Halo Wars - The Game That is About to Take the World by Storm
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past five years, you know all about the Halo franchise of games. Halo 1 propelled the original Xbox onto the scene as a major competitor to PlayStation 2 and put a whole new spin on first person shooters. Halo 2 builds upon the foundation of Halo 1, expanding gameplay, improving graphics, and continuing the story of Master Chief and the battle for civilization. Halo 3 was the flagship game for Xbox 360, grossing nearly $200 million in sales on the first day it was released and has now sold over 8 million copies.
And now comes Halo wars. The latest game from Bungee and Ensemble Studios is expected to hit the shelves in late 2008 or early 2009 with much anticipation.
Why Halo Wars, and not Halo 4? Well Halo Wars is a patently different game than its predecessors. While the first three Halo games were first-person shooters, having you take on the role of Master chief, Halo Wars is a game of real-time strategy. Think traditional first-person shooter meets World of Warcraft. Needless to say, the overall gaming experience is going to be a lot different with Halo Wars. You'll be able to control and command armies, send them to do battle, or protect your bases.
Will all the die hard Halo fans be receptive to this new type of game? I think it is safe to say most of them will at least give it a shot, as all the familiar characters and vehicles will be featured in Halo Wars, such as scorpion tanks, UNSC Marines, and the Warthog. Expect some new, unfamiliar character as well.
The developers of Halo wars are trying to garner a new set of gaming fans, those who may be hardcore into real-time strategy games like Starcraft or World of Warcraft. It may be difficult to win over these fans, as there are already a couple of well established real-time strategy franchises that have a very devoted fan base. Nonetheless, with the popularity of previous Halo games, many of these fans are likely to be intrigued by halo wars. The designers know this and are going out of their way to make a Halo Wars the most talked about strategy game of the year.
While we all wait in anticipation of the game's release, there is not much we can do other than speculate about the ins-and-outs of Halo Wars. The good news is, Ensemble Studios has released a Halo Wars gameplay video to give you an idea of the games action. It's not much, but it will holdover the hard-core fans until we can play the game ourselves.
Chris is video game-a-holic and avid Halo fan. For reading his article, he would like to offer you a free copy of Halo Wars at http://www.myincentiverewards.com/?p=11
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