Halo Wars changes the battleground

The ground is littered with the bodies of dead grunts whilst the hillsides have jakals tattooed on them.  Bits of a blown up ghost is left scattered over the ground after flying over a grenade and shattering into tiny bits of metal.

But the war hasn’t been all one sided as a warthog lays wrecked beside some crates after an ambush by Covenant forces.  Many dead UNSC soldiers had just been trained in the barracks minutes earlier.

Yes, Halo is back for another installment on the Xbox 360, but this time its different.  Set 20 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved, Master Chief hasn’t even taken a step into his body armour and the war with the Covernant is  in its early stages. 

However, the biggest change in Halo Wars is that instead of fighting the battle on foot with all guns blazing, the camera is tilted above ground for a Real Time Strategy game.  Don’t let this fool you, this is still Halo. 

Everything that Ensemble Studios have put together oozes the series, from the similarity of the soldiers and covenant, to the way that the locations makes the gamer feel that they have walked through it before.  Even the music and the options screen are reminders that this is still UNSC vs Covenant.

The RTS genre may be met with frowns by some fans of the series but this is nothing to the scale of other games like Age of Empire.  Veterans and newcomers of the genre will find easy access with little trouble. 

The controls are simple to use, with A selecting one vehicle of soldier or LB calling the entire squad.  Selecting locations takes a simple flick of the X button and also targets enemy forces. 

This simple option does create a problem too.  There is few hard parts in the game and most objectives can be fulfilled by pressing the attack button on the enemy a few times.  Even when you lose your comrades, a voice simply tells you to go back to base and train more to do a better job.

Halo is back to fight another day and although it may be a bit simple for some, fans of the series and those after a fun game should be kept happy.  Its time to battle the Covenant one more time.

Halo Wars is out February 27th exclusive for Xbox360 in either standard edition or Limited Collectors Edition.