Covenant playable in Halo Wars

by Richard Mitchell { Jul 16th 2008 at 7:00PM }

While spending some quality hands on time with Halo Wars at E3 (hint: it's good, more on that later today), Microsoft's Jim Ying, who was guiding our demo, gave us some great news for Halo fans (there are lot of them, you know). The Covenant, the alien race hellbent on humanity's destruction, will be playable in Ensemble's upcoming Xbox 360 real time strategy game Halo Wars. The only question that remains now is whether or not the parasitic Flood will also be playable. We asked, but Ensemble isn't talking. For the moment, we'll just have to be satisfied knowing that we can finally slake the Covenant's (Grunty) thirst for blood.

Tags: breakingnews, e3-08, e3-2008, e308, halo, halo-wars

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Linkman2004 @ Jul 16th 2008 7:04PM

Was anybody expecting them not to be? Otherwise all multiplayer matches would be good guys vs. good guys. :P

Shiaoran @ Jul 16th 2008 7:06PM

WOOT! PLAYABLE COVENANT! It was a 50-50 possibility.

AFAIK, The Flood was awoken once again 20 years after the events of Halo Wars, so I guess it won't even appear...

ExMcCloud @ Jul 16th 2008 7:07PM

All I care about is the part where he said its GOOD...lol....That's all I wanted to hear....This is gonna be the first RTS i buy for a console so it better be good!

Darkendes @ Jul 16th 2008 7:09PM

They're playable, but only in the multiplayer skirmish mode. You can't do the campaign/co-op as the Covies. =(

Lone Starr @ Jul 16th 2008 7:13PM

That's awesome, because from the videos, they seem way overpowered.

;)

arrrgh @ Jul 16th 2008 7:20PM

w00t

Joe @ Jul 16th 2008 7:20PM

Any one know if the brutes are in the game. I have found nothing on them for Halo Wars. I was thinking because Halo Wars takes place before Halo that may be that is why but at the same time. Its not like six months later in Halo 2 they just come out of thin air. My guess is they were around the Halo 1 time just not at the same spots many of the Elites were in 1 seeing as they hate the Elites.

Snowblind @ Jul 16th 2008 7:27PM

Story wise, the Brutes have been around for a long time, but were mainly kept in low ranking positions. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Brute unit in there somewhere, but it wasn't until they replaced the Elites that they really started to do anything, so who knows..

I want to see some Engineers :)

Tiptup300 @ Jul 16th 2008 8:49PM

Brutes stay at the main base of the covenant. The main base wasn't seen until Halo 2.

Dwag @ Jul 16th 2008 7:22PM

Yeah they got Covenant but do they have Flood?

Snowblind @ Jul 16th 2008 7:22PM

I'm really looking forward to this, it look beautiful, and I've been waiting for a good RTS play for some time. The Halo universe seems like the perfect setting. And yeah, can't say I'm shocked about the Covenant being playable, if we only had the UNSC, multilpayer matches would have been pretty stale :P

But I believe there is still a good chance of the Flood being playable. The humans are all stranded on this one planet, and clearly don't make it back to Earth. The Covenant already know about the Flood, so while from a story stand point, it's not that believable to have the Flood.. It does at least make sense, and gives the developers an excuse to have a third playable faction.

CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Jul 16th 2008 7:23PM

Is that really a surprise? What would be a surprise in my opinion would be playable flood.

FSK405K @ Jul 16th 2008 7:25PM

But will they have a cool campaign?

343 Guilty Fart @ Jul 16th 2008 7:33PM

Dead Stars is one of my favorite songs, great that I'll be able to play it.

therpham @ Jul 16th 2008 7:42PM

Good thing that food nipple's waiting for me on the starship!

Also, yeah, did anyone really expect them not to be playable? That wouldn't make any sense. I had just assumed it.

dustandechoes91 @ Jul 16th 2008 7:56PM

DURR?!?!?!

Seriously. Is anyone actually surprised by this? That would by like the Russians not being playable in RA3.

And Im gonna say no on the flood. This is supposed to take place a long time before halo 1 isnt it?

TJordan0331 @ Jul 16th 2008 7:58PM

Duuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrr

KenC @ Jul 16th 2008 9:13PM

This is a prequel of sorts. It takes place during Human's first contact with the covenant.

With that already been stated by bungie and MS and Ensamble. Then WHY would the flood be available?

Richard Mitchell @ Jul 16th 2008 10:34PM

For what it's worth, there are things in the game that don't fit the Halo timeline. For instance, there are multiplayer maps that take place on Halo rings, which (obviously) weren't discovered until the first Halo game.

If they can stick Halos in multiplayer, why not Flood?

qwerty @ Jul 16th 2008 10:54PM

yes, I'm being the annoying Halo fanboy. Sorry. The first Covenant contact took place on Harvest, when the peace negotiations went wrong. One thing led to another, and the Covenant took the planet. I believe they glassed it, which would make this game non canonical, as this is the recapturing of Harvest. Don't quote me on that, though.

Zpaintball @ Jul 16th 2008 8:02PM

When on G4tv the microsoft guy said they will be playable in multiplayer, but will not have a campaign mode. On the Halo team will get a campaign mode, sorry guys

Zpaintball @ Jul 16th 2008 8:09PM

Actually when the microsoft guy was on G4tv they said the convenant wasnt playable in campaign mode only multiplayer mode.
Sorry Guys

Jonah Falcon @ Jul 16th 2008 8:33PM

I have a feeling they'll avoid having the Flood as a playable faction because otherwise, people will shout, "STARCRAFT CLONE!"

Plus, for now, just play balance the two main factions before you do a third.

Richard Mitchell @ Jul 16th 2008 9:28PM

The UNSC has something that looks an awful lot like a Siege Tank too :)

Jonah Falcon @ Jul 16th 2008 11:41PM

LOL

NightSoD @ Jul 16th 2008 10:27PM

While the main story and campaign can be canon and pre halo 1, whos to say there wont be custom campaigns or an expansion pack that will feature the flood as well as events from the trilogy?

qwerty @ Jul 16th 2008 10:36PM

The Covenant is a conglomerate of races, not a single race. ; ) Anyway, awesome, but it's to be expected. Now, the question is, will they just be for multiplayer, or will there be two separate storylines?

Ghostbuddy @ Jul 17th 2008 3:06AM

" I believe they glassed it, which would make this game non canonical, as this is the recapturing of Harvest""

I think the planet Harvest is in a system called Harvest. Also, after the UNSC loses contact with Harvest they send a scout ship. The Covies destroy it, and humanity launched the largest fleet ever assembled to retake Harvest. Lead by Cole.

Thats what I remember from the Halo timeline on H.B.O anyways.

So the spirit of fire, is probably one of the ships in Coles fleet. I think anyways.

Ghostbuddy @ Jul 17th 2008 3:09AM

And to the people saying the Flood can't be in Halo Wars. Theres two things that need to be said.

1. Bungie has hinted (see H.B.O) the Covenant had previous encounters with the Flood before finding Halo.

There was nothing special about the rings that kept the flood alive there. Atleast, that we know of. Hence the Flood studying facility on Threshold in Halo 2. So its quite possible some Flood survived some where that would permit there presence. And if not, they could write it in. :P