Review: Halo Wars

[llewgriff]

Personally I won't be buying the game, I played the demo and enjoyed it but I can never get into console RTS

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

Ok, whats your opinion on the Stormrise control scheme then? Instead of trying to replicate the PC RTS experience with a controller, its building an experience around a controller that can still be called an RTS.

To me at least it seems like Stormrise is doing pretty much the same thing as Halo Wars (which is to say, creating a game around a control scheme) but with a Tactics RTS (think Total War) rather than a Traditional RTS (think Age of Empires).

 

[clauwman]

I was actually thinking about giving this a try since the last RTS I played was AoE 2.
I'm glad I did my research first....

shame.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

The best compliment I can give Halo Wars is that it proved to me, conclusively, that there will never be a console RTS worth playing.

This line frustrates me no end- but it's not the fault of the reviewer. Halo Wars has been billed as the definitive RTS console experience, and, as you can see, it is being received as such. But that is simply not fair to games like BFMEII and RA3. Halo Wars is the worst RTS on the 360 by a huge margin.

Battle for Middle Earth II was a great game on the PC. The Xbox version, admittedly, was a bad port. It didn't run well and it left out key features. But the controls were fine for console players, who are apparently far more adroit than their PC counterparts. This is my favorite console RTS.

But the real prize goes to RA3, which is a damn good console RTS. Although not my favorite, it includes all the features included with the PC, including a smooth-as-glass frame-rate. And the controls, like those of BFMEII, work. I will never claim they are as good as a mouse and keyboard, but given a half-hour adjustment period, they're fine.

 

[Dogstile]

susan, just so you know, halo was meant to be an RTS in the first place, they had to change it for some reason to FPS

also, the video review was better, the written review was just "needs a mouse and keyboard"

 

[Nerdfury]

Hmmm, makes you wonder if the Wiimote is any better suited for the job. I've been amazed how much easier it is to aim with the thing in an FPS.

Still not as good as with a mouse.

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.

Wouldn't the correct answer to the question of 'Which control method is better?' be something like "Whatever works for you"? I mean, the Wii remote seems like a pretty decent way to play an FPS, but I prefer keyboard and mouse because I grew up playing FPS games with that. But I know people that do pretty damn well as FPSs with a controller, though I suck. It really boils down to what you prefer, what you're used to and what you're good with.

Amirite, L.B?

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.

Well, shit. Jordan's gone and offended the military journalist by not answering unasked questions. How about this? Show us your own review of the game. We're all waiting to see if your own journalistic prowess can be deemed acceptable or not.

 

[D_987]

RTS is about speed and micro managing. You simply cannot do it, or it has not been proven you can on any console RTS games. The demo is alright but I play RTS's for the players not the single player campaign.

Ehhh.. I'll wait on picking up this one. Too many other games to play and I would prefer a PC port.

no an rts is about tactics you dont need to tell your soldiers to throw a grenade because they should without you telling them to

Well the grenades on this game are fairly powerful, so if every soildier threw them automatically it would completely ruin any balance. This is certainly a game that needs player-interaction such as throwing grenades, or other special abilities, to make up for the fact you can't directly micro-manage (thats the furthest it goes) or play as tactically as it may be possible on PC RTS's.

 

[Eric the Orange]

Huh, they made a RTS for a console, thats just weird.

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.

*sigh* please refrane from making comments about a game tell you've played it. it's one of my pet peves. Yes the game may be awful, but untill you play it you shouldent assume it.

 

[Mr. Moose]

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.

Have you even played the demo you dumb fuck?

The movement is swift and FAST.

The reviewer OBVIOUSLY knows nothing of what he talks of

 

[Nerdfury]

I honestly don't see why people think RTS controls are better on PC, I feel more comfortable with a controller than hunchbacked over a keyboard with my fingers flying about it like a riddelin-junkie having a seizure. I don't see anything that a mouse can do any better than the left thumbstick, It's not like mouses can move in an extra dimension or something.

Halo Wars was designed from the ground up FOR the console, and any PC port it had would be shit.

How many RTS games have you actually ever played on PC? Have you played any? Do you have any idea of how to play them? Do you know how to spell ritalin? I play quite a few RTS games, and there is no sitting hunch-backed, no fingers flying and no ritalin. In fact, there's usually very little use of hotkeys at all in most RTS games.

It's actually very simple - the mouse provides a greater degree of precision, and allows for quicker selection of troops as well as a smaller stopping point when you need to navigate. Coupled with keyboard hot-keys, it makes a simple and quick way to play RTS games.

Educate yourself before you make wide assumptions on how certain games are played and stereotypes on who plays them.

 

[lizards]

RTS is about speed and micro managing. You simply cannot do it, or it has not been proven you can on any console RTS games. The demo is alright but I play RTS's for the players not the single player campaign.

Ehhh.. I'll wait on picking up this one. Too many other games to play and I would prefer a PC port.

no an rts is about tactics you dont need to tell your soldiers to throw a grenade because they should without you telling them to

Well the grenades on this game are fairly powerful, so if every soildier threw them automatically it would completely ruin any balance. This is certainly a game that needs player-interaction such as throwing grenades, or other special abilities, to make up for the fact you can't directly micro-manage (thats the furthest it goes) or play as tactically as it may be possible on PC RTS's.

that was just an "top of the head" thing besides yes i still think that grenades and that sort of thing should fire on its own but most need to be completly toned down

 

[megapenguinx]

I was watching my roommate play it on his 360 and thought it might actually work. The controls aren't as complex as I'd thought they'd be. I think I'll try the demo myself before I buy it.

 

[Acidburn50]

I don't want to sound mean with what I'm about to say so please understand i mean this in the nicest way possible, and I only have the good name of the escapist in mind when i say this but hear me out. I was shocked and appauled when I listened to the review of halo wars made by "Jordan Deam". However I am actually more displeased with Susan Art as I believe she calls herself. I am not a women hater and just think that your site is making a mistake when you let her give her piece on anything. It was very clear that not only was she not an RTS fan but i couldnt even find much evidence of her being a fan of video games in general. I realize that your site subscribes to cynicism... case in point Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Honestly though I feel like one is enough and if you want a sarcastic review of games then please just leave it up to him because he is at the very least FUNNY! She just sounds dry and lonely. Taking a step backwards to a previous statement I once again find myself wondering if she has even ever played an RTS before because if she was even the slightest fan of the genre she would realize that they are nearly impossible to bring to the console and that is what makes Ensembles efforts so profound. First of all a Xbox 360 controller has 13 buttons and thats if you include the start and select buttons and also take into account the ability to click both joysticks. This being very different from a pc which has afull keyboard consisting of roughly 80 keys which depending on the game in question can all be used to set whatever macro you can dream of. That being the biggest thing which sets the two platforms apart I am brought to my next point. You could literally count the number of REAL TIME STRATEGY games made for the 360 on ONE HAND! The fact that Ensemble had the abbility to not only bring a major franchise into an entriely new genre which has everyone excited but do that in such a beautiful way with such fluent controls that do nothing but support gameplay no matter how you look at it. I am not just a Halo fanboy who feels the need to defend halo every time someones opinions differ from that of my own my only real argument is that a site with so many good things to offer should not let some dull little Troll cowering behind a mouse and keyboard with no real grasp on what fun is and how that equivelates to video games go anywhere near your sites reviews because up and untill this point I actually respected your sites reiviews very much and thought they wouldnt steer me in the wrong direction but now I have been proven so very very wrong. I will say that i wont be surprised if i get banned from the forms for some of what u have said but realize that I have only expressed myself in such a maner because I thought your site held itself in a much higher reguard.
-Sincerely, Dissapointed

 

[Miniu]

I cant believe that people think players are using whole keyboard when playing RTS games .
Usually you just need ctrl and 0-9 for groups and few keys for abilities if you play on average/high skill level.
It just mouse is whey better then gamepad if it comes to precision and speed so you dont need to sacrifice gameplay .

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

RTS is about speed and micro managing. You simply cannot do it, or it has not been proven you can on any console RTS games. The demo is alright but I play RTS's for the players not the single player campaign.

Ehhh.. I'll wait on picking up this one. Too many other games to play and I would prefer a PC port.

no an rts is about tactics you dont need to tell your soldiers to throw a grenade because they should without you telling them to

Well the grenades on this game are fairly powerful, so if every soildier threw them automatically it would completely ruin any balance. This is certainly a game that needs player-interaction such as throwing grenades, or other special abilities, to make up for the fact you can't directly micro-manage (thats the furthest it goes) or play as tactically as it may be possible on PC RTS's.

that was just an "top of the head" thing besides yes i still think that grenades and that sort of thing should fire on its own but most need to be completly toned down

Throwing grenades is a tactic.