Halo Wars
From Halopedia, the Halo wiki
Template:Ratings {{New (Possibly)
- Type-25 Grenade Launcher (Brute Shot)
- Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher (Needler)
- [[Type-33 Light 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. Comes with a "plasma burn" special ability.
- Type-52 Wraith: May not appear in the final game.
- Honor Guard Wraith: Exclusive to the special edition.
- Unknown Wraith: May just be an early design.
- DX-class Dropship Spirit: The Spirit is the rival to the UNSC Pelican, capable of carrying vehicles and infantry in addition to giving them fire support.
- Vampire: A Covenant flying vehicle; a potent craft fitted to fight against hostile air vehicles.
- Covenant Carrier[1]: Used by the Covenant to support ground operations, glass the surface of a planet, and deliver supplies planet-side with a gravity lift. Parallels the UNSC Spirit of Fire in in-game function.
- Locust: A smaller counterpart to the Covenant Scarab which is described as a "building-killer".
- Buildings
- Citadel: Provides the basic base of the Covenant with optional 'add on' buildings that can increase its usefulness.
- Shield Generator: Provides shield protection for the whole Citadel. The generators however use a substantial amount of energy.
- Warehouse: The warehouse is how the Covenant receive supplies. Gravity lifts bring supplies down and workers move them to their proper area. The warehouse can be upgraded to receive supplies more often.
- Heavy Plasma Turret: The main defenses of a Covenant base, the Turret first starts with Plasma Turrets, but can be upgraded with a Plasma Mortar, Fuel Rod Cannon, or a Heavy Needler.
- Temple: A Covenant research building, the upgrades are very expensive but are very effective and powerful. The name is a probable reference to Ensembles previous game installment: Age of Mythology, where a Temple can be built to train Myth Units.
- Summit: The roost of the Covenant air force, the Summit builds Banshees, Vampires and Engineers.
- Hall: The home of Covenant soldiers, Grunt lances, Jackals and Hunters are built here. The building also researches minor upgrades for Covenant infantry.
- Factory: The manufacturing plant of the Covenant, the Factory builds Ghost scouts, Wraith tanks and Locust walkers.
- Anti-Vehicle Barrier: Same device used to block tunnels on the level Tsavo Highway in Halo 3, most likely used for defence. [2]
- Citadel: Provides the basic base of the Covenant with optional 'add on' buildings that can increase its usefulness.
- Type-26 ASG (Shade): The Halo: Combat Evolved variant of the Shade will be featured as a defensive Structure.[3]
- Deployable Lookout Tower: Can be used to garrison units from both players (in co-op), increasing their combat capabilities.
- 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. This is named the "cleansing beam" in the most recent demo.
Neutral
Forerunner
- Sentinels[4]
- Sentinel Shop: Produces Sentinels for the player who controls it.
- Forerunner Supply Elevator: Produces limitless supplies for the player who controls it.
The Flood
- "There is quite a bit of concern regarding how we’re going to fit the Flood into our game and keep it in canon which surprised me, but I promised them all that the Halo 1 canon is intact and that they would have to wait and see how we integrate the Flood."
- — Graeme Devine[5]
The Flood have been announced to be a faction within the game, though the player is unable to use them. The Flood gain bases and units by taking over Human and Covenant bases and troops, and most likely growing flood biomass around it to signify that it is under Flood control. Nothing else is known at this time.[verification needed]
What has been shown in one of the more recent Halo Wars demos was that Flood Infection Forms, Combat Forms, Carrier Forms and what look remotely like Gravemind tentacles will be the Flood's main attack force. Whether any Flood Juggernauts, pure forms, or new forms of the Flood will appear is as yet unknown.
- Forms
- Infection Form Has the ability to crawl over walls, increasing its potent abilities, and is able to reach ground no other forces can reach. It is likely that when a group reaches an enemy unit, it will bite them, and then infect them (if a Human or an Elite) turning them into Combat Forms and using their weapons.
- Combat form The standard fighting force of the Flood. So far only Human and Sangheili forms have been seen.
- Carrier Form Most likely a suicidal unit, explodes and delivers its payload of Infection Forms directly into enemy lines.
Technology Advancement
The tech tree will be a different experience for both factions. When playing as the UNSC, the player advances by building reactors, upgrading buildings, and purchasing upgrades in a fairly standard, though streamlined, manner. The Covenant moves through the tech-tree in Ages rather than small steps.[verification needed].
Leader Abilities
Certain characters belonging to both the Covenant and the UNSC have been confirmed to in-game be "leader units", all of which have unique in-game abilities. Currently known leaders are Captain James Cutter, Sergeant John Forge, Professor Anders, an unknown Arbiter, an unknown Brute Chieftain and the Prophet of Regret. Captain Cutter's unique ability is to call down an Elephant from the Spirit of Fire, which is a mobile barracks in the game. It is believed that the Prophet of Regret's ability is to glass enemy forces (known as the "cleansing beam" in Halo Wars), which causes significant damage to both structures and units.
The Spartans are not in this list because it is believed that they are not hero units, but are commando units, a type of infantry that can perform feats that a common soldier, such as a marine, cannot. However, they can be killed rather easily and more than one can be trained at one time.
In the case of the Covenant, only one leader is allowed on the battlefield at a time. This is offset by the Covenant leaders' ability to empower surrounding friendlies.[6]
Alpha Test
An Alpha test was done for Halo Wars[7], 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. [8]
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.[9] 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 life forms 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.).[10] 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 Beast were observed. The Thorn Beasts seen in the game, merely run away from units, not battles; if there is a bombing next to it, it will not flinch. However, since the game is still in development, this lack of a reaction may be changed in the near future for a more realistic gaming experience.
Multi-player
Just like Halo 2 & Halo 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.[11][12] It has also been stated that online games will be rather quick, estimated at around 20 minutes per game.
Multiplayer Maps
- Beasley Plateau - a multiplayer map recently unveiled, set on a dense jungle plateau.[14]
- Blood Gulch - A remake of the Halo: CE map, Blood Gulch.[16]
- Each multiplayer map apparently takes place on a different "world", each with its own musical theme and playlist.[17]
- The Halo Rings won't be in the story, but may be included in future maps for multiplayer.[18]
Trailers
E3 2008 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.
Field Trip To Harvest
Field Trip To Harvest is a cinematic preview that was released to the public on October 3rd, 2008 showing the UNSC's retaking of the planet Harvest and the Covenant's finding of a Forerunner structure. Also, in the conversation between a Zealot and the Arbiter, there is mention of "the Infection". This could be an introduction to the Flood in Halo Wars, or just a name for the Humans on Harvest.
Achievements
There have been confirmed to be 50 achievements available in Halo Wars, adding up to a total of 1000 Gamerscore.
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Cut Content
Two units, the UNSC Cougar and Covenant Air Artillery, were under development early in the game. The developers later announced that they had been cut, as they had decided to focus on more recognizable Halo units. However, recent screenshots would seem to suggest that the Cougar may have been added back in. It may be possible that the Cougar may return as DLC.
Early Plot
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.[19]
Downloadable Content
Although not much is known about the content, it has been confirmed that Ensemble Studios have already finished DLC for Halo Wars, yet a release date is not known.[20]
Trivia
- This will be the first game to officially feature the Huragok (Engineer) race, without the use of mods, like Halo: Custom Edition.
- On April 1st, 2008, an "interview" with Graeme Devine[21] revealed Forerunner would be a playable faction, 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, much like in Halo 3.
- The Doritos snack food held a sweepstakes where the winner got a voice role in the game.[22]
- Each individual soldier will have his own separate reaction to background stimulation in an attempt by Ensemble to add a "human element" to the game.[23]
- 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.[24]
- It appears that "parking lots" of UNSC vehicles were set to be featured. This looks set to be dropped from the final version.[25]
- Orders can be given for troops to take cover and/or take shelter in buildings.[26]
- It is likely that Easter Eggs will be featured in a manner similar to the previous three Halo games.[27]
- 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.
- If you look closely at the helmets on the box art, they seem to resemble Mark V helmets, rather than older renders of the Mark IV helmet. This is an in-game redesign of the armor system to be more reminiscent of the Mark V armor, rather than the Mark VI.
- 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.[28]
- A cinematic called Five Long Years was released on 7/14/2008 and contains the first depiction of the Halo Wars Campaign.
- Many new UNSC units were seen on G4's hands-on coverage of Halo Wars on July 14th.[29]
- 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 Honor Guard Elites in Halo Wars.[30]
- An image of E3 gameplay has proven that Brutes will be playable units in Halo Wars. [1]
- An article released by ShackNews states that Halo Wars is Ensemble's last game, and that they are laying off any personnel not essential to the game's completion.[31]
- According to Ghosts of Onyx the Hunter race was first seen by humans in 2537 during Operation: PROMETHEUS, but Halo Wars takes place in 2531, about 6 years earlier.
- There are skulls in the campaign like in Halo 2 and Halo 3, which add a little replay value.[32]
- As of mid-2008 it appears that Ensemble has chosen to represent each faction by a single matte color (manure green for the UNSC, vibrant purple for the Covenant) instead of allowing each unit to be rendered in a unique manner; something that was shown in the original E3 2007 Demo. The reason for this downgrade in quality remains unknown, but many theorize it is due to the departure of veteran designers Graeme Divine and Ryan Sohmer from the development staff. [33]
- Halo Wars currently has 50 Xbox 360 achievements, worth a total of 1000 Gamerpoints.
Gallery
- Halo Wars - Collectors Edition (Box Art).png
The cover for the limited edition of Halo Wars.
- HarvestT-1-.jpg
An early cutscene 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.
- HaloWarsGameplay2.jpg
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.
- Concept08 10 1280.jpg
More concept art of Forerunner structures.
- 1207654255 Concept08 12 1280.jpg
More concept art of Forerunner structures.
An Elite holding a dead Marine.
- 1209877878 1154 0002.jpg
Elites up close.
- Spartan.JPG
MJOLNIR Mark IV armour.
- HWscreen.jpeg
Multiplayer Screenshot, revealing that Scarabs will be usable in multi-player.
- 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.
- Hwscarab.jpg
A Scarab Firing its main weapon.
- 2zdua7o.jpg
A battle between UNSC and Covenant forces, for a Forerunner structure.
- 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.
A battle against a Scarab.
- CovenantArmyHW.jpg
A large Covenant force.
- 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.
- 196539.jpg
Kig-Yar, as they appear in Halo Wars.
- Unknown covenant weapon.PNG
An unknown Covenant staff like weapon seen on the Limited edition cover of Halo Wars similiar to the Honor Guard Pike. (in the back ground)
Links
Internal
External
- Official website
- Halo Wars announcement
- Halo Wars Fansite
- Halo Wars E3 Trailer
- Extended Halo Wars E3 montage
- Heavengames.com
- Halo Wars Profile Page
- "Halo Wars" GC 2008: Halo Wars Hands-on
References
- ^ http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/901/901496p1.html
- ^ http://xbox360.gamespy.com/dor/objects/857436/halo-wars/images/halo-wars-20081009024128843.html
- ^ http://www.mondoxbox.com/immagini.php?game=1128&view=1&start=9#topnav
- ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedForum - ^ http://halowars.com/news/articles/archive/2008/10/14/Hello-from-TGS.aspx
- ^ 2008-17-11, Halo Wars Hands-on Preview. Videogamer. Accessed on 2008-19-11
- ^ http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/04/18/halo-wars-alpha-spotted-on-xbox-live/
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwywugjy3BY&feature=related
- ^ http://www.halowars.com/news/articles/archive/2008/04/28/Halo-Wars-Monthly-Update-4.28.08.aspx
- ^ Halo Wars Update; 2008-02-07, Ambient Life.
- ^ http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/04/18/halo-wars-alpha-spotted-on-xbox-live/
- ^ http://carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/halo.forum.pl?read=874562
- ^ http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/04/18/halo-wars-alpha-spotted-on-xbox-live/
- ^ http://www.gametrailers.com/player/40807.html
- ^ http://www.gametrailers.com/player/40805.html
- ^ Official Xbox Magazine
- ^ http://www.halowars.com/news/articles/archive/2008/04/28/Halo-Wars-Monthly-Update-4.28.08.aspx
- ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedImagine - ^ Halo Wars Update: On an Asteroid Far, far away...
- ^ Official Xbox Magazine January 2009 Edition
- ^ http://halowars.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=st&fn=11&tn=75
- ^ Official Xbox Magazine, Issue 74, page 32
- ^ Xbox World 360 Issue 63 p7
- ^ Xbox 360: Australia's 100% Game Magazine Issue 28 p28/29
- ^ Xbox World 360 Issue 63 p8
- ^ Xbox World 360 Issue 63 p7
- ^ Interview-Graeme Divine.
- ^ Interview with Sonic Duo Part 1. Halo Wars RTS. Accessed on 2008-05-09
- ^ http://e3.g4tv.com/e32008/videos/26921/Hands_On_Halo_Wars.html
- ^ http://e3.g4tv.com/e32008/videos/26921/Hands_On_Halo_Wars.html
- ^ http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/54648
- ^ Official Xbox Magazine January 2009 Edition
- ^ http://www.halowars.com/forums/permalink/379085/379087/ShowThread.aspx#379087
