Halo Wars Demo

mattttherman3

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It is pretty good, the covenent and the humans have very few similarities in gameplay style, I like it.
 

Anton P. Nym

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I suppose I should make my own comment on the demo.

I'm heartened that the controls work, and work well. Any oddnesses in behaviour were my fault, the selector and the order mechanics are great.

The campaign looks nice, but I'll reserve comment on it because the first two levels didn't really show a lot of how it will play out; just the basics. I found it a bit on the easy side, but that's to be expected for the first two levels.

Of course, multiplayer doesn't work yet so I hold no opinion.

Skermish, however, appears to be crippled. The AI is not terribly tough to defeat even on "Heroic". I was able to hold off opponents as long as I wanted and build the tech tree out with little concern after learning the controls and map (singular, grr) for a while. I hope that the shipped version will have either more challenging maps or (unlikely) better AI opponents.

Still, my greatest fear (that the controls would be clunky) has been laid to rest and I'll probably pick up the retail version when it launches.

-- Steve
 

TheHorizon

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Beware of Halo Wars!

About the time I built my second base on the defeated Covenant base things got really really easy.

I hope this is overcome later in the game, as at that point the enemies were softer than butter. Melted in Mount Doom.
 

D_987

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TheHorizon said:
Beware of Halo Wars!

About the time I built my second base on the defeated Covenant base things got really really easy.

I hope this is overcome later in the game, as at that point the enemies were softer than butter. Melted in Mount Doom.
What difficulty did you play it on - I found normal to be too easy, heroic seemed about right - I suspect there will be a legendary difficulty in the final game (which I have now pre-ordered =p)
 

TheHorizon

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I myself just did it on whatever the standard one was.
But I'm talking about after my second base.

Before that it seemed pretty OK, but it was just a bit too easy afterwards.
 

KeithA45

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Anton P. Nym said:
KeithA45 said:
curlycrouton said:
Apologies for the rant, but which phenomenal retard decided that this game won't be released on PC? They clearly haven't thought this through.
Seriously? Wow... =(

I guess they're fore-going selling more copies and satisfying more customers to try to get convince people to play RTS games on a console. While I think CurlyCrouton comes on a bit strong, he's right: it's a stupid move.
No. It's not.

The game was built from the ground up to use the controller and HD/SD TV displays. It was deliberately designed to be a console RTS, to be the RTS version of Goldeneye. Porting it to the PC both defeats that purpose and is probably going to make for an inferior experience for PC players. Besides, there are already so many PC RTS games out there that work just fine... releasing yet another one won't make nearly as big a splash as releasing a dedicated-to-console title.

But of course I doubt that pointing this out will change anyone's mind, because after all random forum posters who may or may not have graduated from high school yet know so much more about software design, UI engineering, and marketing than professionals in the field.

-- Steve
I see your point that it was made specifically for the controller, but my question is this: "Why not release it on the PC as well?" Ideally, game developers want to release their software on as many systems as possible, right? If a game is released for X-Box 360, PS3, and PC, then X-Box 360 gamers, PS3 gamers and PC gamers alike can all play the game. The only reasons that come to mind to not release a game on multiple platforms are red-tape issues (usually on "who owns the franchise") and if it costs too much money to modify the game to run on a different console.

As far as I know, no deal was cut with microsoft to release the game only for X-Box 360 and I think a significant amount of people would play the game if it was ported to PC - probably enough to well pay for the cost to modify it (But you're right, I don't know about software design, UI engineering, or marketing yet). My point is that I see no reason why it wouldn't benefit them to release it on the PC as well, so why don't they? I'm not being rhetorical, I really want to know; does anyone have an article or link about this?

The only thing that comes to mind would be an attempt to push gamers to play RTS games on the 360, and if that's true then they're sacrificing profit for a political move. That's what I was trying to say before that seems just well... the only word I can think of is stupid.
 

Eipok Kruden

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Sweep117 said:
Yes. Halo Wars was good. Not great, but good. The controls were better than I expected. Using a joystick to control the cursor across the screen does not begin to compare with a mouse in your hand but it works well enough. I find I have to tone the speed down so it's humanly possible to stop on a specific unit but it's cool.
There's an auto-lock function that automatically locks your cursor onto whatever unit is close to it. Also, your cursor doesn't have to be directly over something, it just has to be near it. And you can use the D-Pad to instantly jump to one of your bases, your leader, or your units. I found it very easy after half an hour. I was playing as the covenant all last night. Got 2 scarabs, regret, and 8 constructors.
Sweep117 said:
Aside from the controls, which, it seems, is the only real complaint people have had, it's fantastic. Any Halo fan who also enjoys RTSs(namely, me) will love it. The levels are well constructed and the various units/unit options are pretty well rounded.
Yea, it's one of the best RTS games I've ever played simple because I can form an army of super powerful hunters with the lasers from Halo 3 or I can have 2 scarabs. And I can use an orbital bombardement that puts the mac gun to shame since you can use it as long as you have resources. I took both of the neutral bases on either side of the map, upgraded them to citadels (largest base available), and put blessed warehouses (upgraded Warehouses) on every build slot. Then I set up a blockade with the 2 scarabs and just waited. Once I had enough resources, I started sending regret around to the enemy base to use the orbital bombardment. When it was too much for him to handle (which only happened a few times), I used the d-pad to center my camera on the base, then I made him teleport back to the grav-lift where the constructors healed him in seconds and he was off again.
Sweep117 said:
One thing I really don't like about it is the lack of the ability to form my own units. For example, in AoE, I could make a unit of twenty infantry and assign it to the #2 key, make a unit of cavalry and assign it to the #3 key, and so on... The "Select All Units" and "Select Local Units" options get annoying. If I post some Marines to guard my main base, I don't want them to trudge across half the map to help take out a few Grunts when I have a Warthog or two much closer. I think that if they had given a trigger the same use as the CTRL key when selecting files on a computer, if could've helped out a lot.
I never mixed up the right and left bumpers when I was playing. Also, whenever you select any group of mixed unit types, you can cycle through them one by one using the right trigger and issue commands to just a certain group of units at a time. You don't have to select them manually, just select local units and then select whatever unit you want with the right trigger. It's easy. Hope that helped.

EDIT: I originally had put "truth" instead of "regret." Got the two mixed up for some reason. It's fixed now.
 

Eipok Kruden

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Kuweekee said:
Sweep117 said:
One thing I really don't like about it is the lack of the ability to form my own units. For example, in AoE, I could make a unit of twenty infantry and assign it to the #2 key, make a unit of cavalry and assign it to the #3 key, and so on... The "Select All Units" and "Select Local Units" options get annoying. If I post some Marines to guard my main base, I don't want them to trudge across half the map to help take out a few Grunts when I have a Warthog or two much closer. I think that if they had given a trigger the same use as the CTRL key when selecting files on a computer, if could've helped out a lot.
If you hold your cursor over a unit and you doubletap the A button, you will get all the units of that type, so that wasn't really an issue for me.

The only thing that I had a problem with control wise was the circle to select units, it's not big enough and when you want to enlarge it you have to move your screen. But that could also be because I'm used to dragging around the units to select them.
Yea, that or selecting all local units or all units and then selecting the unit type you want with the right trigger. Ensemble have done a great job with the controls. If someone doesn't like them, it means they don't understand how to use them fully.
 

D_987

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KeithA45 said:
The only thing that comes to mind would be an attempt to push gamers to play RTS games on the 360, and if that's true then they're sacrificing profit for a political move. That's what I was trying to say before that seems just well... the only word I can think of is stupid.
Or maybe Microsoft (who are publishing the game) told them to make it 360 exclusive to sell more Xbox's?
 

Eipok Kruden

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-bladerunner- said:
Played it and it looks great however I am concerned that you only get to play as the UNSC. Will you be able to play as any other factions in the game? This may be it's one weak point as I thought the rest was brilliant.
Yes, you'll switch back and forth between the UNSC, Covenant, and possibly, the flood. The Covenant are also available for play in skirmishes and multiplayer. Try out a few skirmishes as the covenant to see how they play. I think they're the most fun since they get hunters which are powerful against everything except air units. They're invincible against anything other than air units, it's crazy awesome.
 

Eipok Kruden

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KeithA45 said:
The only thing that comes to mind would be an attempt to push gamers to play RTS games on the 360, and if that's true then they're sacrificing profit for a political move. That's what I was trying to say before that seems just well... the only word I can think of is stupid.
Actually, they aren't sacrificing anything. This will be what pushes a lot of people to get their first 360's. That will pay off in the long term. If the 360 is the first console to have a truly solid and streamlined RTS, people will want in on it. The part where said RTS lets you rampage around the map with 2 scarabs, 16 hunters (8 pairs of bond brothers), and the prophet of Regret in a hover throne or whatever other combination of units from Banshees to Ghosts to Wraiths to Jackals to Elite Honor Guard troops (energy swords and cloaks) certainly helps out. So does the part where said RTS is a truly awesome game.

EDIT: Sorry for the double posts.

EDIT:
D_987 said:
KeithA45 said:
The only thing that comes to mind would be an attempt to push gamers to play RTS games on the 360, and if that's true then they're sacrificing profit for a political move. That's what I was trying to say before that seems just well... the only word I can think of is stupid.
Or maybe Microsoft (who are publishing the game) told them to make it 360 exclusive to sell more Xbox's?
Yea, just think of all the DLC those people will buy. All the 360 games they'll get, think about all those Xbox Live subscriptions, name changes, etc... This will pay off in the long term.
 

Eldritch Warlord

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KeithA45 said:
I see your point that it was made specifically for the controller, but my question is this: "Why not release it on the PC as well?"
Same reason Goldeneye or Jet Force Gemini were never released on the PC. They were entirely designed for a controller. It wouldn't be just translating the code and mapping a few controls, they would need to entirely redesign the user interface. It is a lot of work to port a game, it is essentially taking code from one programming language and writing equivalent code in a different language. Not devoting resources to that means that more people can focus on making the game better in general. Some lost profit is worth making a better product to developers (well, the benefits of improved reputation are null in this case but at least the creators will be happy).

And just so you know, Ensemble was a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. They had to do whatever Microsoft told them.

Eipok Kruden said:
Sweep117 said:
Yes. Halo Wars was good. Not great, but good. The controls were better than I expected. Using a joystick to control the cursor across the screen does not begin to compare with a mouse in your hand but it works well enough. I find I have to tone the speed down so it's humanly possible to stop on a specific unit but it's cool.
There's an auto-lock function that automatically locks your cursor onto whatever unit is close to it. Also, your cursor doesn't have to be directly over something, it just has to be near it. And you can use the D-Pad to instantly jump to one of your bases, your leader, or your units. I found it very easy after half an hour. I was playing as the covenant all last night. Got 2 scarabs, truth, and 8 constructors.
Sweep117 said:
Aside from the controls, which, it seems, is the only real complaint people have had, it's fantastic. Any Halo fan who also enjoys RTSs(namely, me) will love it. The levels are well constructed and the various units/unit options are pretty well rounded.
Yea, it's one of the best RTS games I've ever played simple because I can form an army of super powerful hunters with the lasers from Halo 3 or I can have 2 scarabs. And I can use an orbital bombardement that puts the mac gun to shame since you can use it as long as you have resources. I took both of the neutral bases on either side of the map, upgraded them to citadels (largest base available), and put blessed warehouses (upgraded Warehouses) on every build slot. Then I set up a blockade with the 2 scarabs and just waited. Once I had enough resources, I started sending truth around to the enemy base to use the orbital bombardment. When it was too much for him to handle (which only happened a few times), I used the d-pad to center my camera on the base, then I made him teleport back to the grav-lift where the constructors healed him in seconds and he was off again.
Sweep117 said:
One thing I really don't like about it is the lack of the ability to form my own units. For example, in AoE, I could make a unit of twenty infantry and assign it to the #2 key, make a unit of cavalry and assign it to the #3 key, and so on... The "Select All Units" and "Select Local Units" options get annoying. If I post some Marines to guard my main base, I don't want them to trudge across half the map to help take out a few Grunts when I have a Warthog or two much closer. I think that if they had given a trigger the same use as the CTRL key when selecting files on a computer, if could've helped out a lot.
I never mixed up the right and left bumpers when I was playing. Also, whenever you select any group of mixed unit types, you can cycle through them one by one using the right trigger and issue commands to just a certain group of units at a time. You don't have to select them manually, just select local units and then select whatever unit you want with the right trigger. It's easy. Hope that helped.
Gah! They're called Engineers (or Huragok), not constructors.
 

Anton P. Nym

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KeithA45 said:
The only reasons that come to mind to not release a game on multiple platforms are red-tape issues (usually on "who owns the franchise") and if it costs too much money to modify the game to run on a different console.
Or a subset of your second point; if, in order to make the gameplay satisfying on the new platform, the game would have to be so substantially changed that it might as well be an independant title.

Where are the people whinging about a PC version of Goldeneye? Or Duck Hunt, for that matter? And why are people whinging to get a copy on PC but none to get a copy on the PS3 or Wii?

Halo Wars was an attempt by Ensemble to break the "RTS games are for PCs" brainlock. Porting HW back to PCs, after making all the delicate adjustments to control mechanics and game balance and display issues and UI to suit it to play on the 360, doesn't make any sense from that prospect. Besides, there's been so much pissing and moaning about the Halo PC and Halo 2 Vista ports that I can see MGS execs rolling their eyes at the mention of a Halo Wars PC port.

It's a few added bucks for a lot more effort and a lot more grief from the "fans". Wouldn't surprise me in the least if it never gets ported to another platform, ever.

-- Steve
 

Eipok Kruden

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Eldritch Warlord said:
Eipok Kruden said:
Sweep117 said:
Yes. Halo Wars was good. Not great, but good. The controls were better than I expected. Using a joystick to control the cursor across the screen does not begin to compare with a mouse in your hand but it works well enough. I find I have to tone the speed down so it's humanly possible to stop on a specific unit but it's cool.
There's an auto-lock function that automatically locks your cursor onto whatever unit is close to it. Also, your cursor doesn't have to be directly over something, it just has to be near it. And you can use the D-Pad to instantly jump to one of your bases, your leader, or your units. I found it very easy after half an hour. I was playing as the covenant all last night. Got 2 scarabs, truth, and 8 constructors.
Sweep117 said:
Aside from the controls, which, it seems, is the only real complaint people have had, it's fantastic. Any Halo fan who also enjoys RTSs(namely, me) will love it. The levels are well constructed and the various units/unit options are pretty well rounded.
Yea, it's one of the best RTS games I've ever played simple because I can form an army of super powerful hunters with the lasers from Halo 3 or I can have 2 scarabs. And I can use an orbital bombardement that puts the mac gun to shame since you can use it as long as you have resources. I took both of the neutral bases on either side of the map, upgraded them to citadels (largest base available), and put blessed warehouses (upgraded Warehouses) on every build slot. Then I set up a blockade with the 2 scarabs and just waited. Once I had enough resources, I started sending truth around to the enemy base to use the orbital bombardment. When it was too much for him to handle (which only happened a few times), I used the d-pad to center my camera on the base, then I made him teleport back to the grav-lift where the constructors healed him in seconds and he was off again.
Sweep117 said:
One thing I really don't like about it is the lack of the ability to form my own units. For example, in AoE, I could make a unit of twenty infantry and assign it to the #2 key, make a unit of cavalry and assign it to the #3 key, and so on... The "Select All Units" and "Select Local Units" options get annoying. If I post some Marines to guard my main base, I don't want them to trudge across half the map to help take out a few Grunts when I have a Warthog or two much closer. I think that if they had given a trigger the same use as the CTRL key when selecting files on a computer, if could've helped out a lot.
I never mixed up the right and left bumpers when I was playing. Also, whenever you select any group of mixed unit types, you can cycle through them one by one using the right trigger and issue commands to just a certain group of units at a time. You don't have to select them manually, just select local units and then select whatever unit you want with the right trigger. It's easy. Hope that helped.
Gah! They're called Engineers (or Huragok), not constructors.
They look like reverse engineered forerunner constructors with new AI protocols and purple paintjobs in the game, lol. And you can't zoom in close enough to see well. But right, they're Huragoks. Although they were also developed by forerunners, just like the constructors. Except the Huragoks are genetically engineered and the constructors are mechanically engineered. I know too much... Sometimes I scare myself :(

EDIT: After taking a closer look, they do look very much like what they are. I had it zoomed all the way out all the time, I had never zoomed in before. I can see their tentacles everything.
 

D_987

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Anyone pre-ordered? - you might as well get the limited edition which actually looks worth the extra £10. Especially if you play Halo 3.
 

ElephantGuts

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This looks like a very good game. I was afraid to be hopeful about it, but after playing the demo it definetly looks good. My biggest complaint is that you can't zoom in enough and see your beautiful units. It does show the limitations of having an RTS on the console but Ensemble managed to work around them very well. And it does remind me a lot of LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth. I'll definetly be getting this game now, might even preorder the limited edition. The only problem is that it comes out the same day as Empire: Total War, and when that comes out I doubt I'll want to play anything else.
 

Mr. Moose

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D_987 said:
Anyone pre-ordered? - you might as well get the limited edition which actually looks worth the extra £10. Especially if you play Halo 3.
I'm going to pre-order once I get the chance.
 

PersianLlama

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D_987 said:
KeithA45 said:
The only thing that comes to mind would be an attempt to push gamers to play RTS games on the 360, and if that's true then they're sacrificing profit for a political move. That's what I was trying to say before that seems just well... the only word I can think of is stupid.
Or maybe Microsoft (who are publishing the game) told them to make it 360 exclusive to sell more Xbox's?
I don't think anybody is going to buy a 360 because of Halo Wars. Unless someone is obsessed with the Halo IP (In which case they should already have a 360), they'll easily be satisfied with PC RTS's and not require a 360.