Halo Wars stands for several things. It marks the evolution of the Halo franchise branching out from the FPS in the pursuit of advancing the universe beyond Master Chief. It marked the fall of Ensemble Studios, one of the most notable game development companies with titles like Age of Empires under its belt. Beyond perhaps even all of this it promised the first smoothly running console RTS game.
Needless to say it was with great apprehension when I decided to put my 60 dollars on the line and purchase this game. What if I was walking into another Warhammer Battlemarch and would just sell the game a week later filled with disgust? More than this I have always been a big fan of the Halo franchise (I know half of you are probably groaning in disgust now and to this I say grow up) and more than that I have always loved the care which Bungie presented their suitably epic story in a fitting manner. So the real question is, does Halo Wars live up to it’s pedigree?
The answer, it isn’t mediocre, but it’s not fantastic
Campaign:
The campaign itself is actually rather enjoyable. Each level has its own feel and gimmick so your never playing the same thing twice. I have fond memories of a level where I had to use an elephant to drag a rather large part of the Spirit of Fire up a hill. What was so memorable is when my elephant was destroyed halfway up the hill and I got to watch the piece of starship smash through my army and squashing 6 squads of marines on its way back down the hill.
The missions never once took on the form of a skirmish but each level having unique goals and ways to accomplish them. You only have certain access to units based on what mission your playing. So don’t expect to build your tech level up to ODST marines every mission and then just drop hell on the covenant base every time. That being said I am very very certain that maybe 2 missions involve actually destroying a base as a mission objective, usually it involves freeing units from the flood or destroying a giant unfinished super scarab before it destroys your HQ from across the map. However, as fun as it is the firt time through on your own there is very little replayability value in the campaign.
Co-op campaign can be very very fun, provided you are playing with someone who will follow the game plan. Often I had friends who were intent on maxing out their tech levels while I held off the covenant. Trust me it is not fun to be used as a meat shield by your friend in an RTS just like how it isn’t fun in any other game. That being said if you do not play co-op on anything above normal then get ready for the easiest game of your life. It’s really easy to just build an armored column of scorpions and drive right onto the objective and blast away. However, it gets so very fun when you each try to take on specialized roles where you each handle building a certain unit type. All in all I would say that co-op is almost as fun as the co-op in the FPS halo games.
Control Scheme:
If there are two things that Halo Wars is entirely triumphant in, then the control scheme is one of them. This is what everyone was afraid of when this game was announced to be an RTS. Would it fall into the tragic scheme of console RTS in the past. Would it suck just as bad as the console port of Supreme Commander?
Thankfully no, no it does not. This is perhaps the most streamlined and easy to use control scheme I have ever played on a console RTS, and trust me I have played a lot due to my hopes for the genre on the console. Other critics seemed to have blasted this scheme for its lack of depth and tactical options. I take it from a different point of view and realize that Halo Wars is more illuminating than anything else. What does that mean you may ask? Well, it proves that in order to make something work without a mouse then you may have to dumb down the total effect to get it working. There is nothing on a console controller that is nearly as adaptable as the mouse for a computer.
The overall gameplay as far as units goes is fairly straight forward. It’s your jigsaw like unit chart of Vehicle beats Infantry, but Aircraft beats Vehicle, and Infantry beats Aircraft. However, those really only follows standard units as many units are build to counter this role like anti-air vehicles and flamethrower wielding infantry. At one point it comes down to basically just throwing an army against your opponents and watching things blow up. This however can also be stirred up by dropping in ODST marines or the prompt ass kicking your Spartans may receive at the hands of an Arbiter or Brute Chieftain. Not to mention if you throw a scarab at your enemy its only really good for destroying as much enemy units as possible before its inevitable destruction. While strategically its dumbed down to whoever has the bigger guns, it is no less satisfying to throw units at each other and laugh as the body count builds.
Multiplayer:
Never is the battle so hectic and so filled with death and destruction on an awesome scale than in the multiplayer. 2v2 is pure enjoyment as people often have one person build their tech level as the other fends off the opponent. What results is the eventual creation of a tremendously huge engagement at the center of the map where the lowliest tier 1 units fight in between the treads and feet of the humongous super and uber units of each army, while Mac blasts and carpet bombs bombard every area of the battle hurting friends and foes alike. I played a battle with three friends where each of us lost no more than a thousand units of our pop count and that was because of a stalemate rather than trying to milk the action for our fun.
However, this is where the gameplay of the multiplayer can take a hit…
Each match I have played takes several hours and while fun, several ended prematurely due to my opponent having to leave. While multiplayer is fun and achievements for them are various you have to be willing to sit down and go through one before you can actually do it. This I feel kind of limits the multiplayer because you’re going to be more willing to spend all that time with friends rather than the often ludicrous people you will find on xbox live.
Cut Scenes:
Halo Wars is the first time I have ever ever made the Cut Scenes have their own category for a review. However, Halo Wars deserved it for bringing the Halo universe to life in such an awesome manner. Halo 3 was more epic in story than Halo Wars but with it’s in game engine rendered cut scenes it just lacks the shine of Halo Wars’. In terms of the plot, the characters (spartans not included in this) are pretty forgettable with every one of them having a counterpart in the Halo FPS series that is cooler and better portrayed. I mean Sergeant Forge is cool and all but Sergeant Johnson was the epitome of badass. I actually liked the Arbiter in Halo Wars more than in Halo 3 because he actually got things done; I also wish the Brute Chieftain had actually had much screen time in the cut scenes. The cut scenes of Halo Wars really bring the game to life, most notably when the Spartans take on a whole cadre of elites. Halo Wars is certainly not a disappointment in terms of storytelling as compared to the rest of the Halo franchise.
Overall:
Halo Wars is quite the conundrum as far as games go. It is the best example of a console RTS yet in my opinion, yet it also makes the limitations of an RTS on the console blindingly apparent. If looks and feels in every way what a Halo game should and yet your left wanting more. The DLC has so far been a complete failure in that in no way is it worth the ten dollars they are charging for it. All in all if you are a big Halo fan you should buy this game and you will enjoy it. However, if you aren’t really interested in this game for its Halo pedigree then you should probably pass it by and wait for it to drop 30 dollars on its price tag.
-Ichi
Congrats Senor Ding Dong
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