Halo Wars
Xbox 360, £49.99, 16+

Game sequels are much like their movie counterparts. Far too often the makers fail to call time when they should.

But while this is the fourth game to come from the Halo universe, it is no mere cash-in.

This is a strategy reinvention for those still lamenting the end of Halo 3 in 2007.

Bungie’s three first-person shooting games defined the Xbox generation, and here Ensemble Studios - the creators of Age of Empires – move that on in a title that looks familiar but is far removed from Halo’s run-and-shoot gameplay.

It retains the thrill of Halo but for those who normally hate strategy, or were attracted by the brand, it makes the genre simple.

The game is set in 2531, 20 years before Halo: Combat Evolved, whose hero Master Chief has no place here. But the battle between the human UNSC and The Covenant remains.

Gone are the big guns to hold, the big vehicles to drive and the massive enemies you look in the eye as you blast seven shades of space dust out of them.

Instead, your mission is simple. Build as many bases as you can to generate troops and weapons. These destroy the opposition, whether playing as the good guys or bad.

A successful base needs some thought to stage a sustained campaign. You need enough supply pads to generate resources for armies and aircraft, created in Barracks, Vehicle Depots and Air Pads.

But you can easily flick back from the front to your base at any time to produce more.

Different soldiers and machines "cost" a certain number of resource points so a balance must be struck between cannon-fodder and special forces with their distinct abilities.

It’s not the same instant excitement as blowing the enemy to pieces with a Spiker, but the basic destruction rule is as irresistible as rock, paper, scissors.

Ground vehicles ruin infantry, infantry beat aircraft, and aircraft destroy vehicles.

While many strategy titles get bogged down in detail, Halo Wars is far more intuitive.

Within half an hour you’ll easily be building and ordering your growing army around, pointing and clicking with the control pad as if you were at a PC using a mouse.

It’s not dumbed-down, it is instead a skilful attempt to make a complex genre accessible to those who found Halo so compelling.

Committed Real Time Strategy fans will see that as a negative, but few will be truly disappointed.

Victory when it comes feels immense and Xbox Live multiplayer works very well.

Graphically, it does the job of bringing to life an otherwise flat world that still manages to show the impact of the large scale battles.

To compare this with any other Halo game would be wrong. While the Master may be absent, your role as the new commander in Chief is one to savour.