Not to the extent of, say, StarCraft 2, but there’s enough of a mix so that the campaign doesn’t outstay its welcome. Each of these 12 battles feels distinct, too. This three act war takes more than a few ideas from its FPS counterpart, with its exceptional Blur-created cutscenes – stunning works of CG art – and story-driven missions. And then it ends awkwardly and abruptly to set up a sequel. For all the weird super weapons, nature reserves floating in the heavens and super-smart AIs, the campaign mostly just focuses on humans fighting evil aliens. Halo Wars 2 spins a yarn that’s pretty typical of the main series – some high concept ideas made a little rote by a very simple narrative. One ship stands in the way of his plans, and that's enough to kick the plot into gear, even if I’ve either forgotten what those plans were or they were never clearly expressed in the first place. Remember the Brutes? The big gorilla-like aliens who served the Covenant? Well, they’ve rebelled, sent the Covenant packing, and their leader Atriox has claimed the Halo-building Ark as his new home.

And so it is that the long lost Spartans and Marines find themselves embroiled in yet another conflict, even before they've wiped the sleep out of their eyes.

As Ron Perlman likes to remind us, however, some things never change whatever else has happened while the crew have been sleeping, the Halo Universe still loves a good war. They’ve been asleep for decades, only to return to a galaxy that’s changed. It’s been a long time since Halo Wars first graced the Xbox 360, but it’s been longer still for the game's protagonists, the stalwart crew of the Spirit of Fire. But while it’s certainly not a perfect fit, it’s striking and, more often than not, quite a lot of fun. Removing it from its natural habitat and introducing it to the PC ecosystem, where its evolutionary niche isn't quite so niche, might seem a little cruel and ill-conceived. Halo Wars 2 is undeniably a console RTS – a rare, exotic bird that looks a bit weird and could only have evolved on an island split off from the rest of the world.

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