User blog comment:Tuckerscreator/Wars Never Ends/@comment-26685181-20121004012944

I've recently started replaying Halo Wars, and I definitely agree with pretty much every point. The game itself is extremely well made, and the change of genre was a fascinating look at a different scope of battle than the personal nature of the FPS. But it felt as if the developers decided to take the safest options, and not experiment too far. Which, yes, is a respectable position to take for a first of the franchise. But now that the fundamental idea hs been proven, a sequel would open up new avenues.

I especially liked your note that, with Forge gone, if we brought back the original cast we would need a new "face" for the groundside troops, and your proposal that Red Team would be it. I would go further, and make each Spartan individually a faction-specific Hero unit - Spartans, alone or in a team, are meant to be the meanest, baddest thing on ANY battlefield, and while they were fun in Halo Wars, they didn't really feel all that useful - they could mow through infantry, 'jack vehicles, and had some nice killing animations, but I usually don't feel the NEED to bother with them. If we can use Spartans, then they should feel NECESSARY. Each member of Red Team has their specialty - in the campaign, Alice has her chaingun, Douglass has his rocket launcher, and Jerome has his death laser, making them all better specialists. In a campaign setting, I would also love to see how Spartans interact with much larger forces than we're used to seeing - we got a glimpse of it with Reach, but Halo Wars operated on a larger scale. The idea of Spartans making the vehicles they occupy more powerful was an interesting one, but it didn't go far enough in my opinion - in Age of Mythology, Arkantos had an ability that boosted the "morale" of the troops attacking something near him, raising their attack and defence temporarily. And we know Spartans have always had a certain affect on troop morale.

In terms of story/setting, the situation of the Spirit of Fire almost reminds me of the holdup Japanese troops who lived in the jungles of the pacific islands, never realising that the war had ended decades ago until they finally surrendered. The crew of the SoF is in this position - if a Covenant ship arrived searching for them, they would have no idea that it may not necessarily be an enemy ship. And with the various factions after the Schism - the Brutes vs Elites, whatever the Prophets are doing, and the traditionalist Elite groups, the potential to have enemy Covenant in a post-war setting, as well as allies, is already there. Perhaps two rival Covenant groups stumble upon the SoF while fighting their own battle? The Brutes were an interesting faction in Halo Wars, but they didn't really get any screen time to speak of, which I thought was a damn shame. And, of course, I'd love to see how Rtas 'Vadum is getting along - perhaps he could be the allied/perspective group for the Covenant side? The SoF now has to play catch-up, negotiating alliances, setting aside grievances and catching up to the new diplomatic map. Halo 4 almost plays on this idea, with Chief confronted with suddenly hostile Elites after fighting alongside them in Halo 3, but he hasn't spent nearly as long in cryo as the crew of the SoF - they missed the loss of the last Outer Colonies, the fall of most of the Inner Colonies and Reach, and the devastation of Earth. Their own species' survival situation will be a drastically different affair.

I also like the idea of space combat, but I think I would rather make that a full game on its own than bundle it with another genre. I haven't played Empire at War, and it looks excellent, but Halos space battles deserve an entire production cycle - using planets for cover, using planetary or stellar gravity fields to change the trajectories of your shots, navigating debris, etc, could all be rich gameplay mechanics. Not to mention your point that space combat operates in three dimensions, rather than the traditional two.

Something I think you missed was the idea, one I thought of long before I heard there would be an official Halo RTS, of having playable Flood and Forerunner factions. At the very least, it would add some new variety to multiplayer, and ideally it would make for a better campaign story - that in the midst of catching up to current political realities, both human and alien factions have to deal with the hostility of the world they've crashed on, and whoever is in charge of it, and the fact that they are not happy at all that there are interlopers. As the Spirit of Fire entered the Shield World, we heard from an unidentified Forerunner AI - who was that? What was it? Was it just an automaton, or was it someone intent on letting the Reclaimers in/defending the Shield World it was charged with protecting? And did it survive the destruction of its planet? We're getting new Forerunner units in Halo 4, and an entire sandbox of their weapons, so it doesn't seem as impossible anymore as it did when the original Halo Wars was made. And I still think that, while Halo Wars did some nice stuff with the Flood, having them playable would be a unique and interesting experience - an entirely biological enemy, taking on three technological factions. And being fast, ferocious, intelligent and underhanded. The Forerunners activated the Halos for a reason, but as they stand in the original trilogy, they never got across just how they could overwhelm the Forerunners. I like the idea of turning an enemy's own troops and units and buildings against them Throwing so many different groups together would be such an interesting idea, and I really wish we could see more of this in the Halo fiction.