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Posted on: Mar 03, 2009
Halo Wars
WORDS BY: Ryan McCaffrey
Who says you can never go home again? The Halo franchise — which began life as a real-time strategy game at Bungie a decade ago before morphing into the FPS juggernaut we all know so well — has officially come full circle. The result? Thanks to the talent and experience of the developers at Ensemble Studios (famous for the Age of Empires series on PC), Halo simply works as an RTS.

This debut entry in the spin-off series is set 20 years before Combat Evolved. Humanity has been jockeying with the Covenant for control of Harvest for quite some time — and Halo Wars picks up there, leading Captain Cutter (of the Spirit of Fire), Commander Shepard look-alike Sergeant Forge, and science expert Professor Anders through slipspace. On the other side of their jump, they encounter the Flood, ultimately leading to a massive Covenant super-weapon that must be stopped at all costs.

Told mostly through gorgeous CG cutscenes between missions, the story behind Halo Wars is satisfying, but it never feels like it fully develops. To be fair, though, the action-packed sequence before the game’s final mission is worth the price of admission alone, and in fact makes us wish for a CG Halo feature film like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (minus the suck, of course). Overall, it’s nowhere near as rich as the plots of other Halo games, nor do its characters resonate as deeply, but it’s enough to keep you interested until the campaign’s conclusion.

Of course, story isn’t what compels you to play Halo (though it is part of the equation) — it’s Bungie’s legendary “30 seconds of fun” on an endless loop that keeps you coming back for more. In Halo Wars, the inherently slower-paced RTS genre changes that to “30 minutes of fun” on repeat.








Tue, 10/20/2009 - 11:21
Posted by mindspring
played it... meh... Its a very standard RTS... From what i found very poor AI as well; it would have been a bit more acceptable if released after C&C 2 but this day players to do less babysitting on dumb ai...

Sun, 10/18/2009 - 04:56
Posted by wickland
This game is insane! I've been waiting for it for a long long time!

Mon, 10/05/2009 - 22:06
Posted by jpstevenson
Man! This games kicks some serious A*S! I have never been so addicted to a game before...Nice videos and graphics really kept me playing!





Sat, 08/29/2009 - 19:13
Posted by juicerx
Thanks for sharing this information. I found it very informative as I have been researching a lot lately on practical matters such as you talk about...


Mon, 07/27/2009 - 15:17
Posted by gameguruu
my faforit best game :-)
Sun, 04/26/2009 - 08:42
Posted by zombo09
I got bored playing the demo. But i did like how you can build up your base quickly with this game. I don't think I'll buy this game but i will for sure likely rent it.

Tue, 04/21/2009 - 08:15
Posted by Bobafettboy
This game is the same as each and every other strategy game, and brings nothing new to anything! Holy shit those voices are already annoying after the first half hour of gameplay!
But for a game that I picked up for 15 bucks at a local pawnshop, and sold for 45 bucks on E-BAY, it was pretty much fun to play for two weeks.
Fri, 04/10/2009 - 23:55
Posted by GRUNTSMASHER
I don't have the game but I see that the graphics are incredible and hear the gameplay is awesome. GO EARTH!!!!!!!!
Sat, 03/14/2009 - 14:41
Posted by skulllord129
I'd like to appolagize for my previous post. I just realized it wasn't you guys who did that vid.
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 16:18
Posted by skulllord129
I totally agree with Nate66613. The release of that vid pretty much screwed up the whole game. I mean, rushing is a strategy that ppl use but when you guys released that vid it made it so that now almost EVERYONE uses it. Its extremely annoying and I have difficulty trying to counter it, especially when both teams do it. I sure hope that defense vid you are working on gets released very soon and I hope its pretty damn good because if it not then congratualtions... You just ruined a game for thousands.
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 02:31
Posted by ThunderChief66
hey, It is possible to stop the rush you know...
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 00:51
Posted by Nate66613
I would like to say FUCK YOU to the faggots that released the UNSC and Covenant rush techniques. You have succesfully ruined the game because now thats all people do. Why the fuck didnt you release the defense techniques first? Again, FUCK YOU OXM! EAT A FUCKING DICK COCK SUCKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fri, 03/13/2009 - 00:35
Posted by Spybreak
Yea I think they just wanted to see if it would work first before they put in all their time and effort to get Cov and Flood campaigns. It would be nice to see these or new multiplayer modes, (like CTF or something new like Assault/Defend, Gold Rush or something like that) as DLC but with the closing of Ensemble I don't think this is going to happen. I'm guessing the only DLC that will come out for Halo Wars will be map packs. >< Love the game and you didn't even mention the automatic dif feature which is a dynamic difficulty setting that always changes whenever you play the AI and win or loose.

Wed, 03/11/2009 - 16:33
Posted by Halo...IEP
I loved the demo. Bought the game, and love it more! The campaign is addictive. The multiplayer is very fun. Skirmish mode is great(possibly my favorite part). I've played 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 with both AI and human players via xbox live. All worth your time.
The cutscenes are very impressive too.
My knocks on the game are: traffic jams with your units in certain spaces, the lack of a split-screen multiplayer, no campaign mode for the flood or cov., and no flood mode for multiplayer.
I think they felt like they needed to make a particular deadline, and put in what they could. It could've easily been a 9.5 or 10 with a little more work. I do not have a problem with the review score.
ScreamngSilence
Sun, 03/08/2009 - 22:46
Posted by Frostbite9294
Civilization Revolution is indeed a TBS (Turn Based Strategy) game, and in no way an RTS. It is rather shocking that someone who is considered a professional video game reviewer would not know this.
OXM will, on occasion, have spot-on reviews, however as of late they seem to be inflating the scores of Xbox exclusive games, such as Gears of War 2 and Fable 2, and lowering multi-platform release games, such as Dead Space. Dead Space, in my mind, was one of the best new IPs in recent memory, with a captivating environment, fun gameplay and an overall enjoyable experience.
Back from the tangent, while Halo Wars does seem to be a successful console RTS, its' console accessibility seems to have come at the cost of features, leaving a stripped down strategy game that seems to leave an easy, repetitive experience, with the exception of an entertaining multiplayer.
As such I believe that a game that should be a 7.5 or 8 has been pushed up to a 9- due to what I believe is a bias for Microsoft published games by a company that is endorsed by none other than Microsoft.
I continue to read and enjoy many OXM reviews, that's just my two cents.
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 22:37
Posted by LIG GUNNER
I agree with insomniak 100%. Civ Rev is most definitely a turn based strategy. At no point is it real-time. And I would know, I played it extensively. You could only move a certain number of 'spaces' per turn, whereas in RTS's, it is REAL-TIME. Live action. I would've figured a gaming magazine would know that. But no worries, still love you guys.
P.S.- One thing I love about OXM is they seem to give games scores based on how fun it is versus the technical aspects like many others judge by. I don't care how great the voice acting is in a RTS. I care about FUN!
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 04:28
Posted by Cronos501
Yeah,yeah but WTF are the rock band and guitar hero DLC Reviews
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 02:43
Posted by insomniak
Civilization Revolutions is not an RTS it is a TBS.
Most definately buying this game I love the demo. I love RTS but they dont usually transfer well to console but this game definately works.
Wed, 03/04/2009 - 01:32
Posted by xpects the xpctd
I haved played the demo dry and I'm getting this from Gamefly hopefully tomorrow. I can't wait to try the full campaign and multiplayer, and if it's anything like the demo, I could just be making this just the second RTS game in my collection (EndWar).
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 23:30
Posted by Hustlinonradio
i really think its a good game but not the best RTS on the 360. I think that belongs to civilization revolution
Tue, 03/03/2009 - 20:58
Posted by thedude8591
I got bored playing the demo. But i did like how you can build up your base quickly with this game. I don't think I'll buy this game but i will for sure likely rent it.