Halo Wars

All units have a range within which they'll auto-attack - this being Halo, there's no "hold your fire" mode, just as there's no "giggle and piss" button - but you can override their AI instincts by telling them to attack something else, or by triggering their secondary attack. Tapping Y causes all selected units to fire off their special moves at the same time. I'm watching another journalist play the game with Brian Lemon. I ask him if the generous selection methods don't sometimes cause you to wastefully fire off all your secondary weapons all at once.

"Oh, I do that all the time," he cheerfully admits. I was expecting him to say "no, not at all - it's a completely flawless system that we're infinitely proud of", so it's pleasant to get an honest reply. He goes on to qualify himself. "But you can use the paintbrush to select a few of the marines, and focus their special fire on one area, while the others carry on." You can also cycle through the unit types in your selection with a tap on the right trigger, giving you more flexibility in the deployment of your limited special weapons. It's still simple, but it's actually more flexible than you'd imagine. It's a good system.

Base-construction and resource-management is handled in the second mission. This is where the circle menu is introduced - and this menu is where Ensemble is claiming to have pulled a ruddy blinder. By limiting the options at any one time to a maximum of eight, it's allowed a system where you build your base simply with the A button, and a flick of the left stick. It's not the invention of this system - but it's a great use of it in the RTS setting.

With an FPS, the emphasis is more naturally on your enemies, because they're who you're constantly trying to get into the centre of the screen. So, Bungie has already done the work on the Covenant units. Ensemble has, however, had to balance out the teams by introducing new units to the UNSC. A lot of what you'll see is familiar canon - the hovering sniper towers from Halo 3 can be garrisoned by troops, giving them a greater field of view and firing range. Other stuff is new: the Cobra - "a rail gun on wheels," according to Lemon - is a great anti-vehicle unit, Flame Marines are anti-personnel flamethrower specialists, and the UNSC have a new uberweapon - a giant flying fortress that can deliver a barrage of missiles. All invented for Halo Wars, and all strictly checked against the Halo Bible for Fan Compliance.

Resource-management is simple. You've got a maximum number of soldiers - defined by your barracks. You've got a tech level, which unlocks better items as it increases, and which you increase by building reactors. And finally, you've got supplies - which are boosted by the number of supply depots you build, or by finding stacks of the stuff left about in the field. Finding these stacks will add them immediately to your total; you won't have to dispatch a squad to carry it home. Later scenarios, Lemon tells me, will require base upgrades (the basic model here has just six expansion slots, and room for four defensive turrets), and multiple bases.

Units gain veterancy as they battle, and acquire new powers. In the case of the marines, advancing a level gives them New Blood, allowing them more members in each selectable squad. The next level gives them RPGs, and the level after that gives them the charming Spanker rockets. Each unit has its own path - the Warthog gains the ability to ram, the Scorpion tank learns to deliver splash damage, and commander units have more specialist abilities, such as repairing machinery - all of which will be available from that Y button secondary attack.

This is before Master Chief's time. He won't appear, Devine promises, no matter how hard you look. But, twenty years pre-Halo event, Spartans were ten a penny. When it comes to expanding the Halo universe, Ensemble is careful. It's already tasted the ire of the dedicated fan elite, having kitted out Spartans initially with Battle Rifles. Devine admits it's "scary, definitely", and that particular episode really caused him to redouble his efforts in translating the UNSC and the Covenant into strategic - but faithful - teams.

What Ensemble demonstrated wasn't enough to get a full idea of the multiplayer - which is a glaring gap in a Halo game - but it was enough to reassure me about the slightly jarring idea of a console-exclusive Halo RTS. Turns out that those fears were mainly rooted in the fact I'm a prejudiced tit, and it's always good to work that out of your system.