I loved Halo Wars when it released on Console (got the Special Edition) but Halo Wars is not a ‘real’ RTS (yes there’s ”Base ‘Building” with pre-set Bases, and unit ‘Types’ which don’t really ever ‘rock paper scissors’ like a Strategy game). It’s more of a select all units and attack; type of strategy and I mean that’s about it as others have said (spam-and-bam) a RTS for the FPS crowd.I loved Halo Wars when it released on Console (got the Special Edition) but Halo Wars is not a ‘real’ RTS (yes there’s ”Base ‘Building” with pre-set Bases, and unit ‘Types’ which don’t really ever ‘rock paper scissors’ like a Strategy game). It’s more of a select all units and attack; type of strategy and I mean that’s about it as others have said (spam-and-bam) a RTS for the FPS crowd. The controls cannot be re-mapped so you’re stuck with the keys the creators give you and you are also stuck with one of the worst RTS cameras on the PC which you can’t really zoom out to see the map (which exists due to the Xbox360s frame rate dropping when you viewed more then 10 units). Worst of all in the control aspect is that there is no commands in the game but ‘move’ and ‘direct attack’, (there is no ‘Attack Move’ ‘Guard’ ‘Patrol’ ‘Garrison’ ‘Hold Position’) so units get pulled away by enemy’s while defending and garrison is limited to a few towers across the map making infantry useless.
I cannot overstate the amount of times you will be hearing the words ‘Select All Units’ or ‘Local Units’ by the announcer, and it’s really the only way to play, you want to play strategic (because it’s a Real Time Strategy) but you can't. Ensemble Studios even knew this because the A.I. works the same way, as it regularly creates and upgrades about one to two units and rushes your base with 20 of those same units in the first 10 mins of the game (Zurg rush anyone?). This is even worse when you use higher Unit Cap mods and the spam gets in the hundreds of guess what one or two units along with heroes. Some units also have special abilities, by which I mean one special, (usually speed or high damage attack), though you never really get to use them in the heat of battle due to there being many units on the screen and it being rather difficult to just select one unit with the bad camera, then select the target, that’s about as tactical as it gets; not very deep. It really disappoints because ‘Ensemble Studios’ could have made a great RTS if they were not bound to the Xbox360 or any other console.
Wish it would have been like the E3 gameplay demo which was far superior. Unless you are a hard core fan of ‘Halo’ like me I cannot recommend this game…. There are many other great RTS’s on the PC (Command and Conquer, Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40k, StarCraft, Supreme Commander, Red Alert, Age of Empires) just to say a few, the real reason to play ‘Halo Wars’ is in the very title.
Pro: Halo game (on the PC), Halo ‘RTS’
Con: No Strategy in a ‘RTS’, Select All Units, Special abilities have no sway on Gameplay, Not able to remap Controls!?! There is no ‘ATTACK MOVE’ in a RTS!?!?!?… Expand
Halo Wars: Definitive EditionYour Score0 out of 10User Score
