the Xbox One and current PCs. I’m happy to report that time has been kind to the game, and it holds up nicely today, even if it is a bit more stripped down than fans of more intricate RTS games may like. For those newer to the genre, however, it provides a fine entry point. Even for RTS veterans, the gameplay can be just as challenging and engaging as any found in a more intricate title.
Halo Wars presents a standard galaxy in peril story to give structure to its 15 mission campaign, but it is nicely told. The two lead characters – Sgt. Forge and Dr. Anders – are your typical tough guy soldier and spunky female scientist, but good voice acting makes them likable enough. There is also a fair dose of humor courtesy of Selina, the AI piloting the Spirit of Fire. Her asides were often funny, and provided a bit of levity against the dire circumstances of the Covenant about to release a weapon that would help in wiping out humanity.
The missions span over several locations on a couple of planets, with two taking place on the deck of the Spirit of Fire. The missions offer varied objectives, but all contain similar elements of building and protecting your base and dispatching troops to deal with enemies. Each mission can take 10-30 minutes, depending upon your skill, what level of difficulty you’re playing on, and how quickly you can ascertain and achieve your objective. That last is at times problematic, as there were a couple of times I had to scan over the map to see what I needed to do and see where I needed to go.
Most of the times, the path leading to your objectives is pretty straightforward. A helpful arrow will often point you in the direction you need to go, though in one later mission you will have no such help. How you build your base is key to how well you will fare against Covenant and Flood forces, and making sure you have enough resources to train your troops and open up more options is especially important. Leveling your base up from a station to a fortress can mean the difference between having access to only ground troops to being able to supply Scorpion tanks and Hornet air support. Your base initially can be composed of a main building, a supply dock, a barracks, and a reactor. Other buildings that can be added as you expand include a building that aids in tech research, and air tower for launching air support, and a vehicle factory where you can deploy mobile units like a Cobra Anti-Vehicle unit or a Scorpion tank. The barracks for the most part have you train Marines and flame-throwing units, which can also get modifiers including the use of grenades and napalm. You won’t need every type of building or unit for every mission, but it does make things easier to know they’re there as long as your upgraded properly. You’ll even get Spartans provided from time to time. The advantage with Spartans is that they can be revived after falling simply be getting another unit next to them. Keeping your Spartans alive and providing their extra firepower goes a long way, as they’re tougher than your typical Marine.
You’ll need those forces upgraded, or at least have them in large enough numbers to handle everything the Covenant and the Flood will throw at you. And they throw everything they can at you, – the Flood especially. The Covenant can wreak havoc with one of their tanks, as they pack a lot of firepower and heavy shielding. Coming across a Covenant base or a Flood nest can pit you against a large force at once. Fortunately, with a press of the Up button on your Xbox One controller, you can bring up a Circle menu that can allow you to have the Spirit of Fire render aid in the form of a powerful laser strike, a healing dome, a carpet bombing run, or temporarily freeze your foes, encasing them in ice for a short time, allowing you (if you’re quick enough) to lay a real hurt on them.
You’ll also find collectibles scattered across the maps during the battles. Skulls offer certain perks or modifiers, appearing after a certain kill requirement is met. The modifiers are then activated from the pause menu, granting such perks as faster supply units or giving you troops increased hit points. Black boxes will unlock text in the Halo Timeline, giving you a sense of the history shaping the Halo universe. How well you do in a mission will determine which medal (Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Tin) you get upon successfully completing a mission.
Sadly, the campaign can only be conducted from the UNSC side of things. So no Covenant or Flood campaign for an alternate view. The campaign takes around 10-12 hours to complete. Missions can be replayed once you finish them the first time, and there’s some incentive to try and beat your score and strive for the gold in all of the missions, plus find all 15 skulls and the black boxes to unlock the 41 timeline events.
In addition to the campaign, there is a co-op mode and a Skirmish mode. Skirmish can be played solo with AI allies against AI foes, or you can play online against other players. Whether solo with AI or against other players, Skirmish matches can be 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3. There are six leaders you can choose from – Arbiter, Prophet of Regret, Cutter, Brute Chieftain, Forge, and Anders – and each one comes with their own devastating attack. In Skirmish you can play as either Covenant or UNSC, but there is no Flood option. The map can be a little tougher to navigate in the Skirmish matches, and it can take a bit until you see where you need to go. Playing solo first would be a better choice for newcomers to this type of game, to give you a better idea of how things work before tackling human players. Depending on the skills of the opponents, these matches can last a while.
Whether it was due to the game being in early access or just a busy day online for servers, my Skirmish match did suffer from quite a bit of lag in spots, and even froze outright for a few seconds before continuing on. As with most team based multiplayer modes, communication between allies can impact on how well the match goes. Being able to effectively group units against your foe can make for a more satisfying experience, and the team that works together obviously has the better chance at emerging victorious.
For the most part, Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is a solid package. The campaign is bolstered by a good story told with good voice acting, and the gameplay is challenging enough to test your skills, whether you’re a newcomer to the RTS genre or a veteran. Four difficulty levels – Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Legendary – offer options to all skill levels. It’s a stripped down RTS, so no tech trees or building long supply lines, and troop management is done on a basic level, allowing for only so many types of upgrades. Upgrades do not carry from one mission to the next, so you’ll need to rebuild each time, though each mission won’t require you to necessarily max out your units’ capabilities.
One thing sure to upset longtime Halo fans is that the game is currently only available as part of the Halo Wars 2: Ultimate Edition, with the early access (which began on December 20) being only available with a preorder. Otherwise you’ll need to wait until February 21, 2017, when Halo Wars 2 officially releases. It seems 343 Industries took a page out of Activision’s book, who made the Modern Warfare Remastered only available by purchasing the more deluxe versions of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare. It’s a practice that hopefully won’t continue, but as long as people buy in to get these remasters of older, loved games we’re sure to see other developer and publishers doing the same.
For what it’s worth, getting Halo Wars: Definitive Edition in addition to Halo Wars 2 (which looks to be shaping up nicely) is a nice bonus, albeit at a higher price point. After all these years, it’s good to see Halo Wars still holding up and being a viable part of the Halo universe, and that makes this RTS and fun and engaging game for people to experience Halo a bit differently.
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