The Wargamer

In the past, bringing real-time strategy (RTS) games to consoles has been a dodgy affair.  It’s too hard to shrink down all the functions of the mouse and keyboard required to play a PC RTS onto a typical console controller.  There’s just too much management in a typical RTS scenario, online and off, from jumping between multiple groups to managing all of the build orders to bouncing quickly from hot spot to hot spot, ready to manage the action with a variety of hotkeys.  Ultimately, most past efforts have been lackluster in the interface department, with many game designers trying to shoehorn all of the PC RTS goodness into an undersized interface.  The outcomes have been average, at best, and sometimes just plain awful.  To this end, the genre really hasn’t seen much success on consoles, at least not on the scale that the bigger titles have succeeded on the PC.

Enter Ensemble Studios’ swan song, Halo Wars, melding the Halo universe with tried and true RTS gameplay…but can Ensemble pull off what has evaded other developers in the past?  Creating a thrilling console RTS with a great interface?

I’m a fan of the Halo games—I’m not hardcore, but I’ve finished all of the singleplayer campaigns more than once, I’ve been mucho cannon fodder for loudmouth kids online, and I’ve even read a Halo novel—so I was curious, even excited, but also skeptical, when Halo Wars was announced.  If anyone could pull it off, Ensemble could…right?

Well, judging from the Halo Wars demo, released on the 5^th of February, they are certainly onto a winning formula for a console RTS.  Much like the streamlined but fun Civilization Revolutions, which managed to distill the venerable Civilization series into a great console package last year, Halo Wars seems to hit just the right balance of accessibility, control and enjoyment.  This is largely because Halo Wars has been built from the ground up for consoles; unfortunately, there is no PC release in the works, at least not that anyone is talking about.  With Ensemble closing their doors the likelihood of such a conversion is likely even smaller, but stranger things have happened in the past.

Anyway, the demo is a 1.4 GB download, including two tutorials, the first two missions of the single-player campaign, gorgeous cutscenes, and a skirmish mode, but no online play.  The skirmish mode is limited to a single snowy map and to 1v1 gameplay, but the full game will offer 14 maps for skirmish and online play, as well as 2v2 and 3v3 modes.

This is definitely a Halo game.  Ensemble has nailed the units, the animations, and the sounds.  Playing Halo Wars is like zooming out from Halo 3, it looks and sounds that good.  Spartans, now appearing as tiny, detailed figures on the screen, jump onto vehicles for pummeling and hijacking, just like in the FPS series; Warthogs slide and bounce and leap realistically, Hunters lumber across the field and the UNSC rifles sounds spot on.  Fans of the series will not cry foul when it comes to the incorporation of Halo into an RTS, even if they do not, ultimately, like Halo Wars and the unfamiliar console genre.

But the big question is, how has Ensemble managed to create a console RTS that is fun and easy to play?

 First, base building is streamlined as compared to most PC RTS games.  Bases can only be built in certain marked areas upon the maps; once built, bases come with slots upon which players can build other buildings, like barracks and supply structures.  Players can increase the number of slots, even build up to four turrets for defense, but ultimately players are relegated to creating their bases in the pre-determined locations.

Second, the action is kept small and relatively simple, without giving up the visceral experience for which they seem to be aiming.  The population cap, very high in many PC RTS games, is kept low, which cuts back on some of the management seen in other games.  There is no way to hotkey groups of units, but it was easy enough to capture the units needed with the controls provided.  The Right Button selects every unit on the screen; the Left Button selects every unit on the map; and the A button, if held down, creates a small paint brush which players can move about the field to select units within its small circle.  Players can also use the Right Trigger to select different subgroups from the main group.  Put together, this works very well, after some practice of course.

Players can also use the D-Pad for various functions that help to manage the action as well:  pressing Right jumps between recent alerts; pressing Down jumps between the different “groups” of units; and pressing Left will select each base in sequence, including mobile bases in the field.  Also, holding down the Left Trigger increases the scroll rate to get about the field in faster.  Combined with the simple but effective unit control, including using the X button for regular actions and movement, and the Y Button for special attacks, it works almost flawlessly, even when the action gets hot and heavy.

So, yeah, I love the demo.  Halo Wars, while it certainly doesn’t seem to reinvent the wheel, does a wonderful job of bringing the RTS genre to Xbox 360.  It’ll be interesting to see how the Halo community takes to the genre.  Some people I’ve spoken with, weaned on consoles, hate the demo.  I chalk this up to unfamiliarity and perhaps expectations of another Halo FPS, but they’re still claiming they won’t buy the game.  Others, more familiar with the RTS genre, really like the demo and plan on picking up the full game.  I fall solidly into the latter category, with the Halo Wars Collector’s Edition already pre-ordered.  If the full game is as good as the demo, it’s going to be great, which makes the recent Ensemble news all the more disheartening…

About the Author

Chris “sgtshaggy” Massey has recently been discovered hiding from his MMO addiction.  The MMO’s are out there, and they’re searching for him with their big, white teef, but he has sequestered himself away with enough PC and 360 goodness to combat his past addictions.  His wife and daughter are there for him, of course, helping to fight the withdrawal symptoms, and even the Postal Service requires him to leave the house to deliver mail for many hours a week.  That helps too.  He can also be seen firing up the occasional wargame, mainly Massive Assault Network 2, or popping a two-piece on friends in Gears of War 2.  Anything to fight the crack.  If you happen to catch “ShaggyPrime” on Xbox Live, be sure to lend him your support.