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96 of 107 found the following review helpful:
Dumbed down RTS, but surprisingly fun. Mar 03, 2009
By C. Fallon
Executive Summary:
The controlls are VERY intuitive. All of your favorite Halo chars are in this, but they don't just make a Real Time Strategy (RTS) with Halo characters to sell the game, like the Star Wars franchise has been well known for. Quite to the contrary, this is definitely a RTS that can stand on its own merit. I would recommend to anyone that the best way to get an idea if you like the game is to download the free demo off of XBOX live. Play the "Skirmish" mode. The Demo does not have online play, but it should be very clear to you in a game or two if this is something you will like.
The one major drawback is base building. For those who enjoy creating unique bases, defenses, etc. this game will definitely not be for you as all bases are given cookie cutter slots in static pre-defined areas. That said, the game is very diverse, and there isn't one "Whoever builds this first and mass produces them." wins character/class. Also, each side does have "God mode" abilities. By that I mean "Super Ray Beam of death from above that are unstoppable" that can do major damage. Over all, I have a lot of fun playing, just as long as I don't expect it to contend with a computer RTS. It is what it is, a console RTS, and if you except that before you buy it...you will like it.
Full Review:
Halo Wars has all the tell tale signs of "Lets try to sell this product based on the brand name alone, and don't worry about the game play." ala Starwars (with a few exceptions) for the past 15 years. I'm pleased to say that is definitely not the case here. I'm sure some Halo purists will disagree with me after purchasing the game, realizing it's not a First Person Shooter (FPS), (EDIT 3/4/09: I see this has already happened) and giving it one star in disgust. This is a Real Time Strategy game and real time strategy games are not in the slightest bit like first person shooter games...I suggest if you don't know what a RTS is, that you Wikipedia it. RTS games have long been my favorite, and the king of all RTS games in my opinion was Age of Empires 2 (AOE2). AOE2 is available only for the computer. I think that the best way to review Halo Wars is to go over the 7 aspects of the best RTS I have played and compare.
1) AOE2: There were no "God like" abilities. IE, the Nukes in Command and Conquer, the Plasma cannons, etc. In other words, anything that does major damage that is completely unstoppable. I feel this detracts from the strategy concept of the game, when you can just blow away an entire base without even stepping foot in it. I'm sure some people will disagree with my take on this, and that is fine.
Halo Wars: There are the "God like" abilities in this. One of them is preventable, the other is completely unpreventable and is absolutely game changing once at the highest tech tree tier. I'm sure some people love these parts of RTS's as they are often on the box specifically stating that they exist.
2) AOE2: There was not one "Make this/Mass produce this and you win" class. Everything had balances and counter balances. If you made a lot of Char X, I will just make Char Y at half the cost, and destroy them.
Halo Wars: Is very much like this, every class has an opposite class designed to kill it. This keeps the game strategy filled, and not an arms race.
3) AOE2: Base Building was unique, fun, and 100% customizable. From building three levels of walls for the enemy to get past, to making defensive towers everywhere and anywhere you could predict an invasion. It was 100% up to you on what your base looked like.
Halo Wars: The bases are cookie cutter and completely uncustomizable. They are also in predefined locations. You are given 4 slots for defensive turrets and 8 slots to put your bases buildings on, all huddled together. This is far and away the weak part of the game and the reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. That said, on a console, it does seem to fit and make the game much more manageable, however the inability to really create your own base and the bases being in static, not dynamic, locations will turn a lot of the RTS purists off (As if an RTS purist would even consider an RTS on a console in the first place, so this might be a moot point).
(EDIT 3/7/09) Let me say you can choose what you want in those 8 slots (IE, something that makes resources, something that makes troops, something that makes aircraft's, etc). There is no limit or minimum requirement to what you have to have on a base. This is the only, very limited, form of customization in your bases.
4) AOE2: Very easy to setup/find online play with seemingly unlimited opponents.
Halo Wars: Absolutely it does, and the never ending stream of people on Xbox live make this a spectacular online experience. Of course you'll run into the people that quit just as you get the upper hand, but once some leagues start getting set up, expect this to change.
5) AOE2 had a type of gameplay called Regicide, IE, whoever kills the other team's king first wins.
Halo Wars: One side does have a "Leader" that is exceptionally powerful, and can be individually upgraded and you can only have one of these. However, after it is killed, you can replace it nearly instantly for almost no resources, thus taking the "Protect the leader" element away.
6) AOE2: Resources could be controlled and fought over, however, just because someone was able to get more of resource X, doesn't mean that you couldn't compensate by getting more of resource Y.
Halo Wars: All resource gathering is done by creating buildings in your cookie cutter base that creates them. There are also some seemingly out of place small amounts of "in the wild" resources (There is only one type of resource in Halo called..."Resources", not 2-4 like most RTS's IE: Gold/Stone/Food/Wood, etc.). However, it is such a small amount, that other than the first 5 minutes of the game they are useless, and during the first 5 minutes they are almost usless and glaringly out of place in this games dynamics. Perhaps at some point in the game's development they had a use, but in the final version you are left to wonder why it was included.
7) AOE2: Teching up was fun and it was a constant important decision of making troops vs. upgrading troops' abilities.
Halo Wars: While each tech tree is much smaller than AOE2, the same principles of army vs. tech is there. The upgrades are unit specific, and there is no general "upgrade" that makes all units better. This makes it also important to tech and build as efficiently as possible.
From what little I have played of the non-skirmish mode/IE story mode, it was boring, unimaginative, and clearly the gameplay was an afterthought and a bridge inbetween the cut scenes. People who want to follow the Halo story line might like it (might), but people who want to just have fun will find it slow paced and boring. It does have good cut scenes, so if you are the kind of person who enjoys being tortured for 30 minutes to see a 2-3 minute cut-scene that tells you more about the story line, then you may like it...other than the story line element, I would expect most people to be extremely disappointed in it.
Bottom Line:
If an RTS HAS to have a good/unique base building structure for you to like it, this game will 100% disappoint you and stay away from it. If you are expecting Halo Wars to be anything like Halo 1, 2, or 3, stay FAR away from it as the only similarities are the characters, and not the game play. However, if you want a nice "Pick up and play" RTS that will have tons of online competetion and great game play (for a console) then you'll definitely enjoy this game.
If you have any other questions about this game before purchase, please leave a comment and I'll answer to the best of my abilities. (And yes, I know AOE2 and Halo Wars were made by the same (now defunct) game studio.)
35 of 37 found the following review helpful:
 War is so NOT hell! Mar 30, 2009
By Adam M
"Galahadwriter"
At my age (32) there is a certain level of difficulty I want to experience; and it's pretty darn low. Let the young struggle in glorious battle. No thanks. I want moderate challenge with a pretty high guarantee of victory. ...and thanks to the savvy makers of Halo Wars, that's exactly what I have! Whoo hoo.
Without reading a thing about it ('also lazy apparently) I popp'd the game in and started a skirmish on "Normal."... With some limited experience in RTS games (Age of Empires, Starcraft, etc.) I had the general principles down before I played. And by god, the controls are so intuitive that I didn't need to read a thing! Well, for basic gameplay mastery anyway. In minutes I was gathering supplies, building up the base, creating troops, etc. All with this fantastic design style that flows perfectly with the Halo universe I know and love.
To date I've played maybe 30 skirmishes, and run the entire campaign on Normal. Yes I'm the only person on Earth who is not online with his Xbox. All in all, even with having to read up on a few details and nuance questions, the game is fantastic. Smooth gameplay, awesome graphics, terrific sound (ok the music is the only downside, it's more moody / somber than it should be) and simple controls. For a gamer like me? it's very near ideal. bring on Halo Wars 2!
8 of 10 found the following review helpful:
The series that reinvented the console FPS genre is reinventing itself by reinventing the console RTS genre. Mar 17, 2009
By A. B. Reviewer
"FullCollapse"
Let me start off by saying I've played all the major RTS games, and most of the smaller names, as it is my favorite genre along with FPS. Sins of a Solar Empire, the Warcraft/Starcraft series, Command and Conquer (the first in the series were best), Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander, etc. The only really decent console RTS I've liked has been Goblin Commander, and that is good..."for a console RTS". Let me also say I dearly love FPS games and find Halo 1-3 to be right up there with the best of them.
However, as long as you aren't 12 years old and buy Halo Wars simply because of the Halo name, but because you like RTS games and not just FPS titles and Halo in general, you will likely be amazed by this game.
Halo Wars is not just good for a "console" RTS in my opinion, Halo Wars is a good game (although I must recommend you have Live), but as with any RTS, the main thing keeping you coming back will be multiplayer. Ensemble did an amazing job balancing this game, and is every bit as well balanced as the original Starcraft, with as much variation in the armies. The only problem is the Halo Universe has not yet truly allowed for the inclusion of a third race (Flood maybe, but that's stretching it). The controls are never too much, and the game borrows from the best elements of the RTS giants, without taking everything that would over-complicate a simple gamepad. Your troops can garrison buildings and structures for defense bonuses, or they can provide an alternate "cooldown" attack (both made popular in the Company of Heroes series). The result is a fast paced, but strategic game that is every bit the revolution in console RTS as it's predecessors were in the FPS genre. And sometimes, you just don't want to babysit units to gather resources. That's what makes Halo Wars possible to play a match in less than 30 minutes, but an online game of Sins of a Solar Empire or Supreme Commander unlikely to be finished within 2 hours.
People complaining that Halo Wars is about letting your units do the work have obviously never played an RTS before. It's about the strategy involved by outsmarting and outdeveloping your opponents and watching the culmination of 20 minutes of building and scouting turning into a heart-pounding battle of unrivaled scale, with up to 100s of units battling at once. It's about deciding if you should spend an armies worth of supplies on one giant unit or if you should build 40 marine groups and cover the battlefield. Should you strike fast or slowly build up resources. Should you attack first or wait near your base for the opponent to strike. The gamble of letting a half hour of preparation turn into a 4 minute defeat is what makes this so exciting. Or turning around what most people would call an absolute defeat, into a smartly played attack on the opponents one weakness.
Halo Wars is not simply good for an RTS. Halo Wars is an excellent RTS, and perhaps late developer Ensembles best work. You wouldn't order food from a menu with no descriptions would you? Don't buy Halo Wars because it carries the Halo name alone.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Better than expected. Jun 27, 2011
By blurdog
I regret not getting this game sooner. Ensemble did a great job of making a functional RTS for console. The controls are well laid out and don't feel cumbersome, so if you're an RTS fan and hesitant about the transition to console, fret not.
Anyone who enjoys the RTS genre and the Halo series needs to check this one out!
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
3 years later and I'm still playing it!!!! Dec 08, 2011
By Byron L. Anderson
This is my first review on anything on Amazon. I wouldn't spend/waste my time reviewing just anything. Those of us into video games know that the replay value/time for most games is 1 to 2 years. What gives Halo Wars its long replay value is its multiplayer aspect. Although the matchmaking is far from perfect, (teams are often mismatched based on skill) it is still very rewarding because each match is different. This was the first strategy game I have ever played and I have been hooked on strategy games (Halo Wars) ever since. I have tried other strategy games on the PC but they are always too complicated and buggy, etc. Although the tech tree may be simple compared to PC strategy game, what makes it fun and exciting is the human element. My only problem is WHERE IS HALO WARS TWO?????????
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