Microsoft has decided to take its most famous FPS franchise to a “touchy” console genre like RTS.
Real-time strategy games are a genre that we generally associate with the PC, but in 2009, Microsoft decided that the studio in charge of Age of Empires at the time, Ensemble Studios, take this formula on console, especially on Xbox 360. That game was Halo Wars, a title that took over the classic formula of real-time strategy from build bases and armies and moved it to a nearly seamless drive. However, Microsoft has closed Ensemble Studios and hope for a Halo Wars 2 seemed nonexistent. However, eight years after the original game’s release, we received a sequel that surpassed the original and came by no more and no less than the hand of Creative assembly.
Ensemble Studios presented one of the best known and beloved Xbox first person shooter games. a genre for which it was originally designed, the RTS. The Halo franchise is more than a household name among Xbox gamers, but something that may not be so well known is that while the first-person shooter Halo: Combat Evolved may have been the flagship title that kicked off the Xbox era, the original design of the Halo series was very different
Then we come to the year 2009, the year of release of this Halo Wars, a title that took up all the ideas that were once thought for the franchise, but who were rejected to create what we know today. For those who are not very involved in this spin-off and who think that this is yet another adventure of the protagonist of the series, the Master Chief, let them know that Halo Wars is temporarily far behind what has been seen in the main series games.
Halo Wars is set in 2531, 20 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, and six years later that the collective of alien races known as the Commitment attack humanity, declaring that humans are an affront to their gods, The precursors, and invade The Harvest Human Colony.
Halo Wars offers a full campaign for those who want to experience the fantasy story mode, a skirmish mode for those looking for a specific battle and of course online multiplayer for those who want to face the best. However, if you want to play with your friends, you don’t have to worry about who is the best, since all the game can be played in cooperative mode
The campaign offers 15 missions where we control to UNSC members (United Nations Special Command). Throughout each mission, players must complete the different tasks that are asked of them, mainly orObjectives based on attack and defense, to complete the mission and progress in the story. This is achieved through strategic placement and use of infantry units and vehicles that are at our disposal. Players familiar with the Halo universe will immediately recognize each of the vehicles, with Warthog, Scorpion or Cobra SP42 Available alongside other vehicles, but while these can be powerful when it comes to taking on enemies, the real key to success is to use the available infantry options.
Land units, like Marines, can be used to explore an unfamiliar area, which is much appreciated most of the time due to the classic “Fog of war” that wraps the entire card. Since the game takes place in a top-down view, it can mean that if you haven’t placed your units in the best positions, you can quickly find yourself attacked from nowhere
While the campaign is not as intense or interesting as that of other games in the Halo series, it cannot be denied that the strategic options provided by Halo Wars add a new level of immersion to the series. Things like watching your warthogs filled with infantry join in the attack is something we’ll enjoy as kids.
The campaign is pretty good as we said, but like all Halo titles, is competitive multiplayer what most were looking to profit from in the long run.
Multiplayer has five game modes which players can participate in. First, there is the standard mode, in which players must destroy every last unit and building under enemy control. There is also Deathmatch manner in which players fight to be the last man standing, Keep away, in which you fight for possession of a flag in order to keep its bearer alive to score points, Tug of war, in which teams are built to be as strong as possible, the strongest winners, and finally Enhancement, a mode in which resources are depleted as waves of new troops arrive.
In 2016, a few months before the launch of Halo Wars 2, Microsoft has decided to launch Halo Wars: Definitive Edition on Xbox One, an edition that included graphical enhancements such as new content, and was released on both PC and console. The original Xbox 360 game is backwards compatible with current Xbox systems, so if you have it, don’t hesitate to give it a try. Halo Wars: Definitive Edition is available in Xbox Game Pass, as well as its fantastic sequel.