The storyline for the campaign is strong, and over the case of 12 missions there's a variety of set pieces. It's shown as a studio that it can not just handle licensed properties but bring them to life, and it's done it again here, propping up the campaign with a series of well produced cutscenes that push players from one mission to another.
It's managed to distil the key part of that first-person shooter experience into a strategy game without losing any of the punch, which could be Creative Assembly's greatest trick yet. Watching one of your Spartans polishing off a hunter with a Spartan Laser at close range, or a squad of ODST marines emerging from drop pods, laser sights sweeping the landscape, and immediately joining the firefight is immediately reminiscent of Microsoft's golden FPS franchise.
One thing Creative Assembly has managed to do effectively is recreate the Halo universe with all of its spectacle and then stuff it into an RTS.
