Halo Wars

I've heard that if you've played many RTSes, it's kinda dull.... I heard it referred to as "My First RTS"

care to comment?

I did before you asked.

"Gameplay is a very basic RTS game to cater to the people new to RTS games that are buying the game just because it has Halo in the title."

It's a basic RTS. It had to consider it's target audience when the game was being made. Many people are buying it because it has Halo in the title. They have never played a RTS game. They didn't want to alienate the Halo fans with some complex game that they would pick up once and never again. There goes the chance of a sequel making any money.

It does have the rock/scissors/paper mechanic in the game. So it's not without some type of strategy in which units you make.

But the complexity of a game does not make a game. It's what is done with what it has. Which it has done very well. It has made a good game in the Halo universe and it doesn't seem like it's cheesy in any sense. Like a vacuum or squirt gun in a Mario or Luigi game. It seems like the Halo-verse fits in a RTS game without force.

Battles online are very fun. Rushing/teching/harassing and so forth are in the game. It's biggest draw back is that it only has 2 races. But many earlier RTS games fell victim to this. I guess... they could have added the flood as a race but that would really be forcing/tacking on something that doesn't make sense in the story and I hope they don't do that in the DLC which is coming out in the future.

To add to the huge selection of 2 races, they did add 3 leaders per each race. These leaders have a couple units they can make that no other leader can make and other attributes. Like Cutter starts off with bases teched 1 tier higher. Professor Silly Tits has quick tech at half price. Forge has instant tech to big supply units. There are some more differences too.

But yes, the game is very simple to RTS vets but simple =/= shitty.

The game does have faults.

No way to make sure your team mates on Live have mics. This make sit hate to coordinate attacks or strategy.

Campaign is very short. 15 missions. Easily completed under 10 hours. I think it took me about 7 hours but I breezed through it and did not collect all the black boxes or skulls.

Only 2 different game modes.

No penalty in dropping from a match. So team mates will drop all the time. Well there is a small penalty to the TruSkill rating. If you are trying to reach general position, there is no penalty in that sense because that is gained by experience/battle points.

Limited edition/pre-order people can't use the vehicles unlocked online. I don't care much for that but I have heard people cry over it. Small issue.

And some other things I can't remember.

The pros outweigh the cons by a lot.

EDIT: There is also minimal amount of micro. Which is good because it would be more of a chore than fun with a controller.

Halo Wars is definitely introducing a bunch of people to the genre that either thought it was lame/gay/whatever. That's cool of you or whatever person to suggest playing another RTS if they like HW. If they are the typical Halo player, they will fit in on B.Net.

The price tag was hefty. But I figured it would be worth it. Although I don't play Halo often I do play it and know I would buy the map pack eventually which is 800MSP ($10). It also came with the typical $10 worth of crap most LEs come with. A hardcover graphic novel some other crap. Now I am wishing I never bought it because I hate those metal cases. I could have waited for the maps.

Last edited by Likwid_Cid (2009-03-10 23:05)

Yeah the Gears of War does suck much more than the Perfect Dark Zero/HW case. The GoW case has the plastic jewel case thing flopping around in it because the adhesive used was crappy. I don't like either case really. I think it's mainly due to uniformity. I have all my games lined up and they stick out. It's just my personal thing.

Yes. Really though, you can tell the game was built for consoles, and specifically the XBOX 360 controller. From base management to unit control, everything is streamlined and simple. Of course using a KB/M would be quicker, but the advantages would be minimal to the point where I'm almost positive a consoler player could compete with a pc player in a match.

The demo should give a good idea of everything. I enjoyed it.

Eh, in the demo all I enjoyed doing was rushing an elephant and massing flame throwers. Otherwise rushing never really appealed to me.

And funny enough, I'm already bored of Left 4 Dead. I can only shoot hordes of zombies with the same four weapons so many times before it begins to feel monotonous.

What are Hawks? I keep seeing people mention them, but don't remember a single unit called a Hawk. All I know of are Vultures and Hornets. I also see people complaining that a 40/40 group of hawks is rigged =P

k. Got the demo and Ima try it out.

BTW, is there cap as to how fast your resources can come in? ...I played a sandbox and built two bases and went overboard on the supply ports and after a while started to see diminishing returns I believe.  Perhaps I was imagining it, but does anyone know if there's a limit to how many supply ports will be useful?