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Halo Wars is the latest game in the Halo series and the first to stray from the usual third-person shooter genre. It takes place in and early period in the Halo universe, many years before the events of the original trilogy. You will control your army through 15 levels as you encounter new foes and great new areas. It does a great job of making you feel like you are the most powerful military force alive, but sets itself back by really showing how basic of a game it is.

You command Sergeant Forge of Spirit of Fire warship as you build armies and take on the invading enemy. The game starts with you simply battling against the incoming Covenant but quickly switches to a race to save one of your own. This brings you to new worlds where you will encounter the Flood species as they try and remove you from their home planet.

Instead of the standard game play we have come to expect from the original Halo trilogy, Halo Wars is a game in the Real Time Strategy, or RTS, genre. An RTS game requires several sorts of management type aspects in order to proceed through. This can mean that you will have to set units to fight, while commanding units to search for resources or supplies. What causes an RTS to become so engaging is the constant and quick multitasking you will have to perform in order to complete your mission. This aspect creates a world where you truly feel like you are the master of everything.

Halo Wars does a great job of introducing new gamers to the genre who may not have much experience with an RTS. The tutorial is set up in a way that you are learning the most basic forms of game play. This will include things about commanding units, building objects and even how to move the camera appropriately. The inclusion of such a basic tutorial was a great idea considering this is the first time the Halo series has ventured to this genre and how it's a big name release on a non-RTS heavy platform. Most people picking up this game due to their love of the past Halo games will be able to find their way around quite easily, whether they've touched an RTS or not.

This main concept of an RTS is where Halo Wars has its biggest drawback. Since most RTS's are designed for a PC, there are a lot more commands you can input using the keyboard. Having the game made for the Xbox 360 causes it to feel like all these commands had to be either removed or squished so they would accommodate for the new controller.

The biggest example of this is the way the game has you move

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