Talk about going old-school. Halo Wars — the headline announcement at last year’s X06 show – is taking Halo back to its origins. And no, we don’t mean with a shooter prequel. Halo Wars is a real-time strategy game, which is how Halo was originally conceived. It’s being handled by Ensemble Studios, who will rely on their glowing RTS track record (Age of Empires series) as they do the heavy lifting while Bungie provides support.
Set in 2531 at the onset of the human-Covenant war (read: before the events of the first Halo), the story follows the crew of the UNSC support ship Spirit of Fire and spans multiple planets. Every Halo standby is included: Warthogs, Banshees, Scorpions, Ghosts, and so on, plus a slew of new rides, including the tank-esque Rhino and the Wolverine, an anti-air tank/Warthog hybrid. They all sound exactly as they should, and thanks to the carefully crafted physics engine, everything moves properly, too. In fact, watching Warthogs fishtail around the UNSC base was like watching a Halo 3 match from a god’s-eye view.
The highlight of the gameplay demo was a massive skirmish with vehicles and infantry on both sides. As Covenant Banshees plastered UNSC Warthogs — which were busy shooting at and ramming Covie ground troops — the humans countered with the aforementioned Wolverines before the aliens brought in a Scarab, which proceeded to vaporize every foot soldier before Ensemble summoned the UNSC’s MAC cannon (an orbital Hammer of Dawn–alike) to even the scales.
Though we didn’t get to play, the controls seemed even easier than those in Command & Conquer 3: pressing A selects, double-tapping A selects all units of the same type, B unselects, X moves, Y accesses powers and abilities (like calling down a MAC-cannon shot), and LB selects everything. If you’ve never played an RTS, odds are the canonical reverence oozing from Halo Wars will get you to start.
Tobby
November 10, 2009 at 4:30am
Thanks fr this article, I have buy Halo 3 ODST and I am very happy :D I like too, the serie of game GTA it's the most I think
legomyeggov2
July 22, 2008 at 7:44pm
i can freaking wait and did u hear about the new halo game coming out. i freaked out when i heard i started to scream and my dog thought i was retarded.
powergamer2k8
July 20, 2008 at 2:56pm
that game looks awesome and so does the fist screenshot. too bad its coming out in,what 4 months? ill be like infinte billion years old by then!
WANNA----PETEY
July 11, 2008 at 1:25am
Hopefully this game will make my day because halo 3 to me was not as expected. Hopefully HALO 4 will be the F****** SH** as well!!! We'll have to see...
Scars4Life8989
June 07, 2008 at 4:22pm
CAN'T FREKING WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i ALL MOST FROGOT WHAT WILL IT BE RATED?
Sgt.Gamer
May 17, 2008 at 10:43pm
Its coming out somewhere in october this year, i saw it on 'Halopedia'. Somewhere in the middle of the month.
Phildajuggler
March 27, 2008 at 6:05pm
This game will be a new beginning to the whole RTS world. Bungie has the capability to pull this off, and is expected to blow the RTS community away with this new representation of the Halo series. And, for all of you hardcore Halo fanatics out there, it is expected for this not to be Master Chief's last hurrah. Keep updated with the latest gaming news here at OXM. -Phildajuggler, OXM Reader
geek24
March 26, 2008 at 5:17pm
thank god there be a new halo game but its not halo 4 plz make halo 4 bungie
Reaper213
March 25, 2008 at 3:53pm
The game look sick son! When is coming out? The Trailer totally got me wanting to play it. You should check it out.
cenahk
March 15, 2008 at 2:37pm
i hope its beter than End war and visversa because there both RTS and right know i think End war might beat the graphics and in game play. so bungie needs to step up a knoch!!!!!!!!
Dr Exovolt
March 10, 2008 at 11:21am
The Game Has To Be Good Or I'll Ram My Boot Up Their ... You Get The Picture. (No Threats Intended)
rogueassassin
March 07, 2008 at 6:45pm
this game is going to be sweet! first of all it is going to explain the halo story better being in the beggening of the war and second of all it is just plain going to rock!
cenahk
February 20, 2008 at 3:56pm
halo has bin asome from the start. Makeing it into a RTS game is grate as a prequal but I think makeing a halo 4 because the legendary ending were chief runs into the planet.
haloshock1140
February 10, 2008 at 4:19pm
this game seems great in writing lets see if they can pull it off. personaly i cant wait
Leo of moon
February 07, 2008 at 11:20am
im gtana hold my opineion tell the games finished and i try it but i think its going to be intrsting and HOPEFULLY it wont suck like the preveus RTS on the xboxes i hoped this guys have copeyed C&C's game play for halo cuse i think its the best for a consule RTS
ODST_Matt_2552
February 02, 2008 at 5:04pm
This game is gonna rock. I wonder if it will come out on PC... Cross platform gaming... it gives some interesting posibilities.
Barthvader43
February 02, 2008 at 8:58am
THIS GAME IS GONA BE AWEWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! email me at Barthvader43@yahoo.com or play w/ me (Beast at 3)
sickGAM3R
January 29, 2008 at 9:47am
< sickGAM3R > i never really liked strategy games but this one looks sick (probably just because it says "halo" on the box)
honour warrior
January 05, 2008 at 12:19am
ensemble is a great RTS game maker, so this game will be good, can;t wait
xAce of Sp4desx
November 22, 2007 at 3:32pm
Does seem pretty good. Hope everthing goes great with it's making.
R3VOlV3R 08
November 18, 2007 at 7:21pm
Gamertag: R3VO1V3R 08 hey i bought that SPNK case.....well anyways i hope Ensemble does a good job..its Halo after all...
Luthe0
November 16, 2007 at 6:57pm
Another Halo Item to add to my collection...I still need to get that SPNKR case from Issue #78.
