Poll: Halo Wars, and the Console RTS phenomenon

[Trivun]

Okay, so two days ago I bought Halo Wars for the Xbox 360. I'd have bought it sooner but as a massive Halo fan I was holding out for the Limited Edition to be cheaper (since it has more story through a short graphic novel and extra maps for Halo 3). I recall Yahtzee as having disliked the controls, and Susan also made comment on the control system as being a letdown during her original review.

Now, I'm no stranger to the RTS game. I've played Age of Empires, Dawn of War and Total Annihilation, all for the PC, and I'm a keen Turn Based Strategy player too. But I personally liked the controls on Halo Wars and found it to be very much in line with my style of play. I can easily select multiple units of the same type by double tapping one of them, which is standard on PC RTS's as well. Otherwise, the controls are easy to learn and the troop management is well thought out for a console RTS. But many have said that the entire RTS genre simply doesn't work on consoles. I disagree. I feel that Halo Wars is an example of a console RTS done right.

So does anyone agree with me, or is it simply impossible to do a decent RTS for console gaming? As far as I know very few games, perhaps none, of this type have been a console success before. Can Halo Wars really break that trend, or not?

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

well, everyone to their own.
Personally, I couldn't stand Halo Wars.
but I do believe some RTSs work on consoles.
I've played a few that worked quite well -for me- on consoles.

 

[Christemo]

ive played age of empires 2 for the ps2. it sucked. the controls were arsy arse, the graphics were worse than on the PC, and it was generally sucktastic. because of that, i dont believe RTS´ will work on consoles, unless you can connect a keyboard and a mouse.

 

[oliveira8]

Console RTS phenomenon? What phenomenon? No matter how they tune up the controls, the real big bad boys of the RTS/TB genre will never go to console.

They would all end up being awkward and slow compared to their PC counter part. It is known.

It's possible, but in RTS where speed is the essense and handling thousands of units at once can't be done properly. Unless you hook up a mouse and keyboard.

 

[Steel Ronin]

It's impossible RTSes are made for PCs console RTSes suck ass.

 

[Trivun]

Console RTS phenomenon? What phenomenon? No matter how they tune up the controls, the real big bad boys of the RTS/TB genre will never go to console.

They would all end up being awkward and slow compared to their PC counter part. It is known.

It's possible, but in RTS where speed is the essense and handling thousands of units at once can't be done properly. Unless you hook up a mouse and keyboard.

I guess you're right, but for a game like Halo Wars you aren't meant to have huge numbers of troops, it's a much more realistic number of troops and enemies that you need to face. With that, it becomes much more managable and still easy to control, so I guess large scale battles won't be any good on consoles. But for something like Halo Wars, it models real combat where there aren't hundreds or thousands of soldiers on the field of battle. Just a few squads is enough to handle most situations, so in that respect it does still work quite well.

 

[microhive]

Blizzard already stated that complex RTS don't work on Consoles unless we get better controllers like mouses and keyboards.

 

[oliveira8]

Console RTS phenomenon? What phenomenon? No matter how they tune up the controls, the real big bad boys of the RTS/TB genre will never go to console.

They would all end up being awkward and slow compared to their PC counter part. It is known.

It's possible, but in RTS where speed is the essense and handling thousands of units at once can't be done properly. Unless you hook up a mouse and keyboard.

I guess you're right, but for a game like Halo Wars you aren't meant to have huge numbers of troops, it's a much more realistic number of troops and enemies that you need to face. With that, it becomes much more managable and still easy to control, so I guess large scale battles won't be any good on consoles. But for something like Halo Wars, it models real combat where there aren't hundreds or thousands of soldiers on the field of battle. Just a few squads is enough to handle most situations, so in that respect it does still work quite well.

It works for that but it wouldn't work say..Starcraft or Warcraft 3, two games where you need to manage plenty of units all with their unique roles and magic powers. Or a games like Total War, the controls would drag you down while you trying to execute more complicated strategies, while jugling around thousands of little people, even the Wall of Spears+Archers from Rome couldn't be done.

It works for more simplistic games like the C&C games where you can win a map with only mass production of conscripts. Not saying C&C series is crap, but that was really it.

 

[PezNic]

You just cant play RTS without a mouse, Halo wars was little more than just simply selecting all your units and telling them to zerg any opposition on the way to the enemies base. You simply just cant micro units without the precision of the mouse

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Project Natal.
And also Halo Wars worked slightly and endwar had commendable execution, project natal could well save rts.

 

[Inco]

It works for more simplistic games like the C&C games where you can win a map with only mass production of conscripts. Not saying C&C series is crap, but that was really it.

Or when you capture an enemies barracks inside their base and then start massing conscripts while your attack force distracts the defenses. Its a nice 'adding insult to injury' strategy. .

I dunno, it really is based on what the persons preference of RTS is to be honest.
As Halo Wars was good for what it did, but didn't have the staying power for me to likes of starcraft and Warcraft 3. The reasons why are because is missions were not challenging enough (even on the highest difficulty) and were infrequent. The online play got irritating as it was basically a gamble at how you started off. With many strategies that could wipe you out quickly with little resistance.

 

[Knight Templar]

Halo wars has a very good system, Endwar has an even better system, however it takes time to get used to.
They have both done RTS controls well, it might never be at the level it is for the PC but will les buttons comes less control.

 

[sneak_copter]

Project Natal.
And also Halo Wars worked slightly and endwar had commendable execution, project natal could well save rts.

It could save Console RTS's. Remember, The RTS genre on PC has pretty much been perfected.

 

[Trivun]

Project Natal.
And also Halo Wars worked slightly and endwar had commendable execution, project natal could well save rts.

Bloody hell, I didn't think of that. That could well be true. Last time I thought of Natal was using the Milo controls for things like Elder Scrolls V and so on. But you're right, Natal could well save the console RTS, if they can just work out how to use it in a nice simple manner. Faster than the PC 'drag-and-drop' interface, too

As a sidenote, I realise the irony in discussing Natal's RTS use on a thread started about a Halo game, as it smells a bit like the holographic control panels and so on in the Halo games to me

 

[walls of cetepedes]

The original C&C Red Alert worked really well on the PS1, mostly due to the fact it had a working drag-select, something most other console games seem to be shying away from.

 

[KingPiccolOwned]

Unless you hook up a mouse and keyboard.

Which is something that I can't believe that console makers haven't gathered yet. Seriously, they could get more games to work on there if they did, and they could make more money by selling it as a peripheral. It's a win-win scenario.

Edit: Also your reference to Total War is commendable. Although I have never known the spear wall to be a particularly common tactic of Rome, but whatever.

 

[Zersy]

Okay, so two days ago I bought Halo Wars for the Xbox 360. I'd have bought it sooner but as a massive Halo fan I was holding out for the Limited Edition to be cheaper (since it has more story through a short graphic novel and extra maps for Halo 3). I recall Yahtzee as having disliked the controls, and Susan also made comment on the control system as being a letdown during her original review.

Now, I'm no stranger to the RTS game. I've played Age of Empires, Dawn of War and Total Annihilation, all for the PC, and I'm a keen Turn Based Strategy player too. But I personally liked the controls on Halo Wars and found it to be very much in line with my style of play. I can easily select multiple units of the same type by double tapping one of them, which is standard on PC RTS's as well. Otherwise, the controls are easy to learn and the troop management is well thought out for a console RTS. But many have said that the entire RTS genre simply doesn't work on consoles. I disagree. I feel that Halo Wars is an example of a console RTS done right.

So does anyone agree with me, or is it simply impossible to do a decent RTS for console gaming? As far as I know very few games, perhaps none, of this type have been a console success before. Can Halo Wars really break that trend, or not?

I totally agree with you , i still can't see why people hated it. other then becoming boring after a month.

 

[KingPiccolOwned]

Project Natal.
And also Halo Wars worked slightly and endwar had commendable execution, project natal could well save rts.

Bloody hell, I didn't think of that. That could well be true. Last time I thought of Natal was using the Milo controls for things like Elder Scrolls V and so on. But you're right, Natal could well save the console RTS, if they can just work out how to use it in a nice simple manner. Faster than the PC 'drag-and-drop' interface, too

As a sidenote, I realise the irony in discussing Natal's RTS use on a thread started about a Halo game, as it smells a bit like the holographic control panels and so on in the Halo games to me

Actually that's a damn good idea. Actually as I recall Sony have themselves already realized this with that Eyetoy wand thing, and even demonstrated its application at E3 as I recall.

 

[Ultrasnail]

console rts can happen, i enjoy comand and conquer 3 tiberium wars... red alert isnt that good, the circly selection wheel is stupid for a console.

ans when it comes to halo wars.... just don't, we were all dissapointed and it shouldnt be classed as a rts.