Believe it or not, Bungies hallowed Halo was originally designed as a real-time strategy game, before console Johnny-come-latelys Microsoft spotted its potential as a shooter and used it to launch the Xbox. So while it may seem like an unlikely leap for the latest in the series to ditch fierce gunplay in favour of cerebral military planning, this is Halo as it was originally intended to be.
But while the action is pure Halo each ferocious skirmish punctuated by the pyrotechnics, eye-sizzling colours and creepy aliens that made Master Chiefs adventures modern classics its hard to see who this strategic spin-off is aimed at. Granted, the beautifully-considered controls allow console players to get to grips with a title ideally suited to a keyboard and mouse, but as anyone with an itchy trigger finger is unlikely to swap battlefield butchery for a lofty view of the action, and armchair generals will be put off by the games action-focused, oddly shallow take on military cunning, this is a spin-off for the hardiest Halo devotees only.