Halo Wars 2

 Xbox One
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 616 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 363 out of 616
  2. Mixed: 73 out of 616
  3. Negative: 180 out of 616
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  1. woody0454
    Mar 5, 2017
    4
    Great game and expands nicely from the first. If you enjoyed the original you'll enjoy this. I would have rated this a 7/10 or 8/10 but the game is just too unstable online and has serious lag connection problems. I have been booted out of so many matches due to 'losing sync' with other players or even the game crashing and booting me to dashboard. According to the official forum, this isGreat game and expands nicely from the first. If you enjoyed the original you'll enjoy this. I would have rated this a 7/10 or 8/10 but the game is just too unstable online and has serious lag connection problems. I have been booted out of so many matches due to 'losing sync' with other players or even the game crashing and booting me to dashboard. According to the official forum, this is a common thing and supposedly the lost sync issue is due to players quitting losing matches. It ruins the fun of playing online and if they're not careful it will kill the online community it has.… Expand
  2. McGillotine
    Feb 17, 2017
    4
    Halo wars 2 is the proberbial "baby's first RTS" with hand holding mechanics and infruiating tutorials during the story (even if you said no to the tutotorial) that treat you as though you are too mentally challenged to actually be able to play the game. Now were the involvement of crystal dynamics from the first game gave people the impresion that this was going to be on par if notHalo wars 2 is the proberbial "baby's first RTS" with hand holding mechanics and infruiating tutorials during the story (even if you said no to the tutotorial) that treat you as though you are too mentally challenged to actually be able to play the game. Now were the involvement of crystal dynamics from the first game gave people the impresion that this was going to be on par if not similar to the first halo wars game, make no mistake in understanding that this is a 343 industries game through and though with a plot that never really esculates, filled generic gameplay and plagued with bugs that become quite evident early in the game.

    From first installing Halo Wars 2 onto my console i was first hit up with a 6.8gb day one patch, which upon completion and pressing play i was once again hit with another 2.8gb patch taking rougly 3 hours to download completely despite the modest size of the game. Finally upon completion i loaded up the game and started the first mission, greated by a beautiful blur rendered cutscene of the spirit of fire as they awake from cyrostasis and choose to land upon the ark. After this cutscene however we are then introduced to the games visuals which in turn share a cartoonish vibe present spartan strike and assualt, and being a person who's not all too concerned about graphics, the game does end up looking rather cheap with in game unit models looking like they were pulled from a game made 15 years ago.

    Gameplay, in particular, the campaign features some of the most easy and exploitable maps/enemies imaginable with the ai controlled enemy spouting out the same enemy units time and time again until the game ends in which case it desides it wants to spawn an f u boss that serves no other purpose then to extend the length of the games reletively short and forgettable missions. The campaign is also furstating to the degree in which it will purposely drag out its own length with scripted events and a lock n certain units that make zerg rushing the only relable strategy. Skirimish and Blitz arent much better either with the only main difference being that the enemy can upgrade its units and that it can't pull some scripted event out of its own butt to stretch the match.

    Story on the other hand is better than Halo 5 and i dare say Halo 4 and personally that isnt saying much considering that the plot really has no defining moments and barely esculates at all with Atriox being hyped as the most intimidating villian in Halo history to ending up as a really forgettable character. The significant change in apperance and sound of the spirit of fire crew is also noticable with characters feeling foriegn to what they were in the original and sure there are moments where it seems like there one and the same again but ultimately differences in personality make them all too different.

    Ultimately Halo wars 2 isnt amazing or grand and represents the basic nature of RTS and plot telling structure in a paint by numbers game only redeemed by the inclusion of the original game in the ultimate edition.    … Expand
  3. iamevilhomer
    Apr 20, 2017
    4
    Lets do the good first. Blur Studios gives us good looking visuals in the cinematic stuff... Too bad it's wasted on this lame game...

    Now that the good is out of the way... That's right folks. That's all that's good... Lets move on... Mediocre... Music... It's not half bad but also not great like the bungie halo game music. Bad... I did say the visuals were done well in the    Lets do the good first. Blur Studios gives us good looking visuals in the cinematic stuff... Too bad it's wasted on this lame game...

    Now that the good is out of the way... That's right folks. That's all that's good... Lets move on...

    Mediocre...

    Music... It's not half bad but also not great like the bungie halo game music.

    Bad...

    I did say the visuals were done well in the cinematic scene department but the koolest parts are wasted. The koolest parts are the spartans kicking butt of course but it's not like that awesome scene in halo wars one. This time it's dark, has quick cuts, and some times abuses zack snyder style slow motion. Remember when this trash didn't plague halo games back in the day?

    The campaign is weak. It has glitches and is fairly short. It can be beaten in about 6-8 hours. The story isn't memorable either. That ending was just to set up halo 6 and the main villain sort of just vanishes. Don't worry folks. I'm sure they will just kill him off like he's a generic side villain just like how they killed off Jul in halo 5 lol. On the first level : )

    The multiplayer is a step down from halo wars one in just about every way and still suffers for being a console RTS. If you have ever used a mouse and keyboard to play a game like star craft you probably wont want to give this game much of a chance...

    Micro transactions are in too so there goes a few points... Micro transactions are NEVER a good thing. DLC can be some times... But never are micro transactions. And yes... There is a difference. Micro transactions are always there for one thing. To turn the game into a slot machine and/or system that pressures the player into wasting real life money on stuff that's TOTALLY not worth it and is not permanent a lot of the time. At least DLC is permanent.

    Sure the game will get patched for the better like most games these days... Hopefully... But many of the downsides are not fixable. Most of them actually. This game isn't worth full price. Anyone saying other wise is a fanboy/shill for microsoft/343/the franchise etc etc...

    This was a not very wanted sequel to a game that hardly anyone asked for. It should have come out in 2010 or somewhere around there and even then it would still be pretty crappy and unpopular. It's 2017 dude... Late to the party much? This is just halo being bilked still. You're a fool to think other wise.

    Wait for it to be about half price folks...    … Expand
  4. PreyingOcelot
    Apr 4, 2017
    0
    For a 2017 game its just very bad. Doesnt take the next step to be better thsn star craft 2 which is a lot older. Gameplay was very repetitive and boring
  5. OriginulDawg
    Feb 21, 2017
    0
    ___Do you value your time? The makers of this game don't!___
    -In multi-player online, if you are wiped from the game you are forced to spectate the remainder of the match. This can be an indefinite amount of time. You cannot resign without penalty, even though your units are all gone and you have absolutely no bearing on the rest of the game.
    -Have an extra 5, 10 or 30 minutes to watch    ___Do you value your time? The makers of this game don't!___
    -In multi-player online, if you are wiped from the game you are forced to spectate the remainder of the match. This can be an indefinite amount of time. You cannot resign without penalty, even though your units are all gone and you have absolutely no bearing on the rest of the game.
    -Have an extra 5, 10 or 30 minutes to watch really bad twitch? Then this is the game for you.    … Expand
  6. Skitzofreniq
    Feb 23, 2017
    0
    I have played this game for 20 hours now and it just sucks. You just click and watch your screen. I rather watch at my wall which has more going for itself. XBOX IS DEAD. TAKE NOTES FROM SONY plzzz
  7. ToJ85
    Feb 22, 2017
    0
    This game is plain bad for the genre. Take Starcraft 2, remove everygood thing that makes starcraft a good game, add card collectionning for DLC and money grabber, and you have Halo wars 2. Also, as a fan of Halo from the beggining, i find the lack of floods, Elite only, and prometheans faction disturbing. Not to mention many units are invented, or a variant that didn't existed in theThis game is plain bad for the genre. Take Starcraft 2, remove everygood thing that makes starcraft a good game, add card collectionning for DLC and money grabber, and you have Halo wars 2. Also, as a fan of Halo from the beggining, i find the lack of floods, Elite only, and prometheans faction disturbing. Not to mention many units are invented, or a variant that didn't existed in the previous games. Again, the genre and of the game, on consoles, have doomed it from the begining, it was the case with the first game, halo wars 1, similar games, like end war. Just don't do RTS on console!… Expand
  8. tonyfv16
    Feb 21, 2017
    2
    I could not get behind this game. The gameplay was extremely dull. Fans of halo should be warned, this is not a typical halo game. The game story was also weak throughout.
  9. Olakasexd
    Feb 26, 2017
    0
    Es pura basura, aburrido hasta hacerte apagar la consola. Un juego de este estilo en una consola no sirve. Microsoft traenos un exclusivo decente a los xboxers porfavor.
  10. paulward7437
    Mar 2, 2017
    1
    where to begin on halo wars 2 I have been waiting for 9 years only to be the most dissapointed i have ever been by a video game sequel
    lets start with the fact that the game is literally less complex than the original, in halo wars every unit has 3 or 2 upgrades, but in halo wars 2 there are just as many units and half dont have any upgrades, some have 1 upgrade and a few are lucky enough    where to begin on halo wars 2 I have been waiting for 9 years only to be the most dissapointed i have ever been by a video game sequel
    lets start with the fact that the game is literally less complex than the original, in halo wars every unit has 3 or 2 upgrades, but in halo wars 2 there are just as many units and half dont have any upgrades, some have 1 upgrade and a few are lucky enough to have 2, not to mention the upgrades dont even really change them as much as they do in the first,
    in addition the game took every aspect of the first game that was critized for being overpowered and thought of how they could make these problems even worse. leader powers were a little bit too frusterating in the first game but at least you could use the disruption bomb to take them out of the equation, but for the second they decided not to have a disruption bomb and instead you just have to watch as your armies are destroyed by leader powers over and over again
    i cannot beleieve it took 343 9 years to come out with this sorry excuse for a game, Remastering halo wars 1 would have been much more impressive than this failure    … Expand
  11. MaiconAfonso
    Feb 21, 2017
    0
    Halo Wars 2 is a smartphone game ridiculous, Microsoft were the triplo A are, you guys need spend more money in big japanese games, more rpg and less the same halo, forza and gears.
  12. Gamemonster
    Oct 30, 2018
    0
    Halo wars 2 now has FORCED crossplay with pc which makes the game unfair and worthless for xbox players.
    It's ridiculous that we pay for xbox live and don't have the option to turn of crossplay if we want to.
    Pc players can micromanage, navigate the map much faster etc. and have higher framerates.
    It was a fun competitive game but now it's a complete waste of time.
  13. neropx
    Feb 23, 2017
    0
    I review games on my personal enjoyment of the game.. and well 3 out of 10 is how much I enjoyed it. nothing special here. not even anything good. ok-ish at best.
  14. ufc77
    Feb 28, 2017
    1
    Halo Wars 2 is a smartphone game ridiculous, Microsoft were the triplo A are, you guys need spend more money in big japanese games, more rpg and less the same halo, forza and gears.
  15. Panzidane
    Mar 5, 2017
    3
    Uma das raras sensações que eu tenho comprando jogos da Microsoft é que fui lesado, e esse jogo me passou essa impressão. É lamentável e frustrante ver o quão ruim pode ser um jogo, e esse Halo Wars me faz pensar onde estavam os exigentes executivos da Microsoft enquanto era produzido essa porcaria? O jogo é péssimo e feio, a única coisa nela que é boa são as CGs.
  16. DerangedGinger
    May 2, 2017
    4
    The game definitely had potential, but it fell far short of being a great, or even good, game.

    The campaign was woefully short and lacking. The cut scenes were great, but were marred for me by a bug they haven't bothered to fix that's been an issue since release. On both PC and XBOX One there is an issue where the main voice channel is so quiet you can't hear it. I went through the    The game definitely had potential, but it fell far short of being a great, or even good, game.

    The campaign was woefully short and lacking. The cut scenes were great, but were marred for me by a bug they haven't bothered to fix that's been an issue since release. On both PC and XBOX One there is an issue where the main voice channel is so quiet you can't hear it. I went through the entire campaign not even being able to enjoy the story due to this bug.

    The story was also too short. They charge the same price as Starcraft II but deliver far less of a campaign. The multiplayer also isn't really up to what you would expect for a AAA priced title. It feels extremely small in scale and limited by low unit caps. There are no truly epic battles to be had, and the AI is just plain bad.

    This isn't a $60 game. This is barely a $30 game. It feels like an indie title, and should be priced accordingly. Lack of bug fixes and lack of content.    … Expand
  17. SINCERIDADE
    Jun 4, 2017
    1
    pooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooodre não foi oque eu pensei, os olhos enganão ...........................................................
  18. helloooooo
    Dec 14, 2018
    0
    Garbage connection, you will always disconnect from the game despite having the upper hand on the opposing team causing it to count as a loss for you. Don't purchase this ****
  19. Steyraus
    Aug 2, 2020
    4
    Beyond generic rts, the games I was playing in the 90 were more interesting and had more charm than this. And what is up with Isabele. Halo gave us one of the most interesting sexy and bad arse Ai female characters in gaming ever and This game followers her up with Isabelle, a borked out, little boy looking female AI , with about as much likability as a cold wet rag in winter. Serious youBeyond generic rts, the games I was playing in the 90 were more interesting and had more charm than this. And what is up with Isabele. Halo gave us one of the most interesting sexy and bad arse Ai female characters in gaming ever and This game followers her up with Isabelle, a borked out, little boy looking female AI , with about as much likability as a cold wet rag in winter. Serious you want me to look at that the whole Champaign,.
    Game play is exactly what you would expect just not fun and the whole story side is just generic aswell.    … Expand
  20. DarkW0lf
    Oct 29, 2018
    3
    Coming from a person who held the highest achievable rank on halo wars 1 and absolutely loved that game and I still play it occasionally, I must say my opinion is a little biased. However biased for a good reason. The first halo wars made by bungie was a good game. The second game is a terribly balanced money hungry shell of the first game. To understand why halo wars 2 deserves 3/10 atComing from a person who held the highest achievable rank on halo wars 1 and absolutely loved that game and I still play it occasionally, I must say my opinion is a little biased. However biased for a good reason. The first halo wars made by bungie was a good game. The second game is a terribly balanced money hungry shell of the first game. To understand why halo wars 2 deserves 3/10 at best, you have to understand what made the first halo wars such a good game. It was the best RTS game on console because it was slightly less complicated than games like command and conquer and that made a faster more action packed game. Mostly, halo wars was such a good game because it was very very well balanced. Obviously there were stronger and weaker units unlocked on a tiered system but all units had a purpose and because the gap in strength of most units was not horrible as long as you weren't fighting a counter unit, armys pretty much leveled out and it left a lot of possibilities of what strategies to use and how you could use different kinds of units and armies to succeed in various ways. Additionally, it meant that like most games, players are more likely to succeed based on skill or strategy. I bought halo wars 2 for sixty bucks when it came out, hated it immediately, haven't touched it for over seven months. Decided maybe I was unfair in my original assessment so the last few weeks, I gave it a second chance, and after a couple weeks, I must conclude I was wrong initially. Its not just boring, its just a plain bad game. Even after things have supposedly been balanced, there are not just a few units but many units that basically aren't worth investing in at any point. Counter units that were key in the first halo wars to keeping a strategic balance between infantry, air and vehicles are always either way over powered or not even useful as a counter unit. The worst part of this whole thing is that there are certain units and leader abilities that are far superior to others making certain leaders who have weak abilities and weak units not even worth playing as. This was never a problem in the original halo wars. Every leader had slightly different advantages and UNSC units were slightly stronger that covenant units but the covenant could have a slightly larger army to make up for that. UNSC all had pretty similar leadership abilities and spartans. Covenant in response had much more powerful leaders on the field from the start of the game. There was a unique balance of power that made that game far more interesting. Halo wars 2 is not like this at all. Like I said before certain civilizations so to speak are really weak and others are over powered. Coincidentally, all the most powerful leadership abilities and units that just plain trash the rest of the competition including supposed counter units, belong to leaders that were released in later DLC's. That's right, you have to pay if you want to win. I'm not paying a cent more to be able to be on fair terms with all the rest of the players who paid. I think I am with most gamers when I say, if I pay full price for a competitive multiplayer game, I deserve to have a fair chance in multiplayer like everyone else. If you want to sell DLC, that doesn't bother me, just don't make them so strong that the rest of the original games leaders are basically pointless. There are thirteen leaders, and seven of them are free; almost half the leaders in the game have to be purchased after you just bought the game. 343 industries should be ashamed for practicing such terrible business and for basically charging players more money in order to have a significant advantage in multiplayer match making. I wont say there is nothing good about this game, it deserves some credit but the bad outweighs the good tremendously here. If you're thinking about buying, skip this one and play the original halo wars if you can. It is a far better game and there are still plenty of players on there.… Expand
  21. VeryShway
    Jun 25, 2020
    0
    The game played nothing like the first one and replaced the lovable serena with isabel who was an attempt at the first sjw AI. She constantly showed disrespect to the captain with her mood swings. The ingame recordings was borderline you tube fan made. I cringed at how they didn't even bother to apply a filter to some of the brutes voices when they talked. The whole game was advertisedThe game played nothing like the first one and replaced the lovable serena with isabel who was an attempt at the first sjw AI. She constantly showed disrespect to the captain with her mood swings. The ingame recordings was borderline you tube fan made. I cringed at how they didn't even bother to apply a filter to some of the brutes voices when they talked. The whole game was advertised as this big confrontation between you and Atriox and the game ends before you even fight him. At least Halo Wars 1 had a conclusive ending. Overall not worth your time for the story was flat and the gameplay was boring.… Expand
  22. xXr2
    Dec 8, 2019
    0
    The game is just so bad from the characters to the ending just really bad I'm getting back my money
  23. 1truJudge
    Jan 3, 2020
    1
    I'm rating it here because Xbox doesn't let me rate it on there conveniently, but I uninstalled this game because I got so sick and tired of wasting my time playing it. I recommend nobody buys any games made by these developers as they've fallen for the same **** as every other developer whose ratings are just tanking lower and lower by the day. I hope I've caused them to lose money overI'm rating it here because Xbox doesn't let me rate it on there conveniently, but I uninstalled this game because I got so sick and tired of wasting my time playing it. I recommend nobody buys any games made by these developers as they've fallen for the same **** as every other developer whose ratings are just tanking lower and lower by the day. I hope I've caused them to lose money over this experience and I hope I prevent the waste of money by other people who will just experience the same thing as everyone else who tries to enjoy this game. Total waste.… Expand
  24. Isrra
    Feb 14, 2020
    4
    El juego es decente pasar un buen rato y continuar la historia de halo ya que tiene relación con lo que ocurrió en halo 5... me gustó bastante he jugado el primero y si mejoro mucho en varios aspectos, lo que no me gustó es lo corta que es la campaña al menos para mí es corta y si no te gusta este tipo de halo a lo RPG entonces no lo juegues, pero si haz jugado el primero tienes que jugarEl juego es decente pasar un buen rato y continuar la historia de halo ya que tiene relación con lo que ocurrió en halo 5... me gustó bastante he jugado el primero y si mejoro mucho en varios aspectos, lo que no me gustó es lo corta que es la campaña al menos para mí es corta y si no te gusta este tipo de halo a lo RPG entonces no lo juegues, pero si haz jugado el primero tienes que jugar este ya que puede tener relevancia en el siguiente halo sobretodo con el regreso de el flood y los guardianes no esperes una jugabilidad adictiva por qué no la hay, el multijugador es algo que no me gustó es aburrido al menos para mí sin embargo entiendo que no estoy acostumbrado a ese multijugador y no me gustan los RPG pero este lo ame (claro a excepción de el multijugador) Entonces si lo recomiendo yo un seguidor de halo desde sus juegos hasta los cómics amo halo y se que hay algunos que son basura (si te veo a ti halo 5)) pero este no creo que sea malo es mejorable si pero si eres fan este es algo que tienes que jugar.… Expand
  25. techboy
    Dec 11, 2020
    4
    RTS games are dead... well, no wonder!
    This game is a bad joke!
    Graphics and Blitz idea is okay... But the game in overall is total boring and it's gameplay pretty simplified. Controlling units as a bulk is the only thing that is possible. It is not manageable multiple units separately without control groups. Singleplayer campaign is ridiculous, you get pre-defined ways to solve    RTS games are dead... well, no wonder!
    This game is a bad joke!

    Graphics and Blitz idea is okay...

    But the game in overall is total boring and it's gameplay pretty simplified.
    Controlling units as a bulk is the only thing that is possible.
    It is not manageable multiple units separately without control groups.
    Singleplayer campaign is ridiculous, you get pre-defined ways to solve a mission.
    You have to follow specific roads... also you get fighting scenes, which take your control of the game off. Well, even with two fractions we have that all seen before e.g. Warcraft 1-2... and yes, there also the fractions had same units in different skins... where is the innovation?

    MOST WORST THING EVER, PLAYING A RTS WITH A CONTROLLER...
    WHERE IS THE MOUSE AND KEYBOARD SUPPORT???

    I am still playing Starcraft 2, since this game is still the king of RTS genre.
    Not also the Multiplayer is still the best (1on1), also the Singleplayer campaign outstanding!

    Halo Wars 2 is a really bad game.
    You should not waste your time with such a garbage.
    I really do not understand the positive reviews...
    The point that it does not support keyboard and mouse on Xbox shows us that the game can not be taken serious! Its unplayable!    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

58
#58 Best Xbox One Game of 2017
7
#7 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
1
#1 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 79 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 60 out of 79
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 79
  3. Negative: 0 out of 79
  1. Games Master UK
    May 19, 2017
    82
    Nothing revolutionary, but worthy of any strategy fan's attention, and a must for Halo devotees. [Apr 2017, p.72]
  2. Edge Magazine
    Apr 16, 2017
    70
    Sacrificing a degree of nuance at the altar of spectacle is a trade-off most Halo fans will be happy to make. Yet, at times it feels like you're just smashing toys together and watching the carnage unfold. But what wonderful toys they are. [May 2017, p.114]
  3. games(TM)
    Apr 14, 2017
    70
    At its heart, HW2 is a console RTS that does what it needs to fit the broader appeal of the modern console generation. On PC its approach to game design will keep it off most GOTY lists, but on Xbox One its seamless gamepad control scheme and hefty selection modes make it a must for Halo devotees. Look past the shortcuts and you’ll find the best effort yet to light the real-time strategy fire on console.
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