dogstile: susan, just so you know, halo was meant to be an RTS in the first place, they had to change it for some reason to FPS
Everybody keeps saying this, as if it means anything at all. It doesn't matter what a series began its life as - when its been changed to a different genre, it is conclusively native to that genre. Originally, the Boeing 747 was meant to be a heavy duty aerial combat vehicle - this doesn't mean that you could take a modern Boeing into a dogfight and expect anything positive.
Yes, i made that up, but the fact that it works as a hypothetical demonstrates my point.
Indigo_Dingo: Everybody keeps saying this, as if it means anything at all. It doesn't matter what a series began its life as - when its been changed to a different genre, it is conclusively native to that genre. Originally, the Boeing 747 was meant to be a heavy duty aerial combat vehicle - this doesn't mean that you could take a modern Boeing into a dogfight and expect anything positive.
Yes, i made that up, but the fact that it works as a hypothetical demonstrates my point.
I don't think anyone is saying it means anything. It just reflects on the reviewer when inaccuracies pop up, especially in the same breath as a criticism of a beloved franchise. Especially when the particular comment is not only vague and unqualified, but slightly nonsensical.
Don't get me wrong, I think Halo Wars is a bad game. I've even said it sets back the genre five years. I just want to see it criticized for the right reasons.
Indigo_Dingo: Everybody keeps saying this, as if it means anything at all. It doesn't matter what a series began its life as - when its been changed to a different genre, it is conclusively native to that genre. Originally, the Boeing 747 was meant to be a heavy duty aerial combat vehicle - this doesn't mean that you could take a modern Boeing into a dogfight and expect anything positive.
Yes, i made that up, but the fact that it works as a hypothetical demonstrates my point.
I don't think anyone is saying it means anything. It just reflects on the reviewer when inaccuracies pop up, especially in the same breath as a criticism of a beloved franchise. Especially when the particular comment is not only vague and unqualified, but slightly nonsensical.
Don't get me wrong, I think Halo Wars is a bad game. I've even said it sets back the genre five years. I just want to see it criticized for the right reasons.
Then don't defend it for the wrong ones (or, better yet, at all). The universe of Halo is different to what it once was intended to be - the factions are not built to be balanced as an RTS, they're built to be skewed for an FPS perspective (i.e. the enemy are all powerful yet stupid enough to get slaughtered by one soldier in armour with no personality).
Indigo_Dingo: Then don't defend it for the wrong ones (or, better yet, at all). The universe of Halo is different to what it once was intended to be - the factions are not built to be balanced as an RTS, they're built to be skewed for an FPS perspective (i.e. the enemy are all powerful yet stupid enough to get slaughtered by one soldier in armour with no personality).
Eh, sounds flimsy to me. I don't see why the relative abilities of the factions can't be skewed for the FPS perspective in one game and balanced for the RTS perspective in the next. And that argument, if applied in this case, must certainly be applied to all crossovers. Do you just not like crossovers, or is there something about Halo specifically that has not been mentioned yet? Is C&C: Renegade just as ill-advised?
See I liked better when it was going to be on pc but wth did they decided it to be on xbox360 i mean just picking your unit sounded hard they are retarded for making it a xbox360 exclusive i hope they will learn and release it on pc
Indigo_Dingo: Then don't defend it for the wrong ones (or, better yet, at all). The universe of Halo is different to what it once was intended to be - the factions are not built to be balanced as an RTS, they're built to be skewed for an FPS perspective (i.e. the enemy are all powerful yet stupid enough to get slaughtered by one soldier in armour with no personality).
Eh, sounds flimsy to me. I don't see why the relative abilities of the factions can't be skewed for the FPS perspective in one game and balanced for the RTS perspective in the next. And that argument, if applied in this case, must certainly be applied to all crossovers. Do you just not like crossovers, or is there something about Halo specifically that has not been mentioned yet? Is C&C: Renegade just as ill-advised?
Its just specifically that direction, pulling out from a one-soldier-can-win-this-war perspective to a we-need-every-man perspective. The other direction is perfectly valid, though, as they ussually work to retain the feeling of the impact of others.
dogstile: susan, just so you know, halo was meant to be an RTS in the first place, they had to change it for some reason to FPS
Everybody keeps saying this, as if it means anything at all. It doesn't matter what a series began its life as - when its been changed to a different genre, it is conclusively native to that genre. Originally, the Boeing 747 was meant to be a heavy duty aerial combat vehicle - this doesn't mean that you could take a modern Boeing into a dogfight and expect anything positive.
Yes, i made that up, but the fact that it works as a hypothetical demonstrates my point.
my point was that susan said in her review that halo wars was probably never meant to be an RTS
dogstile: susan, just so you know, halo was meant to be an RTS in the first place, they had to change it for some reason to FPS
Everybody keeps saying this, as if it means anything at all. It doesn't matter what a series began its life as - when its been changed to a different genre, it is conclusively native to that genre. Originally, the Boeing 747 was meant to be a heavy duty aerial combat vehicle - this doesn't mean that you could take a modern Boeing into a dogfight and expect anything positive.
Yes, i made that up, but the fact that it works as a hypothetical demonstrates my point.
my point was that susan said in her review that halo wars was probably never meant to be an RTS
don't have wild rage fits about it
And again, I point out, it's not my review. It's Jordan's.
dogstile: susan, just so you know, halo was meant to be an RTS in the first place, they had to change it for some reason to FPS
Everybody keeps saying this, as if it means anything at all. It doesn't matter what a series began its life as - when its been changed to a different genre, it is conclusively native to that genre. Originally, the Boeing 747 was meant to be a heavy duty aerial combat vehicle - this doesn't mean that you could take a modern Boeing into a dogfight and expect anything positive.
Yes, i made that up, but the fact that it works as a hypothetical demonstrates my point.
my point was that susan said in her review that halo wars was probably never meant to be an RTS
don't have wild rage fits about it
And again, I point out, it's not my review. It's Jordan's.
The wonderful thing about demos is that you can play in the sand for no cost, and if you like it you can buy the whole sandbox. It's very very obvious that the entire argument of this review is that Halo Wars' controls = teh badzz!!1. That argument can be supported or disproved based on playing the demo yourself. It's free and available for anyone to try.
I've played the demo myself and I haven't been disappointed so far. The controls have been very intuitive so far with neat innovations like the selection wheel. The units are balanced out well and there aren't any over powered units are tactics I've found yet. The game is not by any stretch, terrible.
Give the demo a try before you start brandishing your pitchforks.
Indigo_Dingo: Then don't defend it for the wrong ones (or, better yet, at all). The universe of Halo is different to what it once was intended to be - the factions are not built to be balanced as an RTS, they're built to be skewed for an FPS perspective (i.e. the enemy are all powerful yet stupid enough to get slaughtered by one soldier in armour with no personality).
Eh, sounds flimsy to me. I don't see why the relative abilities of the factions can't be skewed for the FPS perspective in one game and balanced for the RTS perspective in the next. And that argument, if applied in this case, must certainly be applied to all crossovers. Do you just not like crossovers, or is there something about Halo specifically that has not been mentioned yet? Is C&C: Renegade just as ill-advised?
Its just specifically that direction, pulling out from a one-soldier-can-win-this-war perspective to a we-need-every-man perspective. The other direction is perfectly valid, though, as they ussually work to retain the feeling of the impact of others.
Well, since Halo Wars is set 20 years before Master Chief is 'the last Spartan', it seems perfectly reasonable to have a different setup between the two forces. Especially since the UNSC and the Covenant were always meant to be fairly equal at combat on the ground, it's just the Covenant win because of their greater numbers and superiorioty in space combat.
Clearly the person they had write this review shouldn't have wrote the review as they don't like concol RTSs. I played the demo and my only disagreement was that it was hard to select single troops. I played Command and Conquer 3 that was harder to play than this. This game plays smoothly and easily and I enjoyed the game whole heartedly and found no problem with the controller. If you don't like concol RTSs don't review concol RTSs. Especially when StormRise comes out.
It is true that RTS games are better on the PC. I would never want to even try to play frozen throne on any console. But putting that aside, Halo Wars isn't a bad game. I decided to try the demo, just to check it out, and I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be. Sure, it's no keyboard and mouse, but it's way easier to play than the console version of the command and conquer games. The flaws I saw in the game were the very low unit cap and the units that are totally unrelated to the game/book series. I'm not a halo fan, but I still they should at least have the decency to keep to the roots of the series. Regardless of this review or the people commenting on it, I am going to buy this game and will enjoy it.
Godammit, when will people learn, that if an RTS is on a console, it will never be the best it can be. Halo Wars is a good game, but without selection boxes or proper unit toggling things can become very frustrating. If you can plug a keyboard into a 360, then why can't they make it so you can plug a mouse into it?
L.B. Jeffries: Hmmm, makes you wonder if the Wiimote is any better suited for the job. I've been amazed how much easier it is to aim with the thing in an FPS.
You would think it would work really well for TPS.
MercurySteam: Godammit, when will people learn, that if an RTS is on a console, it will never be the best it can be. Halo Wars is a good game, but without selection boxes or proper unit toggling things can become very frustrating. If you can plug a keyboard into a 360, then why can't they make it so you can plug a mouse into it?
You can use both... a la Final Fantasy XI, which allowed for both Keyboard and Mouse support on the 360... as well as other third-party games...
The point Microsoft wants to make is "If you want a keyboard/mouse, play on a PC. If you want a controller play on the Xbox." So they don't allow for keyboards/mice in most of their games.
Acidburn50: However I am actually more displeased with Susan Art as I believe she calls herself. I am not a women hater and just think that your site is making a mistake when you let her give her piece on anything.
It was very clear that not only was she not an RTS fan but i couldnt even find much evidence of her being a fan of video games in general. I realize that your site subscribes to cynicism... case in point Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Honestly though I feel like one is enough and if you want a sarcastic review of games then please just leave it up to him because he is at the very least FUNNY! She just sounds dry and lonely.
Taking a step backwards to a previous statement I once again find myself wondering if she has even ever played an RTS before because if she was even the slightest fan of the genre she would realize that they are nearly impossible to bring to the console and that is what makes Ensembles efforts so profound.
First of all a Xbox 360 controller has 13 buttons and thats if you include the start and select buttons and also take into account the ability to click both joysticks. This being very different from a pc which has afull keyboard consisting of roughly 80 keys which depending on the game in question can all be used to set whatever macro you can dream of. That being the biggest thing which sets the two platforms apart I am brought to my next point. You could literally count the number of REAL TIME STRATEGY games made for the 360 on ONE HAND! The fact that Ensemble had the abbility to not only bring a major franchise into an entriely new genre which has everyone excited but do that in such a beautiful way with such fluent controls that do nothing but support gameplay no matter how you look at it.
I am not just a Halo fanboy who feels the need to defend halo every time someones opinions differ from that of my own my only real argument is that a site with so many good things to offer should not let some dull little Troll cowering behind a mouse and keyboard with no real grasp on what fun is and how that equivelates to video games go anywhere near your sites reviews because up and untill this point I actually respected your sites reiviews very much and thought they wouldnt steer me in the wrong direction but now I have been proven so very very wrong.
First of all: I edited your wall of ignorance text so it was coherent.
Second of all: A good review doesn't automatically mean it will agree with your opinion. Jordan, among others (Myself included) didn't think the game was that great. Speaking for myself for a moment: As a longtime fan of RTS games, I found it to be a shallow and very forgettable RTS. The controls were terrible, and if controlling the game sucks, the game won't be very fun to play. The only reason this game will sell well is because of the Halo name. That's it. People will put up with shit if it's got a brand name they like, and this game is no exception. And who cares how many RTS games there are on the console? That doesn't make this good! Even if it was the ONLY one, it would still have crappy controls and forgettable gameplay. Get over it.
Third: Where do you get off calling Susan a troll? No-one is forcing you to agree with the review, and many people here have stated how they enjoy the game. Fine. But to call a MOD a troll? Because she read a script that she didn't write about a game you're so horny for? Are you 7 years old?
Seriously, this is ridiculous. This is like the mail-bag showdown of ZP when he didn't like Smash Bros. It's a freaking game, get over it. You liked it? Fine! Like it then. But to come on here and personally insult the reviewer person who read the script for the reviewer because you didn't like the review? Get over yourself. Ensemble Studios isn't watching with their breath held while you ride in like some knight to save the day from the bad reviewer. They just want your money. Shuttup.
MercurySteam: Godammit, when will people learn, that if an RTS is on a console, it will never be the best it can be. Halo Wars is a good game, but without selection boxes or proper unit toggling things can become very frustrating. If you can plug a keyboard into a 360, then why can't they make it so you can plug a mouse into it?
Never say never. I am sure there is a way to bring the RTS onto console in a meaningful way, I just haven't seen it done so far. Endwar was onto something with voice commands though.
This review is crap. Honestly...how could anyone have a hard time with the control system. There are mass amount of reviews that are bashing this game just because there is no mouse or keyboard without even playing the game.
The controls are simple. Simple simple simple. All my friends who picked this up (most of them FPS fans, some RTS fans) had no problems with the controls.
I have been a huge RTS fan since starcraft, if you liked starcraft ... you may be slightly disappointed with the set base locations...
That said, the rest is great. Play the demo and see how you like it (make sure to check out the skrimrage)
Ensemble Studios isn't watching with their breath held while you ride in like some knight to save the day from the bad reviewer. They just want your money. Shuttup.
Clearly they are not...since Ensemble studios is no more.
This review was utter shit and imparted no useful information outside of the trite console vs. PC argument. Rabble, rabble, rabble, RTS without a mouse, rabble, rabble, rabble, would be better with mouse & keyboard. Congratulations, Sherlock, your mastery of the obvious is outstanding.
For a snob-nosed PC RTS elitist, I find it incredulous that you were so hung up on the tired mouse/keyboard diatribe to miss that the focus of the strategy in the game is base management, and high-level strategy. Pretty easy adjustment to make once you've played for 5 minutes and realize that the AI takes care of the majority of the combat work for you. Maybe I'm off-base in that assumption, but your failure as a reviewer was mentioning it if you did manage to connect the dots.
Maybe if you had taken two seconds to get off your mouse & keyboard soapbox, you could have pointed out some actual flaws with the game, such as frustrating pathing with large vehicles, or the inability to use the L-trigger to go backwards in unit selection when multiple unit types are selected.
The statement "For a series that probably never had an RTS in mind" just shows how laughable your ignorance is, since the original Halo was intended to be a Mac RTS (something I imagine has probably been said many times in this thread already). Here's a helpful hint that real reviewers follow: If you're going to pompously pontificate your opinion, make sure you know what the hell you're talking about before eschewing it to the masses.
Has the Escapist done their hiring of reviewers rejected by IGN? At least when I go there to read reviews, the staff uses their review space to do an actual review instead of a poor attempt to parrot Yahtzee's colorful, tangential rants.
There are plenty of things to write a hate speech about when reviewing this game. It's a pity you failed to include a single one in this pathetic sham of a review.
Eric the Orange: Huh, they made a RTS for a console, thats just weird.
palmcrusher: God this game is a joke. You cant play rts on consoles. You need the precision of a mouse and the speed of a keyboard for the game to not insanely slow and boring. This game would fail hard if it didn't have halo plastered on the cover to lure all the fan boys into a crap ass game.
*sigh* please refrane from making comments about a game tell you've played it. it's one of my pet peves. Yes the game may be awful, but untill you play it you shouldent assume it.
people can shut up about me supposedly not playing the game. i have infact played it and it was horrible so stop QQing about how its a shitty game with halo slapped on the front to disguise it and get it more sales.
I love halo wars, the controls are just perfect, a little frustrating at times but perfectly playable, I do prefer PC RTS like Supreme Commander, but Halo wars is the only RTS that works on a console well. Its fast easy to learn and an all round fun experience with games lasting between 5 mins to 4 hours. Its the way to go if you dont want to spend 3 days just trying to beat one game
The bottom line; its fun thats what games are about right?
Everybody keeps saying this, as if it means anything at all. It doesn't matter what a series began its life as - when its been changed to a different genre, it is conclusively native to that genre. Originally, the Boeing 747 was meant to be a heavy duty aerial combat vehicle - this doesn't mean that you could take a modern Boeing into a dogfight and expect anything positive.
Yes, i made that up, but the fact that it works as a hypothetical demonstrates my point.