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C. Fallon said:
Executive Summary:

The controlls are VERY intuitive. All of your favorite Halo chars are in this, but they don’t just make a Real Time Strategy (RTS) with Halo characters to sell the game, like the Star Wars franchise has been well known for. Quite to the contrary, this is definitely a RTS that can stand on its own merit. I would recommend to anyone that the best way to get an idea if you like the game is to download the free demo off of XBOX live. Play the “Skirmish” mode. The Demo does not have online play, but it should be very clear to you in a game or two if this is something you will like.
The one major drawback is base building. For those who enjoy creating unique bases, defenses, etc. this game will definitely not be for you as all bases are given cookie cutter slots in static pre-defined areas. That said, the game is very diverse, and there isn’t one “Whoever builds this first and mass produces them.” wins character/class. Also, each side does have “God mode” abilities. By that I mean “Super Ray Beam of death from above that are unstoppable” that can do major damage. Over all, I have a lot of fun playing, just as long as I don’t expect it to contend with a computer RTS. It is what it is, a console RTS, and if you except that before you buy it…you will like it.
Full Review:
Halo Wars has all the tell tale signs of “Lets try to sell this product based on the brand name alone, and don’t worry about the game play.” ala Starwars (with a few exceptions) for the past 15 years. I’m pleased to say that is definitely not the case here. I’m sure some Halo purists will disagree with me after purchasing the game, realizing it’s not a First Person Shooter (FPS), (EDIT 3/4/09: I see this has already happened) and giving it one star in disgust. This is a Real Time Strategy game and real time strategy games are not in the slightest bit like first person shooter games…I suggest if you don’t know what a RTS is, that you Wikipedia it. RTS games have long been my favorite, and the king of all RTS games in my opinion was Age of Empires 2 (AOE2). AOE2 is available only for the computer. I think that the best way to review Halo Wars is to go over the 7 aspects of the best RTS I have played and compare.
1) AOE2: There were no “God like” abilities. IE, the Nukes in Command and Conquer, the Plasma cannons, etc. In other words, anything that does major damage that is completely unstoppable. I feel this detracts from the strategy concept of the game, when you can just blow away an entire base without even stepping foot in it. I’m sure some people will disagree with my take on this, and that is fine.
Halo Wars: There are the “God like” abilities in this. One of them is preventable, the other is completely unpreventable and is absolutely game changing once at the highest tech tree tier. I’m sure some people love these parts of RTS’s as they are often on the box specifically stating that they exist.
2) AOE2: There was not one “Make this/Mass produce this and you win” class. Everything had balances and counter balances. If you made a lot of Char X, I will just make Char Y at half the cost, and destroy them.
Halo Wars: Is very much like this, every class has an opposite class designed to kill it. This keeps the game strategy filled, and not an arms race.
3) AOE2: Base Building was unique, fun, and 100% customizable. From building three levels of walls for the enemy to get past, to making defensive towers everywhere and anywhere you could predict an invasion. It was 100% up to you on what your base looked like.
Halo Wars: The bases are cookie cutter and completely uncustomizable. They are also in predefined locations. You are given 4 slots for defensive turrets and 8 slots to put your bases buildings on, all huddled together. This is far and away the weak part of the game and the reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. That said, on a console, it does seem to fit and make the game much more manageable, however the inability to really create your own base and the bases being in static, not dynamic, locations will turn a lot of the RTS purists off (As if an RTS purist would even consider an RTS on a console in the first place, so this might be a moot point).
(EDIT 3/7/09) Let me say you can choose what you want in those 8 slots (IE, something that makes resources, something that makes troops, something that makes aircraft’s, etc). There is no limit or minimum requirement to what you have to have on a base. This is the only, very limited, form of customization in your bases.
4) AOE2: Very easy to setup/find online play with seemingly unlimited opponents.
Halo Wars: Absolutely it does, and the never ending stream of people on Xbox live make this a spectacular online experience. Of course you’ll run into the people that quit just as you get the upper hand, but once some leagues start getting set up, expect this to change.
5) AOE2 had a type of gameplay called Regicide, IE, whoever kills the other team’s king first wins.
Halo Wars: One side does have a “Leader” that is exceptionally powerful, and can be individually upgraded and you can only have one of these. However, after it is killed, you can replace it nearly instantly for almost no resources, thus taking the “Protect the leader” element away.
6) AOE2: Resources could be controlled and fought over, however, just because someone was able to get more of resource X, doesn’t mean that you couldn’t compensate by getting more of resource Y.
Halo Wars: All resource gathering is done by creating buildings in your cookie cutter base that creates them. There are also some seemingly out of place small amounts of “in the wild” resources (There is only one type of resource in Halo called…”Resources”, not 2-4 like most RTS’s IE: Gold/Stone/Food/Wood, etc.). However, it is such a small amount, that other than the first 5 minutes of the game they are useless, and during the first 5 minutes they are almost usless and glaringly out of place in this games dynamics. Perhaps at some point in the game’s development they had a use, but in the final version you are left to wonder why it was included.
7) AOE2: Teching up was fun and it was a constant important decision of making troops vs. upgrading troops’ abilities.
Halo Wars: While each tech tree is much smaller than AOE2, the same principles of army vs. tech is there. The upgrades are unit specific, and there is no general “upgrade” that makes all units better. This makes it also important to tech and build as efficiently as possible.
From what little I have played of the non-skirmish mode/IE story mode, it was boring, unimaginative, and clearly the gameplay was an afterthought and a bridge inbetween the cut scenes. People who want to follow the Halo story line might like it (might), but people who want to just have fun will find it slow paced and boring. It does have good cut scenes, so if you are the kind of person who enjoys being tortured for 30 minutes to see a 2-3 minute cut-scene that tells you more about the story line, then you may like it…other than the story line element, I would expect most people to be extremely disappointed in it.
Bottom Line:
If an RTS HAS to have a good/unique base building structure for you to like it, this game will 100% disappoint you and stay away from it. If you are expecting Halo Wars to be anything like Halo 1, 2, or 3, stay FAR away from it as the only similarities are the characters, and not the game play. However, if you want a nice “Pick up and play” RTS that will have tons of online competetion and great game play (for a console) then you’ll definitely enjoy this game.
If you have any other questions about this game before purchase, please leave a comment and I’ll answer to the best of my abilities. (And yes, I know AOE2 and Halo Wars were made by the same (now defunct) game studio.)
Rating: 4 / 5
# 3 September 2010 at 7:49 pm

Adam M said:
At my age (32) there is a certain level of difficulty I want to experience; and it’s pretty darn low. Let the young struggle in glorious battle. No thanks. I want moderate challenge with a pretty high guarantee of victory. …and thanks to the savvy makers of Halo Wars, that’s exactly what I have! Whoo hoo.
Without reading a thing about it (‘also lazy apparently) I popp’d the game in and started a skirmish on “Normal.”… With some limited experience in RTS games (Age of Empires, Starcraft, etc.) I had the general principles down before I played. And by god, the controls are so intuitive that I didn’t need to read a thing! Well, for basic gameplay mastery anyway. In minutes I was gathering supplies, building up the base, creating troops, etc. All with this fantastic design style that flows perfectly with the Halo universe I know and love.
To date I’ve played maybe 30 skirmishes, and run the entire campaign on Normal. Yes I’m the only person on Earth who is not online with his Xbox. All in all, even with having to read up on a few details and nuance questions, the game is fantastic. Smooth gameplay, awesome graphics, terrific sound (ok the music is the only downside, it’s more moody / somber than it should be) and simple controls. For a gamer like me? it’s very near ideal. bring on Halo Wars 2!
Rating: 5 / 5
# 3 September 2010 at 8:50 pm

W. Starrett said:
Having just completed my first play through, I can say that Ensemble Studios did a remarkable job bring usually complicated RTS genre to a console. The controls are nearly flawless. I say nearly because there is no way to create subgroups or set way point paths for units to patrol. Though once you get several groups or bases scattered around this is less of an issue.
As far as the story, it’s passable. The characters are pretty cliche but the narrative solid, if a tad predictable. The moment you catch your first glimpse of a Spartan is pure Halo gold, though.
The one thing that makes the game rise above this in my opinion is the music and sound. The score of Halo Wars sounds like it came straight from the mind of Marty O’Donnell, who composed the scores for Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3. The sound effects for explosions, weapons fire, and everything else combat related sounds right out of any of the previous Halo games.
All in all Halo Wars is very good console RTS that deserves to played. Halo fan or not. Though it may be a little too simple for RTS veterans.
Rating: 4 / 5
# 3 September 2010 at 9:10 pm

Melissa Elio said:
Let just say to all the people deciding whether or not they want legendary or not let me tell you its worth it. All the extra stuff is awesome addition to the halo story telling. The honor wraith and Mythic Maps are indeed a nice bonus, On to the game…

Having played through the campaign and completed the game I have to say the experience was great. It’s amazing the great work Ensemble put into the game, you would swear it was done by Bungie themselves. I am a huge fan of cinematic and the cut scenes between missions do not disappoint. The story telling is great and when you get to watch Spartans do their thing you are just sold!

Game play is very fluid. I wasn’t a fan of RTS on consoles; however being a halo and RTS fan I thought I’d give this a run. The control and management of your forces are well built. You usually can perform almost any action with no more than two presses of a button. The production and actions of your forces are easily managed in a easily maneuvered radial menu. In my opinion the greatest asset to this game is the removed focus on resource gathering. You don’t have to keep an eye out on miners or units gathering resources. U resurrects supply pads and the rest is taken care of leaving you open to focus on game tactics. There are no difficult tech trees here either. No need to worry about having to need a building for another building to make the next building to research the actual building you want. Tech tree is simplified to rely mostly on enough energy to handle the unit and researching the ability to produce that unit as long as you of course have the building (Example: Vehicle building for tanks).

The sound in the game is excellent. They did a great job getting unit sounds, dialogue and music to be interesting, entertaining and motivating. I love when I smack dab in a battle with a massive UNSC army versus a huge covenant force and then this epic music begins to play. It definitely gets you engrossed into the game an amped up to win this epic skirmish.

All and all it is a great game for fans of the Halo universe as well as a great game for an RTS player.

Rating: 4 / 5
# 3 September 2010 at 11:28 pm

J. Fleury said:
I first tried the demo on Xbox Live Marketplace and was instantly hooked, and shortly thereafter found out the limited edition is the same price on Amazon as the regular edition is in stores. So if you liked the demo, and like to save a little money, pick this up.
The game works very very well for being an RTS on a console, at times the game can be choppy but really only if you have a bunch of squads on the screen at any given time. The music is great, very Halo-like.
At first I was expecting to play both the Human and Covenant campaigns but I eventually found out, its the Human missions and thats it, 15 in total. But the game also includes a nice Skirmish mode and Online Multiplayer. I myself have yet to explore the multiplayer but the skirmish gives you a good idea of what it might be like.
If you’ve played the demo and liked it, and if you have Halo 3 but haven’t bought the Mythic Map Pack I strongly recommend buying this.
Rating: 5 / 5
# 3 September 2010 at 11:58 pm

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