Microsoft
Game Studios and Ensemble Studios announced today that the first ever
Halo
real time strategy game,
Halo Wars
will be
coming to retailers this coming February, available in either a
regular or Limited Collector's Edition.
Halo
Wars
will
take you from controlling a single soldier to commanding an entire
battlefield. It is also supposed to combine the intense action of the
Halo
franchise
with a new story that precedes the original
Halo
.
If
you recognize the name Ensemble Studios, you've probably played games
from the
Age of
Empires
franchise.
Ensemble's team has worked painstakingly to design
Halo
Wars
specifically for gameplay and control on Xbox 360 in an attempt to
bring the fluid strategy experience real time strategies have offered
on PCs for years to console, though Ubisoft's
Tom
Clancy's Endwar
will likely beat them to the punch on that front.

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Aside
from the regular edition of
Halo
Wars
,
a Limited Collector's Edition will be offered through participating
retailers and will features three new
Halo
3
multiplayer
maps (the Mythic Map Pack, which includes Assembly, Orbital and
Sandbox), the
Halo
Wars: Genesis
graphic
novel by Phil Noto, Graeme Devine and Eric Nylund, a unique in-game
vehicle called the “Honour Guard” Wraith, six Leader Cards and a
Spirit of Fire patch, which lets you start the game as an official
Spirit of Fire crew member. The regular edition of
Halo
Wars
will
be available for $59.99 USD/CAD, while the Limited Collector's
Edition will be available for $79.99 USD/CAD.
Halo
Wars
is
rated T for Teen and is already availble for pre-order at some
retailers.