Halo Wars Review

Finally, after a few years of playing Halo first peron shooters, we finally get the product that Halo was originally scheduled to be. When Halo: Combat Evolved was first thought up, it was supposed to be made into a real time strategy game, but we all know that ship sailed away a long time ago. So we got stuck with Halo, one of the most popular first person shooters of all time (although I do think it was a good trade off).

So lets get right down to the story of it all. Halo Wars starts about 20 years before Halo: Combat Evolved’s story, but where the story goes from there is anyone’s guess. The story itself is really lacking. They could have done so much more, but failed to do anything truly miraculous with it. I just wish there were more things to say about the storyline of this game, but there isn’t. Good, but not great.

Now the controls were the main focal point in the game for me, since RTS’s are made for PC’s.  mean who were they trying to kid with Command and Conquer for the Xbox 360? But I digress, the controls in this game are very simplified. Left on the directional pad to go to your base, down to cycle through squads, it doesn’t really get much more complicated than that. They really simplified the controls and did a really good job of making them work. I am amazed, for one, that the controls on this game actually work for a console game, and two, are not too hard to get used to.

Just because the controls are that simple, though, doesn’t mean your troops are easy to command. I got really tired of issuing my troops a command to move to a certain location while they took unnecessary routes to get to the destination. Just imagine a scarab waiting for your troops to hop out from behind a wall, it really isn’t the best feeling in the world. It also frustrated me that when you are trying to send a specific tank to a location, your troops won’t get out of the way, forcing the tank to maneuver around them. Hopefully a simple patch can clean that mess up, It’s not like RTS games have not been around for well over 15 years now.

The single player campaign may be lacking, but you open a whole new bag once you venture off into the world of Xbox Live. Co-op campaign, as well as 1vs1 and 2vs2 skirmish modes are there at your disposal for multiplayer fun. The online will keep you entertained for a while, but I just don’t think this game has enough to keep you hooked for too long.

Although this game is seriously missing some things, it is not a bad attempt at a Halo RTS. The game looks nice graphic wise, it looks like what you would expect from a Halo game. Will pretty graphics and the Halo name alone suffice, though?

AnalogHype Rating: 7.5/10

Buy, rent, Demo: Rent