Review: Halo Wars

[Nunka]

This is a pretty bad review.

You don't really mention anything about what makes Halo Wars bad except that it doesn't live up to the PC. Well, no RTS game on a console can live up to the PC and I wish you hadn't dwelled on that fact for the entire stinking time. Especially considering this game does a lot more in making the controls easy and intituitive than other RTS games on the console have, since they've all been ports.

You mention modular bases, but Halo Wars isn't the first to use this fixed base system. Battle for Middle-Earth I did as well and I'm sure there are others. It has less to do with the system's capabilities and more to how they wanted to steer the focus of the game to combat versus economy.


There are problems with Halo Wars, a lack of depth in the unit selection, certain essential abilities are missing (like the ability to create groups or attack-move), the lack of appropriate factions and other things... but you didn't mention those. You mentioned "Halo Wars sucks cause it's not on PC." I'm not denying that you like consoles, but I am denying that you know anything about the RTS genre to have focused so little on what an RTS player wants to hear.

Unacceptable to me. The Escapist screwed the pooch with this review.

Guess you'll have to demand a written apology. Although I don't think it'll say what you want it to...

Really, though, designing RTS and FPS games for consoles was a flawed idea from the very beginning---mice and keyboards have been here all along, and why use an inferior input device? Why not stick to what each device is good at? Money, that's why. Plain and simple.

 

[Jordan Deam]

I have to say Jordan, playing console game is an exercise in patience until you are properly familiar with the controls. And it seems like you're not one for hotkeys, PC RTS's are amazingly complex if you plan on using hotkeys but they have the dumb luck to be built on top of the simplest control interface ever devised by man.

Anyway my point is, a hard to master control scheme is hardly a good reason to condemn a game. I'm sure you remember Goldeneye.

You're absolutely right, Eldritch. I played about 10-15 hours of Halo Wars, and when all was said and done, I didn't feel like I had really grasped the controls anymore than when I started. An intuitive interface is a must for games with this level complexity, and a gamepad just doesn't cut it.

In fact, I had similar issues when I reviewed Civilization Revolution last year - and that was turn based. The problem becomes much more acute when you know you only have a matter of seconds to execute all the necessary commands before you've lost half your raiding party.

 

[Eipok Kruden]

I have to say Jordan, playing console game is an exercise in patience until you are properly familiar with the controls. And it seems like you're not one for hotkeys, PC RTS's are amazingly complex if you plan on using hotkeys but they have the dumb luck to be built on top of the simplest control interface ever devised by man.

Anyway my point is, a hard to master control scheme is hardly a good reason to condemn a game. I'm sure you remember Goldeneye.

You're absolutely right, Eldritch. I played about 10-15 hours of Halo Wars, and when all was said and done, I didn't feel like I had really grasped the controls anymore than when I started. An intuitive interface is a must for games with this level complexity, and a gamepad just doesn't cut it.

In fact, I had similar issues when I reviewed Civilization Revolution last year - and that was turn based. The problem becomes much more acute when you know you only have a matter of seconds to execute all the necessary commands before you've lost half your raiding party.

I never had any issues with Revolution whatsoever. Maybe it isn't so much the game as it is you and the gamepad itself. I think it's just that you don't like the gamepad.

 

[D_987]

God this game is a joke. You cant play rts on consoles. You need the precision of a mouse and the speed of a keyboard for the game to not insanely slow and boring. This game would fail hard if it didn't have halo plastered on the cover to lure all the fan boys into a crap ass game.

Its actually a very good game - you can always tell when people haven't played the game...you haven't.

The game is certainly not "insanely slow and boring", and the control scheme is very well done.

 

[Bling Cat]

For a series that probably never had an RTS in mind, the standard roster of Covenant and UNSC units are well adapted to this style of gameplay.

Actually, Halo CE was originally an RTS for the Mac, then Microsoft got it and Bungie decided to change it to an FPS.

 

[Jordan Deam]

This is a pretty bad review.

You don't really mention anything about what makes Halo Wars bad except that it doesn't live up to the PC. Well, no RTS game on a console can live up to the PC and I wish you hadn't dwelled on that fact for the entire stinking time. Especially considering this game does a lot more in making the controls easy and intituitive than other RTS games on the console have, since they've all been ports.

You mention modular bases, but Halo Wars isn't the first to use this fixed base system. Battle for Middle-Earth I did as well and I'm sure there are others. It has less to do with the system's capabilities and more to how they wanted to steer the focus of the game to combat versus economy.


There are problems with Halo Wars, a lack of depth in the unit selection, certain essential abilities are missing (like the ability to create groups or attack-move), the lack of appropriate factions and other things... but you didn't mention those. You mentioned "Halo Wars sucks cause it's not on PC." I'm not denying that you like consoles, but I am denying that you know anything about the RTS genre to have focused so little on what an RTS player wants to hear.

Unacceptable to me. The Escapist screwed the pooch with this review.

It's not a question of whether an RTS would be "better" on a PC - that's pretty much a given. First-person shooters are easier to control with a mouse and keyboard as well, but that fact hasn't stopped me from enjoying about a decade's worth of console FPSs. The question is whether a gamepad is "good enough" to feel like you have an adequate sense of control over the action in an RTS, and in my experience, it isn't.

 

[Alleged_Alec]

This is a pretty bad review.

You don't really mention anything about what makes Halo Wars bad except that it doesn't live up to the PC. Well, no RTS game on a console can live up to the PC and I wish you hadn't dwelled on that fact for the entire stinking time. Especially considering this game does a lot more in making the controls easy and intituitive than other RTS games on the console have, since they've all been ports.

You mention modular bases, but Halo Wars isn't the first to use this fixed base system. Battle for Middle-Earth I did as well and I'm sure there are others. It has less to do with the system's capabilities and more to how they wanted to steer the focus of the game to combat versus economy.

There are problems with Halo Wars, a lack of depth in the unit selection, certain essential abilities are missing (like the ability to create groups or attack-move), the lack of appropriate factions and other things... but you didn't mention those. You mentioned "Halo Wars sucks cause it's not on PC." I'm not denying that you like consoles, but I am denying that you know anything about the RTS genre to have focused so little on what an RTS player wants to hear.

Unacceptable to me. The Escapist screwed the pooch with this review.

But you know what the problem is? Just about all of the issues they, and me as well, have had with the game can be reduced to that. The controls were not tight enough; there was no way to group units, for example. Also, the strategy element was quite low (imho) because of it. You can't really flank someone because you're just unable control two groups well enough at the same time, let alone micromanage their primary/secondary abilities.

The ironic part? All of those control problems would have been eliminated with a keyboard and mouse.

As for your problems with Halo war, I do agree with the lack of units. However, lack of appropriate factions? What's wrong with them?

 

[Elurindel]

I've played the demo and it was a lot of fun {I've played plenty of real-time strategy games on the PC before Halo Wars} and the controls were very intuitive, almost as good as the mouse and keyboard. I'm going to buy Halo Wars when it comes out.

The game uses the 30 seconds of fun philosophy that Bungie uses in Halo CE and Halo 3, I don't know why no one notices the 30 seconds of fun stuff these days.

I must not have noticed when these 30 seconds happened. Still, I might pick up a demo and look if the demo is available for PC.

 

[Eipok Kruden]

Why does the 17 year old Halo fanboy have to agree with me?

Why is everyone is such a PC elitist?

Why is the gaming community so bad now?

Why do I make big deal out of all of this?

Why is loving Halo bad? Does it automatically mean I'm a retarded idiot that's just foaming at the mouth? And I didn't know I came across as a Halo fanboy, I was just comparing Star Wars: Empire At War and its expansion, Forces of Corruption, with Halo Wars.

 

[darthzew]

I totally disagree. I simply loved the demo. No, it's not as quick or accurate as a mouse and keyboard, but it's still a fun game. I really liked Command and Conquer 3 on consoles and I found that Halo Wars did it better.

This review is, honestly, crap.

For those who didn't read it and just wanted to see the comments, here's a summary:

Good RTS with controls not as good as PC.

 

[Eipok Kruden]

Why does the 17 year old Halo fanboy have to agree with me?

Why is everyone is such a PC elitist?

Why is the gaming community so bad now?

Why do I make big deal out of all of this?

Why is loving Halo bad? Does it automatically mean I'm a retarded idiot that's just foaming at the mouth? And I didn't know I came across as a Halo fanboy, I was just comparing Star Wars: Empire At War and its expansion, Forces of Corruption, with Halo Wars.

Uhh... I'm a Halo fan {except for Halo 2} but you just seem like a Halo fanboy. Then again, I don't know if I'm a Halo fanboy or not.

Well, I know the entire Halo storyline, but I'm not the kind of brainless fanboy that will flame anyone and everyone that says Halo sucks. People are entitled to their opinions. I'm not gonna hold Jordan's hatred of and unfamiliarity with gamepads against him.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

I dunno, this is going to just become an opinion argument but I found it way easier to make headshots while moving using the Wiimote. Obviously there isn't a game to test this out in multiplayer yet but it's really, really easy to play an FPS with the Wii.

How to say it... Maybe it's just that the games are easier to get headshots in?

Bit of a chicken vs egg argument, isn't it? Is the game easy because the challenge is low or is it easy because the controls make me more proficient at the challenge?

 

[Abedeus]

I dunno, this is going to just become an opinion argument but I found it way easier to make headshots while moving using the Wiimote. Obviously there isn't a game to test this out in multiplayer yet but it's really, really easy to play an FPS with the Wii.

How to say it... Maybe it's just that the games are easier to get headshots in?

Bit of a chicken vs egg argument, isn't it? Is the game easy because the challenge is low or is it easy because the controls make me more proficient at the challenge?

Or just game helps you getting headshots by making hitboxes a bit bigger. You know, so you dont have to aim that precisely for the same effect.

Also, headshotting AI isn't that hard.

 

[Baby Tea]

Really, it's a sub-par RTS with a big name on it that'll sell very well because of said name.
The controls were good for a console RTS, but what is that really saying? For RTS fans who are used to quick, click and go controls...this just doesn't deliver. For those new to the genre, it might win a few over. But for veterans of the genre, what is there?
Poor controls for a 'ho hum' game.

Really, though, designing RTS and FPS games for consoles was a flawed idea from the very beginning.

I'm going to go ahead and disagree. FPS games have proven themselves on consoles. They are doable. The control scheme works. Does it work as well as the mouse and keyboard? Most likely not, but I'd say it's more of a matter of opinion. I've seen very very good players using controllers. Very good.

RTS games, on the other hand, have not proven themselves. The control schemes remain poor and, for the most part, all very similar: cursor stuck in the middle, use the thumbstick to fly it around with poor accuracy. The only RTS I ever enjoyed on a console was EndWar, but that's another conversation.

The point is that RTS games require more freedom of movement then a controller will allow. Either support USB mice (C'mon Microsoft, do it!) or stop making RTS games on consoles.
The only reason this one will do well is because it's Halo.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Jordan, sorry, but I strongly disagree with your conclusions on the control scheme. My experience with the demo suggests that it doesn't play like C&C or Dawn of War, but it is controllable to a reasonably-fine degree. Cursor snap makes unit selection easier, the "select all" and "select all on screen" bumper controls work well, the "D-pad down to next group" serves to handle different task forces in different locations of the map (so long as you keep the number of those groups down to three or four, anyway) quickly and efficiently, and the "right trigger" to page through different unit types in a group was my go-to for handling special tasks. I scarcely ever had to use the "A" button to select, at least once I had my groups marshalled.

Unless the final game is greatly different from the demo, I think the control scheme is going to be a hindrance only if you're trying to micromanage the units to the same extent you have to in Starcraft. The key to winning in Halo Wars is to set up your engagements so that the unit AIs will do their things the right way. Halo Wars will never be Starcraft, and I doubt it'll ever become as competitive as that venerable warhorse of the RTS genre, but the key to an RTS's play doesn't always have to be measured in clicks-per-second multitasking.

I think this is going to be a matter of personal preference, to be honest.

-- Steve

edited to add: I can only comment on the written review at the moment, as I can't see video on this old clunker. I'll reserve comment on the video review until I can get to a computer with a bigger hamster wheel inside.

 

[Mrsoupcup]

I love these reviews, nice calm and to the point. Halo wars isn't bad but its to much like Command and Conquer, keep the reviews coming.

Why can't we all get along?

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

Or just game helps you getting headshots by making hitboxes a bit bigger. You know, so you dont have to aim that precisely for the same effect.

Also, headshotting AI isn't that hard.

Is it really that implausible to you that aiming with a TV remote isn't more efficient and easier than using a mouse? It's practically the same act.