Halo Wars (Xbox 360) Review

Get tactical.

 While Halo 3 was the epic conclusion to the Master Chief saga, that didn't mean it was the end for Halo. The game made tons of money for the Xbox brand that Microsoft wasn't going to let the Halo name sit around and dust up. Enter Halo Wars, a spin-off game that both a real-time strategy (RTS) game and prequel to the entire series, focusing on the early conflict between the Humans and Covenant. Released back in 2009 for the Xbox 360, it was a tad unusual to see an RTS game on a console, seeing as that genre was predominantly on the PC side. Developed by the defunct Ensemble Studios, Halo Wars was their final game before the studio closed doors. Since this is the first time I'm playing it, I'm interested to see if it turns out be a enjoyable time. Anyway, let's get tactical and find out if Halo Wars is any good.


 Taking place in 2531, 20 years before Halo: Combat Evolved, we follow the crew of the UNSC ship "Spirit of Fire" as they battle against Covenant forces in the early years of the Human-Covenant war. The crew consists of wise-cracking Sergeant Forge, ship Commander Cutter, researcher Professor Anders, and the Spirit of Fire's AI, Serina, as they fight their way to victory. From the Covenant's side, we get to see the Prophet of Regret and previous Arbiter, who both plan on uncovering an ancient weapon that can gravely change the outcome of the war. The story is good one but it's doesn't reach the memorable heights of the first three games and I found most of the characters-- save for the badass Sergeant Forge-- to be one-dimensional, especially Serina, who was just borderline boring.

The story's a good one, with some neat moments.

 The gameplay structure of Halo Wars is rather straightforward. Being an RTS game on console, you control your units from a top-down view using a controller. You can speed up the camera by holding RB and zoom in or out using the right stick. In bigger maps, you can press the d-pad to instantly wrap you back to the base. While it may seem a tad unconventional for the genre, I found the Xbox 360 controller to be well-utilized and being simple enough for newcomers to grasp it.


 At the beginning of most levels, you'll be prompted to construct a base of operations to get your forces moving. An essential component to get things started us to build supply pads, which generate resources (currency) for you to spend on the base's defenses and facilities. You can build a Barracks, where you can train marines and other infantry units such as flamethrowers and RPGs to join you in battle, each carrying a special ability to use. In certain, missions some Spartans will even join you, packing serious heat such as machine guns and Spartan Lasers. Reactors pads are a must when thinking about deploying some heavy duty vehicles. As the name suggest, the Vehicle Despot is your go-to place when you need a ride. It includes Halo classics such as the Warthog off-roader that you can run-over enemies with and the Scorpion tank, which is durable enough to penetrate enemy strongholds. New vehicles include the likes of the Wolverine, an anti-air vehicles that can fire missiles at Banshees, and the Gremlin, which can blast EMP rounds to disable enemy vehicles momentarily.

The gameplay is surprisingly enjoyable, and a lot more

challenging on higher difficulties.

 You can also receive a boost in battles by utilizing the Spirit of Fire's support abilities. These include launching an air-strikes at enemies, transporting units from one point to another in the map, and even heal your units when they're low on health-- all at the cost of resources. Keep in mind that it will take a while for these abilities to charge after you've used them up, so it's best to use them wisely. With enough resources, you can upgrade your base to a fortress, which houses more storage and grants you the ability of constructing turrets, which themselves can also be upgraded for long and close range combat-- neat. Halo Wars has a few side modes to keep you invested long after finishing the 8 to 9 hour campaign. These include Skirmishes, where you fight against either computer-controlled opponents or against a second player via split-screen. Here, you can actually control Covenant forces and have access to their cooler weapons and vehicles. You also get to play as the Arbiter, who can be overpowered at times. Online mode, as the name suggests, has you hooking up with other players online and battling them. The servers as surprisingly still up though it might take you a while to find a game. 

Air-striking enemies is fun and all but be mindful

of the long recharge times.

 There are a few aspects that I didn't like about Halo Wars. For starters, the AI has a tendency of not following orders when you need them to. In one mission, you're tasked with escorting a unit to a certain point in the map within a time limit. While it seems pretty manageable, the AI almost always had trouble moving around terrains and I'd barely made it past the time limit. Another aspect that I didn't like is the how short the game is. Most games in the genre usually take a good 20-30 hours to complete and I expected Halo Wars was going to be a beefy ride. However, I was surprised to know that the game only features 15 main missions, some of them can be completed as little as 15 minutes. It's a shame really since these two issues hold the game back from being a fantastic one.


 Halo Wars has aged pretty well some 10 years later. The character models and backgrounds are colorful, though not what I call eye-catching by any means. I loved the big-budget CG cutscenes between levels, which gave the game a movie-like feel. They were rewarding to watch after beating a long level and kept me invested in the narrative. Speaking of being invested, the game's audio does that just fine. Veteran voice actor Nolan North delivers a charismatic performance as Sergeant Forge and the rest of the voice cast as well. The soundtrack this time around is composed by Stephen Rippy, who captures the atmospheric and high-stakes feel of the Halo games with great tracks such as the chilling intro theme "Spirit of Fire", "Bad Here Day", "Flip and Sizzle", "Just Ad Nauseum", and the sweet ending theme "Insignificantia". I think he did a fantastic job at replicating some of Marty O'Donnell's classics tracks while adding his own style to them.

The presentation is solid, with some sweet cutscenes

and soundtrack to keep you hooked.

 Halo Wars ended up being a surprisingly great time, even though I'm not a fan of strategy games. I enjoyed the simple-yet-engaging gameplay and I liked the narrative as well as some of the characters. The visuals hold up well, however, its the amazing soundtrack that's steals the presentation. Glaring issues such as the brief length and poor AI aside, I still believe that Halo Wars is a good RTS game. It's a good entry point for those new to the genre and is a decent Halo game for fans coming for the lore. The game got a remaster not long ago for the Xbox One and PC packing improved visuals and all DLCs-- with online being slightly lively-- so it's the version that I'd recommend to check out. As their final game, Ensemble Studio really did a fantastic job at creating an RTS that's faithful to its source material.