Halo Wars

[FrieChamp]

Any discussion on the Halo RTS game goes here. Anyone here with a beta key who would like to share his impressions?

[Skjalg]

oh my, I'd really like to see something from this game...

Anyone got any decent links to share?

[sarge mat]

As I said in the Dawn of War topic I have been playing (the demo that is) so I can preview it for an Xbox fan site. I am just stunned at how good it is, all the little Halo details are in there and it works very well as an RTS. It will most likely be my main multiplayer game for a long time to come.

The cut scenes are CGI movie quality and that’s no joke, I can't believe they put so much effort into them. It’s clear they looked at all the books etc to make sure it all fits in with the cannon and ads a lot to it. Although you can only play as the UNSC and convent, both sides are very different and there are also the human rebels as AI hostiles on the maps and the flood who are not in the demo.

The only thing is missing is space battles. But it stands up to any PC RTS in my opinion. The special powers are very interesting too.

[Thrik]

Looks very good. Definitely will pick it up, especially with some magazines I trust saying how they've done a really good job of getting an RTS interface working on a console.

One thing that dumbfounds me is that Microsoft has seen fit to close down Ensemble Studios (the developer) before the game's even complete. Apparently they're now running on a skeleton staff to get the game finished, and immediately afterwards the studio is truly toast. What must that do to your morale, finding out your studio is unconditionally doomed with months of crunch time to get through?

The fact that the game seems to be shaping up so well makes Microsoft's decision even more bizarre.

[sarge mat]

I agree.

But at least two new studio are starting up out of this Ensemble Online to cover Halo Wars DLC and other things, as well as another studio not sure if they will be under MS too. I am hopeing one of them will work on a new AOE.

[JohnC]

One of the Ensemble guys was only able to say "they... have some plans for it." "It" being Age of Empires.

I wager that means AOE going 360 exclusive.

[sarge mat]

As sad as it would be to see it not on PC anymore if it played like Halo Wars, it will be good.

I wish MS would make up there minds what they want to do with PC. Its all about games for windows live and the next thing the head of GFW Live gets layed off and one of there major studios is closeing down. Sure smaller ones are coming out of that but.....

[JohnC]

That's been a debacle ever since the Xbox launch.

And I don't think AOE should play like Halo Wars. That doesn't feel right.

[sarge mat]

I should say I mean control wise.

[st0lve]

never been a fan of RTS on consoles, this will be interesting.

[sarge mat]

Any of you guys tried out the demo yet?

[Erratic]

I gave it a go. I think for someone who hasn't really played an RTS before would have some fun with it, which was probably who it was directed at. The oddest thing about it was that the base building/resource management seemed to be the area with the most depth, from playing a few skirmish matches. It seems what units you build and when is far more important than where they are in the level and the control you have over them. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn't that engaging. Battle's look cool, so you want to spend your time looking over a fight, but there just isn't a ton for you to do when you are.

I think it comes down to the controls. You can't properly micro with a controller, so finely shuffling your units around isn't really an option. Or at least when you do, it's time consuming and largely irritating. So, what ends up happening is you send out the entirety of your army in one clump and hope for the best. (There were no formation functions as far as I could tell, either)

Maybe spending more time with it will pull out more depth from it. Certainly not bad game, maybe just not for an RTS elitist.