A great console RTS with a simple gameplay setup for unfamiliar players of the genre.
The story of Halo Wars covers the events before Halo: Combat Evolved as a prequel. You won't see the actual very beginnings of the war with the Covenant, but you'll be there for the real workings of it, and you DO see humanity's first contact with the flood. It's an interesting place to take the series after such a successful trilogy, and it works. Primarily because you have an entirely new cast, so the typical prequel excuse of "Well, we already know what happens" doesn't really apply here. All the voice actors do a great job and the cutscenes are beautiful to watch.
As I said earlier, the game does lack the typical kind of depth that an RTS would have, but that doesn't mean it's simple. It's more simplistic, but this could still intimidate or overwhelm an otherwise inexperienced RTS player. The tutorials in the game and the levels themselves limit what you can use, which kind of keeps things strictly balanced for your progression, as opposed to say...going online and getting raped by a Warthog rush or fighting a Covenant player and suddenly seeing two Scarabs tear you a new poophole. The game is balanced (and there will be a balance patch coming for what isn't balanced in it), and it works. The campaign is a bit short, but it's fun and there are extra features to keep you playing. The usual Heroic and Legendary difficulties are here, there is an achievement to get on each of the fifteen missions, as well as a skull and a black box, which in turn unlock more content in the game and more achievements.
As usual with the Halo series, the primary feature and main course it serves is online multiplayer. The campaign can be played in two player co-op over Xbox Live. To make a long story short, the quality of this feature is a roller coaster. Two players with mics could work this out but otherwise, the design is a bit flawed. Units are randomly divided between first and second player (other than what you produced yourself), so I would find myself rescuing marines but they would be turned over to the second player, who was clear across the map and rushing while I was supposed to be flanking. I didn't really understand the purpose of this. There is an option to give units to the other player, but it's just an annoying little flaw. The actual multiplayer itself is much better. With the options to do 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3 on a multitude of different maps (Some of which have the Flood which attack both players), there is a lot of variety. There is the usual base building versus, and an alternative deathmatch, in which both players start with a huge amount of supplies, and as you capture bases your army cap goes up and as time passes your units will just gain their maximum upgrades on their own.
The interesting thing about Halo Wars as with other Ensemble Studios games are the leader units. You have three Marine leaders and three Covenant leaders to choose from. Covenant leaders take physical form on the battlefield. You can command them where to go and they are some of the most powerful single units in the game. If your Covenant leader dies, you will have to produce the leader unit again back at your base. It takes time and supplies though, it's not as if you get instant respawns with such a powerful character. The interesting thing about the Covenant is that their individual units are a bit weaker than the marine units, but they have a higher army cap (50 I think), access to the all powerful Scarab unit, and they have gravity lifts which can transport units at your base directly to the location of your leader, or pull your leader back to the base. It's a very interesting way to play the game. The marines are much more practical. They have no physical leader unit on the battlefield, but get special abilities. For example, Captain Cutter starts with his bases at maximum level, meaning you have more pads to produce buildings. All of the leaders on both sides have special abilities and each has their own special unit that only they can produce. This ranges from being able to heal units, send a single strong attack at an area, or being the only guy on the field who can produce a Grizzly tank, which is by far the most manly vehicle you have ever seen.
Halo Wars is a very good game with a specific audience. If you felt limited with the console versions of Civilization or Command & Conquer, you won't feel this way with Halo Wars. You may feel like it lacks depth, but it certainly does not lack control. Halo Wars brings a great campaign with RTS gameplay that works on a console, and multiplayer is a blast.