Published July 17, 2008
It took just thirty minutes of demo/hands-on time with Ensemble Studios' Halo Wars™ to make me a believer. Their much celebrated console-friendly control scheme works wonders with the usually PC-centric genre as it strips free the excess while cleverly streamlining otherwise complex mechanics.
My money's on the UNSC.
Patently Halo
Before we get to the game's mechanics, it's worth noting that Ensemble has nailed the Halo motif beautifully. From the trademark Warthog fishtail to the franchise's traditional, vibrant color palette all the way down to the Spartan's revered and feared status on the battlefield, everything here screams Halo from start to finish.
Action First
Beyond the controls, which we'll get to in a moment, Halo Wars' biggest departure from classic RTS play may be its unabashed focus on action over economy and planning. Yes, you need to build structures and units, and yes, you've got to pay the economy due consideration, but the ratio of action to planning in Halo Wars is more like 75/25 than the standard 50/50 split of so many other games. Ensemble wants you out of the base and causing havoc within moments of the match's beginning.
Jack that Wraith!
Unit Selection
Regarding controls, no mechanics require closer inspection than unit selection and movement, and it's here that Ensemble Studios has really achieved a console coup:
- A and Paintbrush: First off, you can make your most basic one unit selection by simply placing the cursor on the desired unit and pressing A. Nothing revolutionary there, but hold down A and you'll trigger the "paintbrush", a large blue circle that selects any unit you brush up against it.
- On-screen units: Just tap RB to instantly select every unit on-screen.
- Global: Give LB a tap and you'll select your entire army.
- Right Trigger controls: Here's where the magic happens. Whether you've got your entire army selected or just a few unique units, you can pull down Right Trigger to access a unit selection bar near the bottom of the screen. Hold down and release the trigger again to cycle through the unit types, and issue commands to individual units while still maintaining control of your army at large. This deceptively simple mechanic makes all the difference in the world when engaged in large-scale combat.
- X and A: Where so many RTS games require the A button to pull triple duty as both a selection, movement, and attack key, Halo Wars delegates the attack command to X. This way, there's no confusion over whether you want to move near an enemy unit or attack the unit.
I smell a carpet bomb.
The D-Pad Star
The D-pad in Halo Wars works as a four-pronged hot key, allowing you to cycle quickly from base to base, return instantly to your army, review the last few Alerts and, most exciting of all, access your Spirit of Fire command list.
Death from Above
The Spirit of Fire command ship hovers unseen in orbit, looking down on the battlefield. In reality, it's from this ship's perspective that you view and command your units. Better yet, it's the source of Halo Wars' most devastating attacks, including Carpet Bombs and the destructive MAC laser bombardment.
Simplified Economy
Rather than force you to fiddle about looking for some square footage on which to place your latest building, Halo Wars delivers one central base from which all other buildings are constructed.
Of course, with a preset number of slots, you can't build absolutely everything, so you'll need to make quick but strategic decisions regarding which buildings you'll focus on and which you'll go without. That said, you'll find expansion locations from which to build a second or even third core base.
Resources too are presented in streamlined form. First, there's just one basic resource to mine and the factories that provide it can be built right from your core base. You can find extra scraps of bonus resources in the land around you though, and these can be harvested by both Warthogs and Marines.
Halo Wars was born from Ensemble Studios' burning desire to finally crack the console-RTS code. At last this elusive genre not only feels right at home on the console, but excels there as well.
Article by Ryan Treit
