Halo Wars

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Halo Wars is a Real-Time Strategy game that begins in 2531 during the Covenant eradication of the Outer Colonies in the Human-Covenant War. The game is being developed by Ensemble Studios and is currently only set to be released for the Xbox 360, designed from the ground up for console game play. The game, according to the official Halo Wars website, its release date was pushed back to Spring of 2009.

Background

A SPARTAN in Halo Wars from SPARTAN Group Omega

The Halo Wars control scheme.

In Halo Wars, players can command armies of familiar and new UNSC units in its first encounters against the Covenant, a coalition of alien races that threatens to eradicate all of mankind. "Halo Wars" will immerse gamers in an early period of the Halo universe, allowing them to experience events twenty years prior to Halo: Combat Evolved.

With the guidance of the AI Serina, the player leads UNSC soldiers and vehicles against Covenant Grunts, Elites, Ghosts and Scarabs, each group having its own strengths and abilities in battle. Strategic-minded players who react well under pressure will emerge victorious.

Halo Wars can be played online via Xbox LIVE and through the single-player or co-op campaign. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Halo Wars" is a title exclusive to the Xbox 360. Despite speculation of a version for the PC, Ensemble and Microsoft have repeatedly said that no such plans have been made or even considered for it. It has been confirmed that the Covenant will be a playable race only in online.

Ensemble Studios began recording the music for the game in March, with Ensemble's Music and Sound Director Stephen Rippy flying to Prague for the orchestral and choral parts and Seattle for the piano and mixing. At this point in time, they are working on in-game units and how they interact with each other. Alpha testing has also begun, with testers having been reported as playing the game over Xbox Live. .

The game was featured at this year's E3 event, held in July. It was shown on G4's E3 08 LIVE as a hands on demo.

A picture of Halo Wars from the Halo Wars website. It is unknown if this is a live-action shot or not.

Plot

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UNSC and Covenant units clash in-game. Note in particular the apparent Halo in the background of the screenshot.

"At this point in time, the Covenant is at its most evil. They are hell-bent on the destruction of humanity, on scouring us from the universe."

— Graeme Devine, Lead Writer, formerly Lead Developer.

The game's story is told through in-game cutscenes and in-game moments, as with the other Halo games. The game is set in 2531, it focuses around the Marine forces of the UNSC Spirit of Fire as they engage Covenant ground forces after the discovery of an ancient artifact during a journey to the planet Harvest, at which point has been partially glassed, the first planet to be attacked by the Covenant. The story will thus begin with the UNSC's early battles on Harvest, but will also feature another colony world, Arcadia, which holds "something of great interest to the Covenant." The planet is subsequently invaded by the Covenant, and the UNSC must evacuate the planet while engaging the invasion force. While no Halo Installations will be featured in the campaign, they are likely to be present as at least a few multiplayer maps. The majority of the campaign (15 missions in total) will take place in the polar/mountainous, parts of the jungle, and ruin regions of the world, allowing Ensemble Studios to "do some great stuff with mountains, snow, ice, forests and some Forerunner structures." In addition to striking into new territory, past events not just from the games will be expanded upon.

It has been confirmed that Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 will not be making an appearance in the game. There will be a group of SPARTANs that are called SPARTAN Group Omega. In contrast, the Spirit of Fire is set to be "full of new characters," such as the AI Serina and the Spirit of Fire's commander, Cutter. At least some of these characters will go planetside to aid the player. It has also been confirmed that the singleplayer campaign is purely from the UNSC's perspective. Co-op for campaign over Xbox Live has been announced too.

Early Plot

File:Mining.jpg

The world as we know it is ending.

Originally the storyline was supposed to feature a Covenant mining asteroid that was located at a Forerunner ore refining mechanism, this concept tries to show the scale of the large Forerunner machinery in place, machines that are still operational (although now controlled by the Covenant). In the end the mining aspect of the story was removed from the game, for many obvious reasons.

Possible Elements

• It has been confirmed in the February Monthly Update that there will be no space battles in the game.

• Halo Wars may incorporate the concept of "Socket Bases," in which only specific areas can be used to build specific buildings.

• 'Supply runs' are set to be featured, allowing a regular rejuvenation of supply for the production of units as opposed to a resource gathering system.

• Forerunner structures have been added into the game.

• Ensemble has stated the camera angle and zoom can be adjusted so that the player can zoom in on one unit, while playing, and then see the whole battlefield.

• Downloadable content has been planned for the game, ranging from new units and maps to potentially new campaign levels.

"We have plans for extra units and extra maps, and then beyond that we’ll look at what else we can add further down the track, such as extra campaigns and so on. I think it’s definitely a good way of consistently breathing new life into the product via DLC."

— Graeme Devine

• It may also feature a map editor, either shipping with the game, or as downloadable content from Xbox Live Marketplace.

"We actually talked quite a lot about that, we’ve got a very powerful map editor, so we’ve talked about whether we could release that with the game or via Xbox Live and allow people to make their own maps, and then work out a way for users to share the maps. I would love for that to be in the final product. Because I think user created content is just fantastic. I think it’s absolutely the future, because people love to tell their own stories, people love to make up their own little war campaigns, and there are a lot of people out there who are incredibly talented.”"

— Graeme Devine

• May feature the Flood as a playable third race.

Gameplay Elements

United Nations Space Command

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UNSC Marines

.

• Infantry
  • SPARTAN Group Omega: SPARTAN-IIs are individual units who are superior to usual Marines. They are capable of being upgraded with shields, Dual wielding and can hijack enemy vehicles, so the player can control them.They can also be upgraded with chain guns and spartan lasers. When a spartan hijacks an enemy vehicle, Their rank gets added to the vehicles rank.
  • UNSC Marines: Marines are the basic infantry of the UNSC who have the special ability to throw grenades. They can be upgraded to include a Rocket Launcher and medic in the squad.
    • Flamethrower Marine. Marine specialists with heavier armor and flamethrowers can be used to torch entire infantry units. They can be upgraded with Flash Bang Grenades, which stun enemies when hit.
    • Machine Gun teams: Units who carry about AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun that can deploy and fire it.
    • Medic: Unit capable of healing injured infantry. (unconfirmed)It is also said that medics will be armed with either SMGs or shotguns.(unconfirmed)

• Weapons
  • M6D Personal Defense Weapon System (Pistol/ Magnum)
  • M19 SSM Rocket Launcher
  • M90A Close Assault Weapon System (Shotgun)
  • MA5B Individual Combat Weapon System (Assault Rifle)
  • SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle
  • M7057 Defoliant Projector (Flamethrower)
  • AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun(Chain gun)
  • Weapon/Anti-Vehicle Model 6 Grindell/Galilean Nonlinear Rifle (Spartan laser)
  • M7/Caseless Submachine Gun (SMG)

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M808 Scorpion MBT

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M12 LRV (Warthog)

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Dropship 77-Troop Carrier Pelican

• Vehicles
  • M12 Light Reconnaissance Vehicle: Can be up graded to a M12G1 Light Anti-Armor Vehicle. Can jump gaps.
  • M808 Scorpion MBT: The M808 Scorpion is the basic human tank that can be upgraded to the 'grizzly'
    • Variant 1: The Scorpion mounts a much larger cannon
    • Variant 2: Same as above but the coaxial gun has been upgraded.
    • Grizzly variant: The upgrade of the Scorpion, it packs two cannons and a flamethrower.
  • Behemoth-class Troop Transport: The Elephant, as it is more commonly known, can carry squads into combat and can fulfill the role of a barracks out in the field, along with having the ability to upgrade to pack a cannon and a twin engine to upgrade speed. It is Captain Cutter's unique unit.
  • D77-TC Pelican Dropship: Pelicans can carry units into combat and provide fire support
  • Shortsword-class Bomber: Shortsword bombers operate low level bombing runs that can decimate enemy units
  • Hornet: The Hornet is a light gunship that can get extra passengers to provide support and fire on enemy ground and air targets. (Replaced Sparrowhawk)
  • Sparrowhawk: The Sparrowhawk is a tank busting aerodyne that provides heavy fire power in a air fight. (Removed/Replaced by Hornet)
  • Rhino: The Rhino is a heavy unit that has a greater defense but lower attack than the Scorpion.
  • Wolverine: The Wolverine provides anti aircraft fire to shoot down enemy aircraft, like Banshees.
  • Cobra rocket artillery: The Cobra provides rocket artillery that can bust tanks open but can deploy to provide heavier fire at longer ranges.
  • Cyclops "mech": The Cyclops is a re-appropriated support exoskeleton, usually used for construction and ammo carrying purposes that can crush enemies in close combat.
  • Vulture: The vulture is a large gunship, rivaling the Pelican in size that can deliver heavy amounts of fire against both infantry and tanks
  • Albatross: The Albatross is used to ferry supplies from the Spirit of Fire to ground side facilities.
  • UNSC Heavy Dropship: The new dropship, larger than both the Pelican and Albatross, delivers extremely large objects to ground positions, such as portions of firebases.
  • Spirit Of Fire: The Spirit of Fire provides both direct and indirect support by sending down troops and buildings, sending bombers or directly firing one of its MAC guns on the surface.

• Buildings
  • UNSC Firebase: Provides the basic base of the UNSC with optional 'add on' buildings that can increase its usefulness.
    • UNSC Reactor: The Reactor provides power for a UNSC base to run on.
    • UNSC Air Pad: This provides UNSC air units along with upgrades for them.
    • Missile silo (Unconfirmed)
    • Vehicle Depot: A Vehicle depot provides heavier vehicles for the UNSC to use.
    • Field Armory: A Combination of Machine Shop and Laboratory that provides high tech upgrades for the UNSC.
    • Drill Grounds (unconfirmed)
    • UNSC Barracks: The barracks can provide a number of infantry types for combat.
    • UNSC Supply Pad: Supply is used to get supplies from the Spirit of Fire via Albatross dropships.
    • Base Turret: The Base Turret appears to be a light autocannon that provides heavy anti-infantry defense and light anti-vehicle defense.

• Spirit of Fire
  • MAC Blast: Varying numbers of slugs can be used to cause varying levels of destruction, with each being individually aimed. .
  • Carpet Bomb: A Shortsword bomber is called in, bombing a region on the battlefield.

Covenant

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Concept art for the Elite.

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A Covenant Scarab destroys various UNSC vehicles

• Infantry
  • Lance: Lances consist of a Sangheili Minor or Major, leading groups of smaller Unggoy into combat, with as many as three or more.
    • Ranger: Rangers possess the ability to go anywhere on the map and destroy enemy infantry.
    • Stealth Sangheili: Armed with double swords and an Active Camo generator, they can tear apart UNSC infantry.
  • Mgalekgolo (Hunters): Hunters are heavily armored and armed with Fuel Rod Guns, like they are in Halo 1. They are excellent anti-tank infantry.
  • Kig-yar (Jackals): Jackals come in large lances of around ten or more and provide decent defense against marines armed with conventional weapons but little defense against grenades, explosives or vehicles. Can also be armed with beam rifles.
  • San 'Shyuum (Prophets): Prophets fight from their Gravity Thrones and can attack enemy infantry with their destructive plasma weapons.
  • Jiralhanae (Brutes): In battle the Brutes wield Brute Shots which are devastating against infantry and effective against light vehicles.
  • Unggoy armed with plasma pistols that can be upgraded to needlers. They have an elite sergeant in the group. Can be upgraded to a brute with a brute shot.(unconfirmed) They can have 1 member of the squad carry a fuel rod gun. Same as marines being able to have a rocket launcher.

• Weapons
  • Type-1 Energy Weapon/Sword
  • Type-25 Directed Energy Pistol
  • Type-25 Directed Energy Rifle
  • Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher
  • Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon
  • Type-25 Grenade Launcher
  • Type-50 Sniper Rifle System

• Vehicles
  • Type-26 Ground Support Aircraft: The Banshee can attack infantry, tanks and other air vehicles due to its mixture of plasma and fuel rod weapons.
  • Type-47 Ultra Heavy Assault Platform: The Scarab is a super-unit (although it does not appear to be limited to one unit only), that can destroy ground and air vehicles, along with infantry, with ease, and is extremely resilient to fire, but not MAC strikes.
  • Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle: The ghost is a light attack vehicle that excels against infantry but not other vehicles.
  • Type-25 Wraith: The wraith is the main battle tank of the Covenant and is armed with a plasma mortar and a plasma turret and can decimate enemy vehicles and infantry and can be upgraded with a shield. Its special ability is plasma burn.
    • Unknown Wraith . May not appear in the final game.
  • DX-class Dropship Spirit: The Spirit is the rival to the Pelican, capable of carrying both vehicles and infantry and giving them fire support.
  • Covenant Flyer: A Unnamed Covenant Flying vehicle, a potent vehicle against air vehicles
  • Unknown Covenant Glassing Ship: Used by the Covenant to glass the surface of a planet.
  • Type-25 Rapid Assault Vehicle: Powerful against ground infantry and light vehicles

• Buildings
  • Deployable Lookout Tower: Can be used to garrison units from either player (in co-op), increasing their combat capabilities.
  • Covenant Firebase: Provides the basic base of the Covenant with optional 'add on' buildings that can increase its usefulness.

File:Glassinglaz0r.jpg

Glassing in Halo Wars

• Ship Support
  • Glassing: This appears to be used as a Covenant superweapon. The glassing ship can fire this from orbit to destroy ground positions and units. Can be upgraded for an even more devastating effect.

Neutral

• Sentinels
• Anti-Vehicle Sentinels: Armed with an anti-vehicle EMP weapon.
• Sentinel Shop: Produces Sentinels for the player which controls it.
• Forerunner Supply Elevator: Produces limitless supplies for the player who controls it.

Alpha Test

A screenshot taken of an Alpha playtester in Sway.

An Alpha test was done for Halo Wars, concluding during May, 2008. The test was open only to several thousand Microsoft employees, including Bungie Studios, in order to locate any bugs or glitches, and to test its performance over Xbox Live. It consisted of a brief "tutorial" and multi-player, and was "limited to a specific set of units." It is unknown how long the Alpha test was conducted, or when it began. The Alpha testing is now complete, as stated in the May Monthly update.

During the Alpha test, anti-air units were glitching so that their effectiveness was lessened, and Scorpion tanks and aircraft were extremely powerful. Aircraft strength was lessened to prevent players from sending in air-strikes against the enemy Command Center and crippling them too easily, ruining many a protocol player's chances of victory. This actually isn't an element of the game, but in fact a "balance issue".

Ambient Life

Although only in the conceptual stages at this point, ambient lifeforms may and will be encountered in the gameplay. They may be found on the battlefield, and might react to the actions of the player's forces (such as firing a weapon, flying around or near them, etc.). Examples include the Space Owl, the Harvest Whale, the Arctic Beast, Ice Hound and some sort of eel-snake creature that has yet to be named. The Ambient life forms will be on the Multi-player Maps and they will be interactive. However, in a recent interview, some thorn beasts were observed.

Multi-player

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A possible multi player map showing Covenant as playable characters.

Such as Halo 2 & 3, Halo Wars will have the strong characteristic of online gaming. Halo Wars' live gaming characteristics include Direct voice communication & Online leader boards. There's no specific information regarding to the player ranking. As of now, multi-player is said to be up to 6 players at a time in a match. Two player online Co-op for the campaign story will also be in the game. It has also been stated that online games would be rather quick, estimated at around 20 minutes per game.

At G4, Dave Pottinger worker referred to multi-player as "skirmish".

Multi-player Maps

• Sway

• Each multi-player map apparently takes place on a different "world", each with its own musical theme and playlist.

While the Halo Rings may not be in the story, they may be included in future maps for multi-player.

E3 2008 Trailer

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A screenshot from the trailer.

Main article: Five Long Years Cinematic

Five Long Years is a Halo Wars cinematic preview released on the July 14th of 2008 depicting the five year long struggle to reclaim Harvest from the Covenant. The trailer can be downloaded from the Halo Wars official website or here. 300px

Cut Content

Two units, the UNSC Cougar and the Covenant Air Artillery, were under development early in the game, but were later cut, as the developers decided to focus on more recognizable Halo units.

Trivia

• It has been confirmed that Master Chief from the original Halo trilogy will not return
• On April 1st, 2008, an "interview" with Graeme Devine revealed that the Forerunner as a race would be playable, including a "Rampancy" in the AI and the ability to build a Halo and fire it if the player decided to give up. Although some people took it for truth, it was easily shown to be an April Fools joke due to the article's source which linked to the Wikipedia article for the first of April and Ensemble's own remarks about the articles.
• According to the E3 demo video, soldiers can shoot the Grunt's methane tanks and the Grunt will explode. This does not work in any of other the Halo games.
• It is possible to run over enemies with the Warthog, and it's likely the Scarab can step on other vehicles.
• While there will be an economy mechanic, including one resource, for the game, it may play less of a role in the Campaign missions.
• There will be a unit limit.
• It has been confirmed that the Covenant will be a playable faction in skirmish and multi-player.
• Halo: Combat Evolved was itself originally a real-time strategy game.
• The Doritos snack food held a sweepstakes where the winner got a voice role in the game.
• Each individual soldier will have his own separate reaction to background stimulation in what is an attempt by Ensemble to add a "human element" to the game.
• In truth, Halo Wars didn't start as a Halo game at all. Six months were spent developing a control scheme for a viable RTS for the Xbox 360, which was later pitched to Microsoft, asking to use the Halo IP, to which Microsoft agreed.
• It appears that "parking lots" of UNSC vehicles were set to be featured. This looks set to be dropped from the final version.
• Orders can be given for troops to take cover and/or take shelter in buildings.
• It is likely that Easter Eggs will feature in a manner similar to the previous three Halo games.
• During the introductory level in the E3 demonstration video, UNSC Marines can be seen doing push-ups behind the barracks, being drilled by a Drill Instructor.
• The Halo Wars Alpha has begun testing on Xbox LIVE among internal testers on the map Sway.
• The Bungie staff played in the Alpha Testing.
• The D77-TC Pelican is the model used in Halo Wars, not the D77H-TCI which is only introduced during Halo 3
• At this point in time, there are over 5,000 sound files for sound and voice in the game. Three more voice-over sessions set to be held over the summer will raise this number significantly.
• The armor worn by the SPARTAN Group Omega closely resembles that of the early design model for Halo, while it was still new, in production and an RTS.
• A cinematic called Five Long Years was released on 7/14/2008 and contains the first depiction of the Halo Wars Campaign.
• According to Halowars.com, Halo Wars will be released sometime during Spring 2009.
• As seen in G4's hands-on coverage of Halo Wars on July 14th, Spartans can hijack enemy vehicles and Shortswords are used to deliver the UNSC carpet bombing ability.
• Many new UNSC units were seen on G4's hands-on coverage of Halo Wars on July 14th.
• In the E3 08: Five Long Years video the Pelicans seen airlifting marines have the Legendary symbol on their noses.
• E3 '08 Halo Wars gameplay has proven the existence of Prophets and Honor Guard Elites in Halo Wars.
• An image of E3 gameplay has also proven that Brutes will be in Halo Wars. [2]
• There is also a possibility that the brutes, from the screenshot given above, will have Halo 3 Power Armor in Halo Wars. This could be an upgrade capability for Brute soldiers however this is not confirmed.
• Spartans will be able to hijack vehicles such as wraiths.
• The Elites seen in the Halo Wars teaser have shoulder pads similiar to those of the armor in Halo 3 despite the fact that Halo Wars is 20 years before Combat Evolved (in which the elites wore pads similar to those of Assault class which is more compact)
• The unknown variation of Wraith seen in certain Halo Wars screenshots may in fact be the downgraded Wraiths that were encountered in Halo: Combat Evolved.
• It is not confirmed if the Flood will make any return at all.

Gallery

• HarvestT-1-.jpg

  A scene from Halo Wars.

• GruntEncounterT-1-.jpg

  Grunts encountered in the game.

• HaloWarsCanyon.jpg

  Covenant and UNSC forces in-game.

• Emag halowarsqa 4 d96d0-1-.jpg

  Trouble coming down the hill. Notice the Scarab on the ridge.

• HaloWarsTanks.jpg

  Scorpions and Warthogs vs Wraiths and Ghosts.

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  A titanic clash between dozens of ground and air units (the battle seems to be taking place on a Halo installation).

• Concept08 11 1280.jpg

  Concept Art for Forerunner structures.

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  More concept art of Forerunner structures.

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  More concept art of Forerunner structures.

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  An Elite holding a dead marine.

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  Elites up close.

• Spartan.JPG

  MJOLNIR Mark IV armor.

• HWscreen.jpeg

  Multiplayer Screenshot, revealing that Scarabs will be usable in multiplayer.

• Concept08 1 1024.jpg

  Concept art of UNSC civilians on an unknown colony world.

• Gameprohalowars.jpg

  Gamepro's Image for Halo Wars, note the terrain.

• Hwfuelrod.jpg

  Elite firing a Fuel Rod Gun.

• Hwunscfight.jpg
• Hwgruntattack.jpg
• Hwscarab.jpg

  Scarab Firing.

• 2zdua7o.jpg

  A battle between UNSC and Covenant forces, for a Forerunner structure.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• HW8.png
• 1213852807 192808-5-2.jpg

  A large Covenant Army can be seen, composed of many species and vehicles.

• Burningcritters.jpg

  A group of Flamethrower-equipped Marines leaving an Elephant.

• Grizzler.jpg

  A destroyed Grizzly.

• Rhinox.jpg

  A Rhino in multi-player.

• Spiritwhore.jpg

  A Covenant Spirit flying away from battle.

• Wolveriney.jpg

  A trio of defending Wolverines.

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  A battle against a Scarab.

• CovenantArmyHW.jpg

  A large Covenant force.

• 

  A Covenant Banshee.

• UNSC CovieBattle.jpg

  A small battle between the UNSC and Covenant forces.

• Screenshot 6 preview.jpg

  Concept art of a battle to claim a Forerunner structure.

• HWAjax1.jpg

  A UNSC Base.

• HWAjax2.jpg

  The Spirit of Fire support menu.

• HWAjax3.jpg

  directing a Carpet Bomb.

• HWAjax4.jpg

  The effects of carpet bombing.

• HWAjax5.jpg

  Preparing a MAC Blast.

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  The new dropship.

• HWAjax7.jpg

  A defensive turret.

• HMGTEAM.jpg

  A marine machine gun team.

• Brutes.jpg

  Brutes in Halo Wars.

Links

Internal

• Circle Menu
• Halo: Contact Harvest
• Halo Wars Announcement Trailer
• Halogen

External

• Official website
• Halo Wars announcement
• Halo Wars Fansite
• Halo Wars E3 Trailer
• Extended Halo Wars E3 montage
• Heavengames.com
• Halo Wars Profile Page