Halo Wars
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
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Robot Entertainment (Post-launch support) |
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Campaign Mode, Multiplayer, Co-op Campaign Mode, Skirmish |
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ESRB: Teen (T) for Mild Blood, Mild Language, and Violence |
- "The Halo RTS has arrived."
- — Halo Waypoint[3]
Halo Wars is the first real-time strategy game in the Halo franchise. The game takes place in the year 2531, 21 years prior to Halo: Combat Evolved, during the Covenant assault on the Outer Colonies in the Human-Covenant War. The game was developed by Ensemble Studios, and is an Xbox 360 exclusive. Notably, Halo Wars was the first game in the series to receive a "'T' for Teen" rating from the ESRB, downgraded from the "'M' for Mature" rating given to previous installments; however, PEGI rated the game 16+ as with prior Halo games. Downloadable content and support were handled by Robot Entertainment, a studio founded by ex-Ensemble Studios employees after the latter studio's closing.
The release of Halo Wars fulfilled the original concept that Halo: Combat Evolved was supposed to be a real-time strategy game before being turned into a third-person shooter, and then a first-person-shooter. A sequel, Halo Wars 2, was released on February 21, 2017.[4][5] Players who pre-ordered Halo Wars 2 Ultimate Edition received early access to Halo Wars: Definitive Edition, a remastered version of the game, on December 20, 2016.[6]
Plot synopsis[edit]
- "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.
During the final days of the Harvest campaign, Sergeant John Forge, a Marine assigned to the support ship UNSC Spirit of Fire under the command of Captain James Cutter, is patrolling the northern regions of the planet Harvest. While Forge is on patrol, Alpha Base is attacked and destroyed by the Covenant, with the survivors fleeing to the countryside. After rounding up these survivors, Forge leads them in an assault that removes the Covenant presence and reestablishes Alpha Base, returning it to operational status.[7] Forge then leads an assault on a nearby Forerunner relic site itself, removing the Covenant occupants and preventing the enemy from destroying it to deny human access and securing the site for Professor Ellen Anders' examination. Shortly after, a Covenant counterattack cuts them off from Alpha Base.[8] Grizzly tanks deployed from Spirit of Fire cut through the Covenant, linking up with Forge and his Marines, and escorting them back out through the relic while forces from Alpha Base holds off the Covenant. Information gathered from the Harvest relic shows that the Covenant have been pointed to a second UNSC colony, Arcadia.[9]
Upon following the Covenant to Arcadia, Spirit of Fire's crew find that most of the orbital defense ships have been either destroyed or damaged in battle with the Covenant. Sergeant Forge and his forces are deployed on the ground in order to assist the Spartans of Red Team in the effort to evacuate civilians from Pirth City.[10] Afterward, the UNSC forces withdraw to a defensible area on the city outskirts, holding off Covenant attacks long enough for Spartan Team Omega to arrive and assist in the destruction of local Covenant forces.[11] At the same time, the Covenant have erected a large energy shield generator around a site of importance, with undiscovered ruins surrounding the area, forcing the UNSC to deploy prototype Rhino plasma artillery to penetrate it.[12] Moving in to examine what was of such interest to the Covenant, they come under attack from a R'awuw-pattern Scarab, only partially complete thou