Halo Wars

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Halo Wars is a strategy game based in the Halo universe.

Background

In Halo Wars, players will command armies of familiar and new UNSC units in its initial encounters against the Covenant, an alien coalition threatening to obliterate mankind. "Halo Wars" will immerse gamers in an early period of the storied "Halo" universe, allowing them to experience events leading up to the first "Halo" title for Xbox.

With the guidance of Serina, a spirited artificial intelligence (AI) persona, gamers will direct legions of UNSC soldiers, Warthogs and Scorpions against Covenant Grunts, Elites, Ghosts and Scarabs, each group having its own strengths and uses in battle. Strategic-minded players who react well under pressure will emerge victorious.

Created from the ground up for the Xbox 360 console and Controller, "Halo Wars" is being developed by the veteran real-time strategy developer Ensemble Studios, the team responsible for the best-selling and critically acclaimed "Age of Empires" franchise on the PC. "Halo Wars" can be played online via Xbox LIVE and through the single-player campaign. Published by Microsoft Game Studios, "Halo Wars" is an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 video game system.

Plot

The game's story is told through pre-rendered cutscenes and in-game moments. The game is set in 2531. 2 The game 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, the first planet to be attacked by the Covenant.

It has been confirmed that the Master Chief will not be in the game, although some characters from the FPS games will make appearances.

Multiplayer

Players will be able to play together with and against each other but they won't be able to make their own content.

Possible Elements

The following are elements that may appear within the game. These have been shown in concept art and pre-rendered trailers for Halo Wars.

UNSC

• Infantry
  • Spartan Group Omega
  • UNSC Marines
  • Possibly a crewman as seen the concept art.
• Weapons
  • Assault Rifle: wielded by Spartan Group Omega and UNSC ground forces.
  • Shotgun: Concept Art.
  • M6C Magnum: wielded by Spartan Group Omega.
  • SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle: Concept Art.
  • BR55HB SR Battle Rifle: Seen with some ground forces
• Vehicles
  • Warthog
  • Troop Transport Warthog
  • Scorpion Tank
  • Pelican
  • Shortsword
  • Sparrowhawk
  • Unidentified UNSC dropship (possibly an Albatross)
  • Rhino (Different type of tank, weaker then the Scorpion according to the E307 demo)
  • Cougar (Armored Fighting Vehicle)
  • Wolverine (Missile Launching Half-Track seen in Gamespot update.)
• Buildings
  • UNSC Supply Pad
  • Missile Silo
  • Command Center
  • Vehicle Depot
  • Armoury
  • Aircraft Pad
  • Drill grounds

• Other
  • MAC Cannon Bombardment : Can be used akin to an airstrike. Several MAC rounds batter an area, destroying both friend and foe within it.3

Covenant

File:Halowars elites.jpg

The Elites as depicted in Halo Wars.

File:Ilmhalowarstheme1SystemBlade.jpg

Concept art for the Elite.

• Infantry
  • Covenant Elite
  • Covenant Hunter
  • Covenant Grunt
  • Covenant jackal
• Weapons
  • Fuel Rod Gun as seen wielded by an Elite in the E307 demo.
  • Energy Sword as seen wielded by an Elite in the trailer and Concept Art.
  • Needler seen wielded by Grunts.
  • Plasma Pistol as seen wielded by Grunts.
  • Plasma Rifle as seen wielded by an Elite in the trailer.
• Vehicles
  • Banshee
  • Scarab
  • Ghost
  • Shadow
  • Wraith
  • Covenant Air Artillery

Achievements

• Extended Halo Wars E3 montage:

http://forums.halowars.com/forums/thread/91352.aspx

• Circle Menu

Images

File:HarvestT-1-.jpg

A scene from Halo Wars

File:GruntEncounterT-1-.jpg

Grunts encountered in the game

Trivia

• Halo Wars may possibly have been first hinted at in the art book that came with the collector's edition of Age of Empires 3. The last page of the art book showed images from five different Age of Empires games, including the three titles that had already been released. Two images represented unreleased games, including a hypothetical Age of Empires 4 (depicting a World War 2 or Vietnam War-era soldier) and Age of Empires 5, depicting a distinctly science-fiction character design. This may have been intended to represent Master Chief from the Halo universe.
• Halo Wars takes place before Halo: Combat Evolved, and so weapons available afterwards in the timeline (such as the Battle Rifle) are (theoretically) unavailable. (Although many aspects of Halo 2 may have existed before Halo: CE due to the lack of contact to UNSC forces.)
• The Doritos snack food is holding a sweepstakes where the winner can get a voice role in the game
• It has been said that the UNSC's super weapon is a MAC strike from orbit. However, this is somewhat strange as, in theory, a MAC strike from orbit could create an explosion with the strength of a nuclear bomb or greater as the supersonic speed of the round, combined with gravity and its mass, would create massive forces on impact. A telegraph-pole-sized tungsten bar using only gravity and deployed from orbit has the same strength as a nuclear bomb. In fact, if a Magnetic Accelerator Cannon shot a 600-ton ferric-tungsten projectile with a depleted uranium core at 30km/s at a planet, it could, in fact, penetrate the crust.
• Another note about the MAC bombardment is that a UNSC ship can only fire one shot at a time, even so, it will take time (at least a minute) to build up the energy required. The demo displayed the bombardment of six MAC rounds fired within seconds of each other.
• From a demo video on Xbox Live Marketplace, you can shoot the Grunt's methane tanks and the Grunt will explode.

Links

Internal

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

External

• Official website
• Halo Wars announcement
• Trailer at youtube.com
• Halo Wars Fansite
• Official E3 07 gameplay trailer on youtube.com