Halo Wars

How Halo Wars is taking care of the Halo fanboy
11/17/2008 10:38 PM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 3

Vehicles aren't exempt from this design philosophy. Stock Warthogs come off the assembly line as wimpy, weaponless scout cars -- great for clearing out the fog of war or picking up supply crates for extra cash, but not much else -- but eventually get machine-gun turrets, grenade-chucking passengers and high-impact gauss cannons. Hornets can pick up extra firepower or gun-toting wing-side passengers as well, via upgrades. But the most fabulous power-ups have got to be the accessories (like rockets) that the Prophet of Regret leader of the Covenant can add to his handi-capable floating chair.

Been there, done that, doing it again

If it's been done in the Halo trilogy, chances are, it'll be done in Halo Wars. Everyone's seen Master Chief play Grand Theft Auto on Covenant vehicles; his Spartan cohorts can do the same here. "The Spartans jack vehicles," says Pottinger. "They're the coolest unit in the game. The single coolest thing to me is watching a Spartan jump up from behind a Wraith, backflip, jump on top of it, beat the crap out of it, toss out the driver, and now [the UNSC side] has this super unit on the battlefield."

Skulls, those game-altering Easter Eggs seen in Halo 3, are hidden throughout Halo Wars, except they have to be unlocked first by completing various tasks within the campaign chapters, such as "kill 20 Jackals" or "kill 45 Hunters." Once a player reaches that side objective, a brief blip appears on the mini-map, alerting him to the location of a new skull that has appeared. Once found and activated, skulls can change the game in important and very unimportant ways. The Sugar Cookie skull, for example, adds 50 percent health to all units. The Grunt Birthday Party skull, on the other hand, won't be affecting anyone's strategy playbook; it causes Grunts to explode into a cloud of confetti upon dying. (Halo Wars has another set of collectibles -- "black boxes" -- that give players extra backstory bits when found.)

Unfortunately, the Flood is not a playable race in Halo Wars, no matter how badly fans want it to be. According to Devine, balancing the Flood with the UNSC and Covenant sides would have diminished their galaxy-destroying power. But according to Pottinger, they will still make an appearance in the game. "They do show up in skirmish and in the campaign," he says. "It will be the first time humanity has encountered the Flood." (Remember, Halo Wars takes place 20 years before Halo: Combat Evolved.)

Other Halo story elements do show up in various forms -- even if they come from outside of the digital world. "[Bungie writer and 'Halo: Contact Harvest' author Joseph Staten] sent me versions of his book, and I sent him versions of our script," says Devine, "There are little nods to Halo Wars in 'Contact Harvest,' and there are little nods to 'Contact Harvest' in Halo Wars. There was never really an approval process ... there was just a collaboration process." Pottinger adds: "One of the main characters in 'Contact Harvest' was the Deacon Grunt character, and so we have an upgrade in our game called 'Deacon' for the Grunts. It inspires them religiously to kill you better."