Halo hasn't lost its touch yet. Short and simple but great fun. Goes out with a bang.
There aren't many cut scenes in Halo Wars which is a shame because they have stunning visuals which to me, seem better than those in games like Gears of War. Another good thing about the cut scenes is that you can skip them. It gets so frustrating having to wait ages for cut scenes to end but in Halo Wars you'd prefer to watch them.
The story is a bit confusing, and having knowledge of the last Halo games doesn't seem to be of any benefit. The actual game itself is fantastic. You could spend ages just looking at the detail on buildings and soldiers. The maps aren't too big but big enough to be able to send units to every corner and still not know where the enemy base is.
The controls are very easy to pick up. Basically, you only really need A and X to do anything so your nan could probably play it with ease.
One of the tiny downfalls in Halo Wars is that the campaign is quite short (people are just exaggerating it now though). Enough to last a few nights but if your a hardcore gamer, you'll breeze through it. It's also quite disappointing that in the campaign you can only play as the UNSC and not the Covenant or Flood. In the skirmish's however, you can choose from UNSC or the Covenant but a second campaign mode would be the icing on the cake.
The fact you get unlimited resources is hindered by the small unit and the feeble size of your base. To start with you can only get around 40-50 units, vehicles can take 3 unit points per 1! And unlike Command and Conquer you cannot expand your base where ever you want. You get a set amount of building slots so build wisely!
The small bases and unit sizes are probably, if not the, only downsides but Halo Wars i still a complicated game with many upgrades and recognisable units from the previous games like Spartans or the near invincible Scarab.
A great game, under-rated & deserving of a 9 (: