Xbox 360 Game News, Reviews, and Columns - XboxFocus

A closer look into Halo Wars

by Steve Bogda May 19th 2008 12:17 AM EDT1 Comments

Ever since the game's announcement at X06, Halo Wars has had a large amount of hype surround it (after all, it has the word "Halo" in its title). If you look at 2008's lineup, Halo Wars is undoubtedly this year's most desired real-time strategy game, despite of the lack of information or media shown to us. This is the first time that the Halo franchise has gone into a genre that wasn't a first-person shooter, and because of that, there are some lofty expectations for this game.

But Halo Wars is emitting a rather "standard" feeling for me thus far. There doesn't seem to be any groundbreaking features that would separate the game from the rest of the console-RTS games, and we all know that those games aren't that great to begin with. There is a lot to work with from the Halo franchise, but from what I've seen, it doesn't look like Ensemble Studios is using all of it in the best of ways.

---

From what has been made available to us, Bungie and Microsoft are working hard at pushing Ensemble Studios in the right direction as far as the game's setting is concerned. Even though we won't be from the perspective of Master Cheif's helmet, this game needs to feel like something that is taking place in the Halo universe; you know that, I know that, they know that as well.

I need to see vehicles that move about like Halo vehicles, large scale battles to produce the epic feel the franchise has become known for, and an interface that closely resembles any of the three previous Halo games. While the RTS and FPS genres are very different, the war-like setting is still in each of their respective roots. With all of this emphasis on the game's feel, Halo Wars should easily capture the underlying presence of the universe, and for the most part, it does appear like the game will be able to do so.

Warthogs and other vehicles seem to move and turn just as you probably remember them, the the blue-transparent interfaces from previous games are present (and seem to work fluently, mind you), and a Cortana-esque computer voice definitely makes the game feel like something you'd expect to from see from the Halo universe. A lot of what I have seen looks good in this regard, yet despite of all these positives, Ensemble Studios has made some wrong turns.

For one, the game doesn't really look like all that great visually. Ensemble Studios seems to have modeled the art style and visual quality of the game off of Halo 3; which itself has a lot left to be desired as far as graphics go. There are some pretty bland ground colors, rather modest lighting effects, and a pretty rugged framerate. Simply put, the game just doesn't look all that great from a far. Hopefully, the game's overall look and feel will be getting upgraded vastly by this E3, but if it doesn't though, we're going to have a problem.

Another thing that bothered me was the movement of the game's AI. Halo Wars' Convenant soldiers don't really act like the trilogy's Covenant that I'm used to. Elites just standd there, shooting aimlessly instead of moving side to side as they've done in the past, and there are no kamikaze grunts running about either. In fact, most of the fleets from both sides seem to be lining up in "salvo" style more so than actually fighting a futuristic war. The Halo trilogy was able to produce that epic feel you'd expect to see from an alien invasion; so Halo Wars (in light of the genre it's in) should be expected to do so much more in that field.

While capturing the "Halo" part of the game's title is unquestionably important, the actual gameplay is far more crucial. Everyone is pretty much aware by now of the limitations in place with console strategy games. Since there are so many things to control at one specific time, an Xbox 360 controller is rather limited when compared to the infinite number of combinations and commands that can be herladed from a keyboard. So in order for Halo Wars to live up to the large amount of expectations that has been placed upon its shoulders, it must be able to break past that barrier that has been plaguing the console RTS.

But from what I have seen, there doesn't appear to be any revolutionary control scheme in place to make that separation, or even a decent one at that. Instead of being able to make commands at the speed of thought, you're instead limited to a "point and click" scheme of control. Pointing to buildings to release soldiers and infantry has been a staple of the Ensemble's Age of Empires series, and has mixed in pretty well with PC controls. But I can't see how the simplicity of the Xbox 360 controller would work fluently with such gameplay and because of that, it looks like it will be much more of a pain in the ass to control your army than it should be.

That is probably the most disapointing spot of the game; as Halo Wars isn't trying to do anything revolutionary. On the other hand, if you look at Tom Clancy's End War you see much more innovation in place. Knowing full well that RTS games are limited by a console's respective controller, Ubisoft has put into place a new voice command features which looks quite promising. That can be something that can possibly redefine the console RTS genre; I don't see how a simple "point and click" scheme can.

During development of the original Halo you could tell Bungie were onto something that no one has ever seen before. I don't see that coming from Ensemble Studios; I see them sticking to their roots and playing it safe. Halo Wars will undoubtedly be a success due to the recognition of its name, perhaps even the most financially successful RTS of all-time (let's be honest, there hasn't been to many blockbusters to come from the genre). All that doesn't necessarily mean it will be that great of game,

I'm coming off pretty negative to Halo Wars and I'm aware of that, but like the rest of you, I have some less than modest expectations for this game. Ensemble Studios is clearly making use of many of the things from the Halo franchise that will at least push this game above your standard console RTS. Microsoft wouldn't allow this game to go into production if didn't.

With all the varied vehicles in place, the numerous kinds of fleets you can control (can't wait to be controlling a fleet filled up Spartans), and some great backstory to work with, it's hard not to expect Halo Wars to be great. But Ensemble Studios seems to be limiting themselves with their chosen controls, and while I fully expect them to make good use of everything that is at their disposal, what I have seen has made my Halo Wars expectations begin to dwindle.