So... after playing the halo wars demo... (for those of you that did)
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I like it, but that's me, I wish the controls had a few more options but I still think it looks pretty good.
Not to be "that guy," but don't we have a topic like this?
I never tracked Halo Wars too closely because a) it is a Halo game and I really don't like the series that much and b) it is an RTS game on consoles.
After playing the demo I can say that, despite my early prejudices, it is shaping up to be a good game. It manages to take the concept of RTS games on consoles and execute it much better than most efforts. It is still a pain in the ass to micro with a controller, and it isn't as advanced or complex as the average PC RTS, but it ain't bad. It is nice to see a new high profile RTS coming out soon, and I hope it reignites interest in the genre by trying to reach a broader audience. I mean really...I'm so starved for RTS games...The genre is going more and more into the same territory as combat flight sims (I said sims, as in stuff like Falcon 4.0, not Ace Combat) and point-and-click adventures every year, despite occasional high profile releases like the upcoming Dawn of War II, Empire: Total War, or a new C&C.
Actually, 2009 looks pretty good for RTS games. At least, MUCH better than the last several years. We have several high profile franchises getting sequels, a few expansions, and a few new franchises starting.
Edit:
I never tracked Halo Wars too closely because a) it is a Halo game and I really don't like the series that much and b) it is an RTS game on consoles.
After playing the demo I can say that, despite my early prejudices, it is shaping up to be a good game. It manages to take the concept of RTS games on consoles and execute it much better than most efforts. It is still a pain in the ass to micro with a controller, and it isn't as advanced or complex as the average PC RTS, but it ain't bad. It is nice to see a new high profile RTS coming out soon, and I hope it reignites interest in the genre by trying to reach a broader audience. I mean really...I'm so starved for RTS games...The genre is going more and more into the same territory as combat flight sims (I said sims, as in stuff like Falcon 4.0, not Ace Combat) and point-and-click adventures every year, despite occasional high profile releases like the upcoming Dawn of War II, Empire: Total War, or a new C&C.
Actually, 2009 looks pretty good for RTS games. At least, MUCH better than the last several years. We have several high profile franchises getting sequels, a few expansions, and a few new franchises starting.
Edit:
Ha...Yeah...Halo Wars might be better than your average console attempt at an RTS game, but the genre still has a LONG way to go before it gets to that point.Souplex said:
By far the best console RTS (not very impressive title but still) with great controls but while I'm a sucker for "Halo" and the story looks amazing, it does seem a tad simple.
I could never beat the Covenant on Heroic because I just had no idea how to beat back 25 elite honor guards, 4 ghosts, Regret and his Cleansing Beam, and 3 pairs of hunters in the first 10 minutes of playing. The Covenant just spams you with more units than would even be possible if it was another player like yourself. And the UNSC AI is just too easy. I walk all over them on Heroic. It'll probably be better in the final game, but even if it isn't, I won't care because I won't be playing skirmishes. I'll be playing multiplayer only. Other than that, the only real complaint I have is that the grunts' voices are annoying as hell, but that isn't much of a complaint.Jaedon said:
Oh, and here's a few things that people might not know: When playing as the Covenant, you can select any of the gravity lifts before any of your bases and recall your leader to that gravity lift. You can also teleport units to your leader by sending them to the gravity lift. Once Regret has full flight capabilities, he can go anywhere on the map with ease. You can build up an army of whatever unit (except Scarabs, they're the only units that cannot use the gravity lifts) at your bases, fly Regret over to the enemy base, and then order all your units to pour into their respective gravity lifts, instantly overwhelming the enemy. Oh, and another thing. When you select multiple types of units, you can cycle through each unit type using the right trigger. It makes it much easier to coordinate attacks. Also, the Forerunner elevators on the map can only be activated and controlled by either an Elite Honor Guard or a Spartan. It takes 1 Elite or Spartan to control an elevator. The elevators act like Blessed Warehouses or Heavy Supply Pads (depending on your faction).
Really? So far my build up has just been (as UNSC) 3 supply yards, power plant, barracks, 3 spartans, upgrade supply yards, grab the extra resource thing with a marine squad. Other power plant, chaingun for spartans, spartans grab second base, spam supply yards, spam marine squads, get upgrades for marines, win. Maybe a bit lame as you only use marines and spartans but it works well enough, heh.
It was fun. The unit cap was to low. I really didn't like the base building mechanic. The interface worked well but it really made me miss C&C3 which has my favorite console RTS control scheme. I felt it worked better than Red Alert 3's control scheme though. If my friends buy it I'll get it too, just for the co-op.
Are you joking? GoldenEye is most certainly the reigning king of console FPS, but it never "proved" FPS to be better on consoles. PC still has better games in that market and probably always will.Souplex said:
I like it, it's got simple controls that are easy to pick up and won't fail you in the heat of the action. And it's got a nice style to it, how I wanted Halo 3 to be, I'm sick of everything being so damned bright!
However, I'm worried that they might have over simplified the game to make it play so well, with less unit types etc.
I'll definitely be at least renting it or maybe buying it if I get sick of Killzone 2 multiplayer.
However, I'm worried that they might have over simplified the game to make it play so well, with less unit types etc.
I'll definitely be at least renting it or maybe buying it if I get sick of Killzone 2 multiplayer.
Firstly, can we not get into a Console vs. PC war over a single game? Please?
Secondly, I enjoyed it. This game was tailor made to the 360, so I don't understand how anyone can say it'd be better on the PC -- It was designed for the 360, specifically so. That's like saying a suit specifically designed for a one-armed cripple would look better on a whole person. It wasn't made to go on a whole person, so it wouldn't.
Not to say the 360 is crippled, it's just the easiest analogy I could think of.
Yes, the concept of RTSs originated on the PC, but that doesn't mean they have to stay there. If you're too afraid to step away from the safety of your mouse to try and have fun with a controller, so be it - you'll miss out on a perfectly good game.
Now to get back on topic- I liked the demo a lot, it did precisely what a demo is designed to do and resigned me to purchasing a copy. I'll probably go pre-order mine in the next week or so, but I'm definitely getting it. The controls are tight and intuitive, to me at least but I've found I'm better at conforming to a control scheme than others, and the game plays loyally to the source material. I also like to watch ODSTs and Spartans mow down hordes of Covenant while I rain down orbital rounds to destroy enemy artillery... but maybe that's just me.
Secondly, I enjoyed it. This game was tailor made to the 360, so I don't understand how anyone can say it'd be better on the PC -- It was designed for the 360, specifically so. That's like saying a suit specifically designed for a one-armed cripple would look better on a whole person. It wasn't made to go on a whole person, so it wouldn't.
Not to say the 360 is crippled, it's just the easiest analogy I could think of.
Yes, the concept of RTSs originated on the PC, but that doesn't mean they have to stay there. If you're too afraid to step away from the safety of your mouse to try and have fun with a controller, so be it - you'll miss out on a perfectly good game.
Now to get back on topic- I liked the demo a lot, it did precisely what a demo is designed to do and resigned me to purchasing a copy. I'll probably go pre-order mine in the next week or so, but I'm definitely getting it. The controls are tight and intuitive, to me at least but I've found I'm better at conforming to a control scheme than others, and the game plays loyally to the source material. I also like to watch ODSTs and Spartans mow down hordes of Covenant while I rain down orbital rounds to destroy enemy artillery... but maybe that's just me.
It was fun. It had some bad points though:
I found the game overly simplistic, and mainly the amount of units was something which bothered me. Not only that, but there were so many good ideas which they could've included, just by looking at the books and the series. I would've loved to see ODST's drop into the heat of battle and stuff like that, or perhaps some units with spartan lasers.
Another thing which bothered me was the micromanagement, or rather the lack of it. I must admit, I'm not very good at it. However, especially in a game like this, where units have primary and secondary abilities, you need to be able to micromanage your units. With the control scheme (hell with the 360 controller in general) they have chosen that is very hard.
And what the hell is up with the Covenant's 'AI's' voice? Why the hell does it sound so human? I really hope that it is something they have yet to implement because this is really lazy. They have cool sound effects for the other units, so was it really that difficult to also let the AI have a similar voice?
My main issue with the demo though, was how little command points you had to spend. You can't have epic battles when you have only 40 (50 talented) of those damn things to spend. I would like to see battles of epic proportions, damn it!
However, I did like the demo though. The controls were intuitive, the units were (with a few exceptions) pretty balanced and the game looks very good. Especially the "Spirit of Fire" looked awesome. I'm probably going to buy it.
I found the game overly simplistic, and mainly the amount of units was something which bothered me. Not only that, but there were so many good ideas which they could've included, just by looking at the books and the series. I would've loved to see ODST's drop into the heat of battle and stuff like that, or perhaps some units with spartan lasers.
Another thing which bothered me was the micromanagement, or rather the lack of it. I must admit, I'm not very good at it. However, especially in a game like this, where units have primary and secondary abilities, you need to be able to micromanage your units. With the control scheme (hell with the 360 controller in general) they have chosen that is very hard.
And what the hell is up with the Covenant's 'AI's' voice? Why the hell does it sound so human? I really hope that it is something they have yet to implement because this is really lazy. They have cool sound effects for the other units, so was it really that difficult to also let the AI have a similar voice?
My main issue with the demo though, was how little command points you had to spend. You can't have epic battles when you have only 40 (50 talented) of those damn things to spend. I would like to see battles of epic proportions, damn it!
However, I did like the demo though. The controls were intuitive, the units were (with a few exceptions) pretty balanced and the game looks very good. Especially the "Spirit of Fire" looked awesome. I'm probably going to buy it.
And that was just exactly my problem: I didn't think that it was a vast army. I mean, come on, you can't even build 20 squads of grunts, 5 pairs of hunters and 10 Wraiths.Teiraa said: