Game Informer: Halo Wars Review

Though Halo Wars is a vanilla RTS at its core, it's a solidly made one that proves that traditional genre mechanics can work on console. This is a fitting send-off for one of the best-loved RTS studios in the world.

[Old_School_Gamer]

So Gameinformer is saying that Empire Total War is only .5 points better then Halo Wars? Also,, they gave Killzone 2 an 8.5. Who the heck is running the show over there? Major Nelson?

[JokesOnYou]

Well looks like you haven't been gaming long enough to know that games are compared to other games in the genre, therefore a 9 for a RTS has nothing to do with a 8.5 for an FPS.

Its like saying a simple Arcade title doesn't eserves a 8 or 9 because it doesn't have great graphics we see in shooters or the depth of gameplay and story in an RPG. It's funny that you mention it 'cause I've been playing KZ2 and Halo Wars all week, who would of thought my ps3 and 360 could be so much fun playing these two games. Its weird, this is the first time I've played both of them for hours at a time in one week. lmfao, I'm so spoiled.

JOY

[heroicjanitor]

They seem to have given it a 9 not because it is a great game, but because it isn't a bad one. This is the complete opposite of killzone 2 reviews(which have nothing to do with it as you said, but shows the difference in mentality when reviewing halo or killzone) The killzone reviews took points off for minor details which weren't perfect, whereas this adds points on for every detail they find which isn't bad

[JoySticksFTW]

I'm a PS3 fan and I have to say that GI is one of the only magazines that I trust... eventhough that I don't agree with them all of the time

[snipermk0]

Halo Wars is not even an RTS. Just keep moving and keep blowing up stuff. No variety.

[JokesOnYou]

"My problem is
They seem to have given it a 9 not because it is a great game, but because it isn't a bad one" -heroicjanitor

-No your problem is you can't accept they have a different opinion then whatever you have in your mind, I read the review and it didn't "seem" that way at all, it was short and to the point like most of their reviews. I see plenty of reason for the 9, and furthermore they don't need much reason other than "hey I played the game and imo it deserves a 9", same way for those reviews that scored it lower than what I think it should get, if a site thinks its a 5, then its a 5 for that reviewer. I got the feeling if the AI was better and it had more depth he would of scored it much higher possibly a 10.

"This all adds up to a gameplay formula that is light on the boring kind of micromanagement (tech trees, resource gathering, and base building) and heavy on using awesome units to blow the hell out of the enemy." -GameInformer

-This is what I like most about Halo Wars, I actually posted several comments describing the gameplay in similiar terms long before I read it in this review. I think this guy hit the nail on the head with that statement for those of us who enjoy HW's.

JOY

[slak]

All i know is that halowars is a good RTS mad fun to play KZ is a other game that you must have this year ....GAME ON :)

[Lifendz]

Wow....the scores for this one are all over.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Man This game is intense online. Sometimes the battles last minutes or an hour. I just got off a long fight that ended with a scarab rush!

[green]

The last game i just ended a few minutes ago lasted for 58 minutes.

[Spydiggity]

this is the first game i've played in a while, of any genre, where i want to play it more and more as i'm playing it. usually i slowly start to get bored of a game, but i've probably done 50-60 online matches and i keep coming up with little tricks to get faster and make new strats.

for the people that have only a ps3, stop voicing your opinion just cuz it's a halo game. believe it or not, your thoughts on the halo franchise don't influence our thoughts on quality. good for you that you love killzone, that has nothing to do with the 360 or halo wars. stop trolling and go play playstation (if it has such amazing games, why are you posting in forums about games for systems you don't own??).

@old_school_gamer: you're a tool -- not a gamer.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I just finished a 3 vs 3 whooper of a game. It lasted 2 hours. We went back and fourth winning ground and losing it. Finally, with a flank by one single unit the brute chief to an enemy base and a grizzly and locust plus scarab rush the other way we smashed them by splitting their forces. Enemy base after enemy base fell. I haven't had this much fun since C&C on the pc!

[TitanUp]

fun game its 8.5 though

[Firstkn1ghT]

But but the 360 has no games. :(

[pwnsause]

yea it has no games this year.

[Firstkn1ghT]

Well so far Halo Wars, Ninja Blade, and Star Ocean have all gotten great reviews. That's 3 games so far. That's more than sony :)

[pixelsword]

Halo 3: 94%
v
v
v
Killzone 2: 91%
Resistance 2: 87%
Haze: 55%

LMAO! Try again sony fanboys :)

So, now halo wars has an average of 82% (Under Resistance 2) according to you, it's a "try again" title.

[snipermk0]

Lemme rephrase that for you..

LBP: 96
v
v
Metal Gear Solid 4: 94, Halo 3: 94
Killzone 2: 91
Uncharted: 88
v
v
v
v
Too human: 65

There, thats more like it..

[pixelsword]

:D

[thenickel]

Or how about Halo3= 10 million sold

and

LBP= 2 million sold lol

It would take 3 big ecxclusives from PS3 to match one on 360.

[snipermk0]

finally, we come to sales numbers. If I were a pathetic sales man, thats all I'd care about as well.. But, I'm a gamer instead and I value fun and gameplay over salezzzzz.... PWND much

[Arnon]

No... what's really pwnage is the fact that you have 3 bubbles while the guy you are "pwning" has more. Which would, in theory, show you post a lot of fud. Kinda like pwnsauce up there.

[Abash]

I think most people have known about the score on N4G for a while now

[TitanUp]

who says 360 does not have games? it has just about as much or more than other consoles. well it may not have much launching this year but never know whats ahead.

[thenickel]

360 already has more exclusives out this year and hasn't even announced there lineup yet lol. Do some research before spreading fud. All Ps3 has is KZ2 while 360 has Ninja Blade, Star Ocean, Halo Wars, GTA DLC and a ton of community games. What you actually believe those games Sony announced are all coming this year? This is the year of 360 and soon after the KZ2 buzz has faded you will come to terms with this.

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I hope thats not your real pic. Because you look and type comments like a level 9 loser.

[LukaX23]

Game Informer is officially biased. Halo Wars, better than Killzone 2? Wtf...

[Rhezin]

you're actually going to go as far as to say Star ocean and ninja blade are "great" games? Wow young one how little you know.

[Halochampian]

I really enjoy this game. I didnt get it day one but I can say that this is a great RTS, if not the best, for a console .

[RebornSpy]

JK. The demo was fun and it seems like a good game. It's hard to make a decent RTS for consoles.

[ultimatek1]

Awesome, never expected N4G would post favorable Halo Wars reviews.

[JOEdANGEL]

Not as into Rts as I used to be, but Ensemble usually makes some pretty decent games.

edit: I mean Ensemble used to make pretty decent games.

[ElementX]

Surprisingly, the first RTS game I ever played, Dune: The Battle for Arakis, was on Sega Genesis. That was a fun game when I was younger. But I'm sure it would be extremely simplistic now. People often say RTS games don't work well on consoles, but you have to look at the way the game is designed.

[altimako02]

i have been playing halo wars from release date , and i love it. most fun console rts i have ever played . and for all of you people who come in here to bash a review , or a game , you should play it first and quit being prejudice . dont even try to compare this game to kz2 because its not even in the same genre . get a life and play games .

[The_Devil_Hunter]

dfdf

[NegativeCreep427]

"360 already has more exclusives out this year and hasn't even announced there lineup yet lol. Do some research before spreading fud. All Ps3 has is KZ2 while 360 has Ninja Blade, Star Ocean, Halo Wars, GTA DLC and a ton of community games. What you actually believe those games Sony announced are all coming this year? This is the year of 360 and soon after the KZ2 buzz has faded you will come to terms with this."

Killzone 2 is NOT the only big PS3 exclusive of 2009, far from it. Read around on the internet or better yet, stop avoiding all the positive PS3 news posts for a while and discover why the PS3 has far more than KZ2 this year. Stop wallowing in your own self-ignorance. I bet you keep one eye open and your other eye shut so you can scan the main page of N4G looking only at anti-ps3 posts.

@ thenickel (specifically comment 4.6)

"4.6 - snipermko
Or how about Halo3= 10 million sold

and

LBP= 2 million sold lol

It would take 3 big ecxclusives from PS3 to match one on 360."

Here we go with the xbot fallback plan of resorting to software sales as proof of superiority.

Halo is been an established franchise since 2001. LittleBigPlanet is a brand-new fresh IP that offers a type of gameplay (platforming) that has proven to show decreases in overall gamer/consumer preferences and sales. Today the top selling software titles are FPS and TPS type games, as well as RPG's.

Anyone who thinks thenickel is a complete dumbsh*t please agree with this comment.

[TheMART]

Resistance 2 sold what 2 mln?

It has been an IP since the end of 2006.

MGS4 has sold what, 4 mln?

It has been an older IP then Halo, I already played it on the MSX back in what, 1990 or so? Why didn't it sell 10 mln. like Halo then?

The PS3 just sells less games, like the PS2 with 120 mln. PS2's out there only sold 3 mln. copies of one of the greatest games last gen, God of War 2.

Wuts up with that?

[gman7722]

I own both the ps3 and 360 and love them both. I would love to come on and have mature conversations about gaming. Its people that defend one console over the other why the gaming industry is being held down. At the end of the day do you feel better that you proved that your console is better? Or is it that your jealous that you don't own the other console? Anyways I saw a couple people touting numbers of halo 3 sales and those sales directly relate to the 360 being a cheaper priced console therefore there are more potential buyers. I bet if Killzone 2 and Halo 3 were both on the 360, sales would be very close. Bottom line is Killzone 2 is a great game and the haters know it, Halo Wars is a great game and the haters know it. So please grow up and give love to these games and their respective consoles because they are the games that are making our industry better for all of use.

[thenickel]

When Halo3 was released the 360 was 399.99 and managed to sell well even with a smaller user base then the ps3. Also there's nothing wrong with defending the 360 because if we don't then PS3 fanboys will get away with destroying it's credibility like the dreamcast. It might not be important to you but I want the xbox brand around for awhile so they can keep putting out some great stuff. You can scream hater all you want also but after playing KZ2 it's nowhere near the hype it was made out to be and will soon vanish.

[pansenbaer]

I have a hard time believing that you played Killzone 2 enough to know if it has staying power.

[TheRealSpy]

Nickle, you always make good points, and i've always got you covered for bubbles man. i know a lot of what you say isn't pro ps3, so you get hit a lot. but you don't really say anything anti ps3 either. you just speak from a gamer's perspective.

the truth is, killzone 2 would be a really fun game, but the controls really ruin any hope it has for longevity. there will be a lot of ppl that will stick with it cuz they finally adapted to the controls, but most ppl will burn out fast. the game is good looking, not great, and it could be fun but for the controls. i want to like killzone...i do. i mean i bought it. just going to require a lot of tweaking before it's anywhere near the credit it's been given.

as for halo wars. the game does have frustrating elements. like the noobs who rush covenant to try to get their "true skill" up. but the game is very fun, and as more ppl learn to defend against this skill free tactic, the game will become a lot more fun. there's a lot to this game if you want to get into it, and i am confident this will be considered the best RTS on console for a very long time.

[Old_School_Gamer]

who the hell are you talking to? I know you just didn't say I dont have both consoles. Heres my gamers crib. Watch it and be jealous. http://www.thebitbag.com/20...

[boodybandit]

It would be cool if N4G had an area where we can post pics of our set ups. I have two gaming areas and I would dig feedback from others. I would be really interested in seeing just how outrageous some gamers setups are that post here.

[gman7722]

Im not directly relating my statement to any person. I just see many people who own one console and just talk trash about the other. By the way thats an awesome set up you got goin.

[Camper]

But this is horrible compare to any other RTS
I know its on console but still any pc rts would wipe this pos game
The game tox basic and simply, no strategy what so ever
Halo War is noobs who has not played real strategy game

[altimako02]

thats what makes it fun . yeah its not a deep rts , but it is a rts . and there is strategy involved when you are playing other people online . the single player might not have the strategy that is necessary for a pc rts but it is fun and short , unless you play the game on legendary . i love pc rts's but the simple truth here is the game is fun .

[ballsofsteel]

wait if i remember correctly KZ2 was called out for not being innovative or expanding the FPS genre while halo wars is pretty much a simplified RTS and having not much depth does anyone else see a contradiction here?

[slak]

We all know that we can do fps on consols thats not new but RTS work better on pc halo wars just made it possible

[TheRealSpy]

as i recall (since this only happened a week ago), killzone 2 got pretty incredible reviews.

but about being genre defining...killzone 2 is an FPS on console. if it came out in 1999 instead of 2009 then it would be considered the main FPS for console. it is really hard to make an FPS with original concepts. Halo 1 did it. Bioshock did it (though it was a lot like system shock), Fallout 3. they all took fps and made it into something we haven't seen on console before.
That's what halo wars does. it's not that we think it's a deeply complex game. it's that it steamlined the genre into something very playable on console. it is a pretty basic game...to pick up and play. but once you start playing against better and better people, you start to adopt other strats into yours, or adapt yours to other styles, and you always find ways to slightly improve your speed and tactics. it is certainly no starcraft. but it is a very enjoyable console RTS.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Just might try this out

[Mr Marbles]

a lot of good reviews, I had to pick it up and see for myself.
LOVE IT, the game deserves a 9.5

Not because of what it is not but because of what it is.

[DelbertGrady]

I'm on mission 6. The missions are very varied and it just gets better and better. Certainly deserves a 9/10.

[MrJack]

It seems this game isn't earning scores on merit, just for actually working.

[XDF]

Already bought the LE Halo Wars Box Set. The game is awesome.

I was about to get only the Regular edition but since I have extra credit from my KILLZONE 2 trade-in, I just upgrade this game and put the rest of thr money for Residenrt Evil 5.

I was hyped about KZ2 but like Resistance 2 I had to trade it back in after a week. Resistance with its mediocre graphics and bad AI while KZ2 is great in Visual, sounds, but I just can't play a broken game with the control issue and can't stand DS3 for FPS.

[pansenbaer]

Ha, you just had to throw all that in there didn't you. But you're not a fanboy, are you? Nope, you're a multiconsole owner and you just speak the facts, right? You pretty much contradict actions saying that you can't stand the Dual Shock for FPS. So tell me again why you bought the games?

[XDF]

If you see my avatar you know I have both systems. I bought the game because I thought it is a good gameof course. It is except for the control. Oh well.

[Neo604]

rts games suck on console like C&C tinurium war, but it's allsome on PC.

[torreyjs]

This^

100% agreed bubbles to you