Halo Wars

Title: Halo Wars
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer(s): Microsoft, Ensemble Studios
Release Date: 27.February 2009
Genre(s): RTS
Online/Single player: Online/Offline
Rating: 3.5/5


Info
Halo wars takes place in the year 2525. The Earth has been overpopulated, and as a result the humans made colonies on other planets in the galaxy. Your colony, planet Harvest, is suddenly under attack by a unknown alien force.

Halo Wars is part of the Halo series, a series that was originally made by Bungie. Unlike the previous Halo games where you play as spartans in a first person shooter game, in this game you command your armies as either the UNSC or The Covenant.
Halo Wars takes place 20 years before the first Halo game, and is set to when the war begun.

Gameplay

Bases
You start off with one base that you use to build your forces with. Around the base you can build different Foundations that allow you to either train units, get resources or build power plants that give you energy.

When you run out of building space, you can conquer other bases and turn them into your own, further expanding the limit of what you can make.


UNSC
Resources
Your resources are presented as cubes which you use to either build buildings with, upgrade with or train units with. In order to get resources you must either find them across the map or build Supply Pads that infinitely gives you resources.

Power
Most of the features in the game are locked until you get enough power to use them. To get power, you must either build Reactors or capture power stations that are sometimes spread across the map. Without power you can't upgrade your soldiers or your buildings, so always improve your power supply.

Army
There are three different types of armies that you can train. Infantry, which are weak but cheap, vehicles, which are expensive and strong, and air craft, which can fly over mountains and get to places quicker. There are different types of these which do different things. Marines are effective against vehicles and air craft if you have the Rocket upgrade, and flamethrowers are super effective against other infantries, etc etc. The most useful units are the Spartans, which can steal enemy vehicles and aircraft, and are very strong when you have maxed them out.
Aliens have the same set of armies, but different types of units.

Spirit of Fire
If you play as the UNSC, which are humans, you will be given a enormous ship that will aid you when you need it. You can't deploy it or use it directly, but you can attack or support with it from above if you have enough resources. The Spirit of Fire gives different perks depending on which leader you play as. Cutter for example, has a Mac Blast which is very effective against individual units, and can ODST on any highlighted area on the map, which are stronger than regular marines. Of course, in order to use ODST's, you must upgrade your marines to the max. Anders on the other hand doesn't have Mac Blast or ODST, but instead has Cryo Bombs which can freeze your enemies and if used on air craft, the air craft will crash and die. All leaders have some perks in common, like the Pelican, which can transport your units from one side of the map to another. Some abilities needs power to use.

The Covenant

Army
The Covenant, or the Aliens has the same sets of armies as the UNSC, but different types of units. Instead of Flame throwers, they have Jackals, which are basically snipers. Instead of Spartans, they have Hunters, which are Vehicle Killers.
The covenant has a larger population than the UNSC has, but cost more resources to train units.



Scarabs
Scarabs are a unique type of vehicle that only the Covenant can use. They deal lots of damage, and can take insane amounts of damage themselves. However, they also cost insanely large amounts of resources, and you need to max your power level to build them. They also cost so much population that even though aliens have more space than humans, they can still only build two at max. They also take a lot of time to build, so if the opponent learns that you are trying to build one, they will try to destroy your bases to hinder you.

Resources
The Covenant gets resources the same way humans do, but their facilities have different names.

Power
Unlike the humans, the Covenant can't build reactors. Instead, you have to age them up, similar to the concept of Age of Empires. Each time you age up, you permanently gain one power. However, they can still capture and control Power stations that you can find throughout the map.

Alien Leaders
The Covenant doesn't have a "Spirit of Fire" to support them. Instead, they are given a powerful leader, which depends on which leader you pick before you begin the game. Each leader has its own unique ability. The Arbiter can enter Rage Mode which makes him much more powerful, and you can control him in that state. The Prophet can use Cleanse, which command its cruiser to glass areas that you want to "cleanse" It deals lots of dammage, but it moves very slowly. The Brute Chieftain can use Vortex, which spawns a black hole that devours anything it comes close with. When you cancel the Vortex, it explodes, damaging everything nearby.
Using these abilities drains you of resources though, so be considerate.


Rebels, flood and Forerunner bases
When you're going to conquer a new base, you usually steal them from either rebels, floods or forerunner bases. The rebels are fairly easy to beat. However, their bases are guarded by Turrets. Using the Grenade ability with no less than two marine squads should be enough to deal with that though. The flood are a parasite that works like zombies with guns. Infantry that are killed by the flood, are brought back as floods themselves, and will attack your own men. Floods with weapons don't do this, only the infector forms, carrier forms or the flying floods can turn your soldiers. The forerunner sentinels fires laser beams at your units, and are effective against vehicles and air craft.
To the right: A picture of a flood infected marine

Forerunner tech
On some maps you can find Forerunner technology. If you conquer these, you can spawn powerful Sentinels that will fight with you. These are free, but each time you buy one, it will be set on cooldown until you can spawn it again.

I covered most of it, but try the game out to find out about the other features. This game was hated on by many halo fans because it didn't follow the same gameplay as the previous halos. I, on the other hand, found it refreshing and amusing to play a game where you command Halo forces. If you are a fan of strategy, I advise you to try it out.
The only reason I gave Halo Wars a 3.5 rating instead of 5 is because the game gets boring after a while, and that is because of several reasons.
1. The maps are pretty small, so you don't get the feeling of conquering like you do in Age of Empires or Total War
2. The game is unbalanced. Despite the aliens having powerful leaders, the humans have better units like the Cobra, which can attack enemy units or bases from a far distance, and Forge's Mac Blast is extremely overpowered once you have fully upgraded it.
3. There aren't many strategic elements in the game. One of the fastest ways to win is to just spam marines until the enemy has been obliterated. Of course, it can be countered if the opponent is good enough, but it's still pretty cheap.
Overall its still a really fun game to play, and I recommend it for RTS lovers.

Also, some of the information here can be inaccurate. It's been a while since I last played this game.

Two trailers: