Surprise!: Spartans are awesome in Halo Wars

by Justin McElroy { Sep 4th 2008 at 11:56AM }

Though Master Chief is little more than an adorable baby during the events of Halo Wars, it should come as no surprise that his Spartan brethren are a pretty big factor on the battlefield. Ensemble recently went into detail about the role of the Spartan in a fight on their official site.

The secret to nailing the right feel for the Spartan according to Ensemble? Not nerfing them. Spartans aren't just dudes in good armor: They're one-man tipping points, able to grab an enemy vehicle and turn the tide. Sounds good to us; now, if there were only some way to get some more Spartans on the box.

[Via X3F]

Tags: ensemble-studios, halo, halo-wars, master-chief, spartans

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dirty @ Sep 4th 2008 12:03PM

By adorable you mean ass-kicking one-baby army?

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 12:09PM

The Spartans are a powerful unit but the drawback is that each one of them sounds like a racist 12 year old brat.

Zertoss @ Sep 4th 2008 12:14PM

The Covenant Elites have the same problem.

You know, that could make for a hilarious mod.

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 12:17PM

Actually the difference is that the Elites sound like retarded Frat boys.

Zertoss @ Sep 4th 2008 12:22PM

You must have run into a different group of Elites than I did. Perhaps some sort of genetic mutation?

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 12:26PM

About the mod you say I hope this coming for PC that would be truly hilarious.

Although I think if a Pc version is released as well the most popular mod would be the one that allows you to change Halo units for star wars units.

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 12:27PM

Let me rephrase that.

I hope this coming for PC that mod you mentioned would be truly hilarious.

KeenCommander @ Sep 4th 2008 12:29PM

+1 for: d. all of the above

D dogg @ Sep 4th 2008 12:39PM

What I'd want most is for you two to start speaking correct English... even more than a PC mod that allowed me to play Star Wars characters on a Halo game.

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 1:19PM

Well its what happens when you try to learn a new language watching pornography but now I know how to say big and sweaty in English and Italian.

Seriously is not my fault, this time, I’m testing a new translate app.

Well it seems it ain't that good but anyway eff you.

StrangeBum @ Sep 4th 2008 2:05PM

It's all good Mr.ESC, I don't think the majority of commentators on joystiq really care that your English is slightly off.

Hell, I work in an entire shop full of either Spanish-only speaking or Spanglish speaking foreigners. So I don't it at all. And oh yeah, you're comments on the Spartans and Elites kicked ass, both so true

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 2:25PM

Well to be honest I'm not happy with the way I speak English so I'm going to take some lessons anyway. Not to mention that a research proves that learning new languages improves the connection between your neurons.

I hate to speak broken English I just want to improve in every area, when I get to speak English properly I will proceed to French so see ya soon Jeuxfrance forums.

ballistic3188 @ Sep 4th 2008 12:22PM

eh probably going to be like the commando unit in command & conquer.

Mike @ Sep 4th 2008 12:27PM

ZOMG!!!1!!!11!!!!!onehundredandeleven!!!! The spartans in a halo game are going to be awesome??? I never would have guessed!

In all seriousness, if they didn't make the spartans larger than life in halo wars, there would be a lot (and I mean A LOT) of disappointed fans.

dark_inchworm @ Sep 4th 2008 12:27PM

What is their profession?

xGeneral DEATHx @ Sep 4th 2008 12:31PM

HAOOOH!

Joystick Hero @ Sep 4th 2008 12:36PM

I tried asking them, but all they said was HA-OOH! HA-OOH! HA-OOH! ...So I'm thinking they must be somekind of hip hop group or something.

xGeneral DEATHx @ Sep 4th 2008 1:05PM

"Haven't you ever heard of the Emancipation Proclamation????"

"...I don't listen to Hip Hop."

/Scatter-brained thought of the day

Blank-Mage @ Sep 4th 2008 1:26PM

"Haroo isn't a f***ing profession!"

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 1:29PM

I think they might be spoke persons for the new brand of tropical mix juices called HA-OOH! HA-OOH!.

Emophia @ Sep 4th 2008 1:01PM

Actually, Master Chief was one of the first Spartans made.

So yeah... He wasn't a baby...

Chris @ Sep 4th 2008 1:14PM

Actually since you wanna be a techniacal Douche about it Master Chief wasn't one of the first becuase there were 100's of failed attempts in the Spartan program before they got it right. Now apologize to Joystiq for your need to be correct.

LaughingTarget @ Sep 4th 2008 1:36PM

He is Spartan-117, so there should be 116 before him.

Dirty @ Sep 4th 2008 1:38PM

People with Kelly Clarkson avatars don't get to correct anyone.

Mr.ESC @ Sep 4th 2008 1:52PM

By mistake I read "Emophilia" instead of Emophia and I asked my self: "why?"

116 failed Spartans? That sounds kind of stupid I mean a Spartan is just a guy with a Badass armor unless each one of them took the Super Soldier treatment which would explain the long necks and that was probably one of the mistakes.

“Spartan 117 not only you are our only hope and our most successful Spartan to the date but also you don’t have a freaky giraffe neck, Congratulations”.

LaughingTarget @ Sep 4th 2008 2:04PM

I don't think that implies 116 failed ones before him, but 116 total. Remember, there were a ton of them in that program according to Fall of Reach. He probably just landed at spot 117 when handing out numbers.

Easo @ Sep 4th 2008 2:09PM

According to the Fall of Reach, The Master Chief wasn't one of the first Spartans selected, he was The First Spartan selected.
You could argue that this can't be true because of the Spartan I project, but you would be wrong. The Spartan 1 project was actually just a small set of human experiments that were carried out on certain volunteers of the Orion project. At this time, the "Spartan" soldiers are simply part of various special forces teams and were not given any special designators (see Sargent Johnson and possibly CPO Mendez for examples).