Designed for Halo fans, who haven't played lots of PC's RTS games.
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Halo Wars is a benchmark in gaming: it finally brings a real time strategy game genre to consoles in a successful way. Trade-off is that everything is simplified and streamlined. But remember this: it's Halo and it works just as good as other Halo games before it.
STORY AND SETTING
Story takes place 20 years prior to first Halo game and 5 years after the human-covenant war began. In a distant colony planet Harvest the Covenant has found an ancient Forerunner technology and they are seeking some new weapon to turn the tide of the war once and for all. The facility is actually a map that leads to "something". This starts a race between humans and the Covenant as they wage war and search for that something. Of course we already know that it's the first Halo they are searching for. Story is told through some impressive looking cutscenes, great voice acting and while on a mission your commanders are giving insights about the broader picture. Story is not THAT engaging though since we already know how it turns out in the end, but still it's more than enough to bring Halo fans to the table.
TAKE CONTROL EITHER ALONE OR WITH A FRIEND
Up to this point the biggest issue in bringing RTS games to consoles has undoubtedly been the controls. It indeed takes awhile (maybe 2 to 3 hours) for you to really learn to use the controls effectively, but once you do it all comes together real nicely. You can select a unit with A button and then give an order by pressing X button. A special attack order is done by Y button. Selecting groups of units is done with either LB (whole army) or RB (local units) and if necessary using RT to select a specific group of units (for example Warthogs or Scorpion tanks). You have also leader units at your service, which are the most powerful units in the game. They also can't die: they just go down and in order to revive them you just need to move close to them and wait for a while. Unfortunately you can't set specific waypoints to your units, but this is something you'll learn to live with. Camera is controlled with right analog stick and from the options menu you can choose how far from the units the default camera angle is. I used almost the farthest option, because it allows me to see the widest view to the battlefield.
Obviously the controls are a trade-off between 1) quick selecting and creating different strategies in multiple fronts and 2) making an RTS work at all on a console. It is here when the concept of co-op comes into play: in tough missions it's very advisable to bring a friend along. This way you can either attack from different sides to a same target or let player 1 to build and manage the base while player 2 concentrates on waging war with his or her own troops somewhere else. This type of gaming takes a lot of communication and may require some practice, but it's really satisfying to see that "Mission Complete" when it all comes together. The whole campaign can be played with a friend through Xbox Live or System Link, but there's no split-screen option.
Leading troops is one thing and the other is building a base, upgrading it and building defences. You can't build anywhere you wish, since there are specific places for you to do so. Your base has also strict limits on how much you can build to it. Luckily you can upgrade your whole base to make it bigger and also your individual buildings to make them more efficient. Money is collected by building one or more Supply Pads, which then produce money at a steady pace. This means that no more collecting ore from around the map and micromanaging your units while they do this collecting. As a whole building is also trade-off, since your choices are very limited, but at the same time it all works and it's easy to do it with the controller.
PRESENTATION, STRUCTURE AND SAVE SYSTEM
Graphics are done well. Gameplay view lacks details, but at the same time animations are great and with the help of bright colors and familiar sound effects it's easy to tell the difference between units. It looks and feels just like a Halo game should and the frame rate stays solid almost at all times. Music is powerful and orchestrated just like it was in previous Halo games. Sound effects bring the battlefield to your ears, since the air fills with blasts and explosions constantly. Audio visual department has done a great fan service, because everything looks and feels fresh and familiar at the same time. Cutscenes look a lot better than they did in Halo 3 and the voice acting is also done with professionalism. Only bad thing is that at times the lip sync can be off balance comparing to what's happening on screen.
Campaign consists of 15 missions and they are all played as humans: no Covenant or Flood campaigns here. Your objectives in these missions are closely matched on what's happening in the story. Luckily there are more things to do than just "build a base and destroy everything", but in my opinion those escort and protect –missions are the hardest and most annoying. All of this makes Halo Wars a lot more story-driven game than what Command & Conquer 3 was for example. Depending on your chosen strategy most missions can be completed either in 15 minutes or 45 minutes. At times there are some weird balancing issues in missions: one moment you feel like a master general moving swiftly from mission to mission no matter the strategy, but in the next mission you feel like getting defeated no matter the strategy. Luckily this doesn't happen very often and if everything else fails you can always play in co-op or choose a lower difficulty level. Replay value of otherwise a short campaign is raised by hiding lots of skulls and black boxes for you to find. Of course you'll get extra achievement points for playing the game while specific skulls are switched on.
You can save a game anywhere anytime, but if a "Mission Failed" text pops up you need to start that mission from the start. This means that you need to think a little further and foresee an oncoming defeat. After completing missions once you can play them in any order you wish, which is a great thing when hunting down those skulls and black boxes.
MULTIPLAYER
As I already said the whole campaign can be played with a friend either on Xbox Live or System Link. Bringing a friend along makes the game more enjoyable and easy, if you both know what you're doing and have good communication skills. This means that in order to fully enjoy co-op it's advisable to first play the game alone at least for a few hours and then invite a friend to join you.
The actual competitive multiplayer takes place in 14 different maps and up to 3 vs. 3. Skirmish puts you against an AI player and it's a great way to familiarize yourself to a different faction (the Covenant) and the abilities of different leader units. Of course you can't underestimate the knowledge you gain by learning the layout of these multiplayer maps. Xbox Live is the best place to play multiplayer matches and there's a familiar matchmaking system to find games. Also the skill and ranking system from Halo 3 makes a return in Halo Wars. As a whole online play works just fine.
Multiplayer options are limited to say the least. There's a Standard Mode, where you both start with nothing and build your own army from there. Deathmatch gives everybody lots of resources and this puts most of your efforts in just pure combat. And that's it: only 2 multiplayer modes are available in Halo Wars.
I'm certain that competitive multiplayer is not for everyone: I for one thing got really pissed off after building a base for 30 minutes and then my opponent comes with 2 giant Scarabs and blows it all to oblivion in just 30 seconds. Usually the best strategy is to upgrade your base until you can build a couple of very strong units (like Scarabs or Vultures) and then smash your opponent's base. Maybe someone thinks that this is interesting and fun, but I personally didn't like the competitive multiplayer aspect in Halo Wars.
BEST RTS ON CONSOLES
Halo Wars as a whole is a trade-off while bringing RTS genre successfully to consoles: it's streamlined and simplified, but at the same time it's just that in right places and the end result is just great. It also feels that the developers ran out of time: there is clearly an open space for a Covenant campaign and maybe even to a Flood campaign as well. Also the multiplayer options are very limited, but still the 2 most important parts are done well: the prequel story to the first Halo game and the controls. We can only hope that some future downloadable content or a sequel will give us a truly full Halo RTS experience.
Halo Wars is perfect choice for Halo fans and to people who have not played a ton of RTS games already. Without a doubt it's also the best real time strategy game on a console platform ever.