Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 26, 2016
Halo Wars (released 2009) is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 video game console. The game is set in the science fiction universe of the Halo series in the year 2531, 21 years before the events of Halo: Combat Evolved. The player leads human soldiers aboard the warship Spirit of Fire in an effort to stop an ancient fleet of ships from falling into the hands of the genocidal alien Covenant. Halo Wars was unveiled at the 2006 X06 Xbox show. Ensemble was closed by Microsoft before the game's release, but Robot Entertainment was founded soon after by many of Ensemble's former employees; this new company continued to support Halo Wars with updates and downloadable content. The game received generally positive reviews. Reviewers lauded the game's pre-rendered cinematics, attention to detail in replicating the Halo universe, and intuitive control scheme. Complaints against the game included the lack of an option to play as the Covenant faction in campaign mode as well as the lack of strategic options during play. The game sold one million units worldwide through March 2009. (Full article...)