Halo Wars: Limited Edition

GRAPHICS
This game is fairly good in this section. Environments are pretty and snow levels look beautiful with their bluey-white glistening ice and snow. The shiny purple covenant also look really good. The UNSC I think only let it down a bit. Really its just the UNSC Marines to be honest. They just look a bit too basic compared, but otherwise this game does very well for an RTS. And the cutscenes are immense, some of the best with amazing graphics throughout.

SOUND
Its Halo. What does that mean? An epic soundtrack and great sound effects. If you don't know any Halo music then your missing out, it is some of the best. The Sound Effects are also really good, almost all are from Halo 3 making it feel very authentic and reinforces the Halo theme. (Specific appreciation goes to the UNSC Spartans. When they lose their shields in combat, you hear that beeping noise as in the FPS installments and it all works well to immerse you in the universe.)

GAMEPLAY
A bit… more »

GRAPHICS
This game is fairly good in this section. Environments are pretty and snow levels look beautiful with their bluey-white glistening ice and snow. The shiny purple covenant also look really good. The UNSC I think only let it down a bit. Really its just the UNSC Marines to be honest. They just look a bit too basic compared, but otherwise this game does very well for an RTS. And the cutscenes are immense, some of the best with amazing graphics throughout.

SOUND
Its Halo. What does that mean? An epic soundtrack and great sound effects. If you don't know any Halo music then your missing out, it is some of the best. The Sound Effects are also really good, almost all are from Halo 3 making it feel very authentic and reinforces the Halo theme. (Specific appreciation goes to the UNSC Spartans. When they lose their shields in combat, you hear that beeping noise as in the FPS installments and it all works well to immerse you in the universe.)

GAMEPLAY
A bit basic in terms of how some other RTS games play but I think that suits this game. Its extremely easy to pick up and play and the controls have been mapped perfectly, providing easy fluid control of your troops on the battlefield. This game proves an RTS can be done on consoles. The levels are very fun and well designed, the only gripe being they are a tad easy, but Legendary certainly makes up for that. Skirmish allows you to play as UNSC or Covenant on loads of maps from 1v1 to 3v3 and coupled with Co-Op and Online, there's alot here to keep you playing past the Campaign.

PRESENTATION
Again, truly amazing. Ensemble have done a fine job to capture the Halo universe. The Menu's are exceptionally well done with some fine CGI and music complimenting the traditional Blue Halo screens. The CGI cutscenes are down right amazing in this game. Overall, a damn good job by Ensemble.

CLOSING COMMENTS
Halo Wars looks, sounds and feels like Halo in all ways. With the amazing soundtrack, pretty graphics and amazingly fluid gameplay - coupled with Skirmish, Co-Op and Online - provide a stunning addition to any Halo fan's collection and to RTS players alike. Bear in mind, it isn't as deep as some other RTS games in terms of gameplay but it is a damn fine game, Ensemble have done sterling work and proved that with effort, it is possible to make a killer RTS on the console.

I would give it a 4.5 if I could, I don't really like giving out 5/5's because that would assume it is a perfect game will next to no issues at all, a category I believe to be reserved only for the best games. But this certainly comes close. A damn good buy, and greatly recommended.

When I first started playing halo wars (HW) I will admit that I was a little disappointed. Every thing seemed very simple, being a PC gamer as well as an Xbox gamer I felt that HW needed to be compared to PC RTS games, but in this case they can't be compared. You see HW does come across as a proper Xbox RTS, the controls for the game are very simple and that's what makes HW such a joy to play on the Xbox.
Selecting units is very straight forward as well as issuing commands. The other thing is that though HW was always meant to be a RTS from the beginning Ensemble Studios haven't just done cash in.
HW is more of the story of how the Rings were discovered and it's told by some high quality cut scenes.
And as the game has some very simple controls using the Xbox controller, it makes the whole experience that more fun.
If you feel that other Xbox RTS games have let you down and seem over complicated with the interface then may I suggest giving HW a try, I will have to… more »

When I first started playing halo wars (HW) I will admit that I was a little disappointed. Every thing seemed very simple, being a PC gamer as well as an Xbox gamer I felt that HW needed to be compared to PC RTS games, but in this case they can't be compared. You see HW does come across as a proper Xbox RTS, the controls for the game are very simple and that's what makes HW such a joy to play on the Xbox.
Selecting units is very straight forward as well as issuing commands. The other thing is that though HW was always meant to be a RTS from the beginning Ensemble Studios haven't just done cash in.
HW is more of the story of how the Rings were discovered and it's told by some high quality cut scenes.
And as the game has some very simple controls using the Xbox controller, it makes the whole experience that more fun.
If you feel that other Xbox RTS games have let you down and seem over complicated with the interface then may I suggest giving HW a try, I will have to admit that Being a hardcore PC RTS fan HW has shown me that a Decent RTS is possible on the Xbox.

I dont mind RTS games, but Im not a huge fan. I think the best one Ive played is Lord Of The Rings Battle For Middle Earth, but thats only because of the subject matter (big Hobbit fan). I must admit this demo has really changed my mind as I think its absolutely awesome. The music and menu structure is very Halo 3, and I love how interwoven the game is with the fantastic cut scenes. In fact Iliked it so much I cancelled my pre-order for Resident Evil 5 and have ordered the special edition of this. I had low expectations and I really enjoyed it. Ive never been gripped by the Command & Conquer games myself too, but the controls are a doddle. Single button presses like on Fable 2 that do so much. I think the reason I enjoyed it so much was there was less emphasis on building up bases, and more on combat. Felt a bit like Rainbow Six Vegas, but from an isometric perspective. You still have to construct bases, but they have been broken down into just their brass tacks, so simplicity… more »

I dont mind RTS games, but Im not a huge fan. I think the best one Ive played is Lord Of The Rings Battle For Middle Earth, but thats only because of the subject matter (big Hobbit fan). I must admit this demo has really changed my mind as I think its absolutely awesome. The music and menu structure is very Halo 3, and I love how interwoven the game is with the fantastic cut scenes. In fact Iliked it so much I cancelled my pre-order for Resident Evil 5 and have ordered the special edition of this. I had low expectations and I really enjoyed it. Ive never been gripped by the Command & Conquer games myself too, but the controls are a doddle. Single button presses like on Fable 2 that do so much. I think the reason I enjoyed it so much was there was less emphasis on building up bases, and more on combat. Felt a bit like Rainbow Six Vegas, but from an isometric perspective. You still have to construct bases, but they have been broken down into just their brass tacks, so simplicity itself.

Im no fan of RTS but I really cant speak more highly of this game.

Hi, i've been an RTS player for quite a few years, mainly from the PC but recently moving onto the xbox with Command and conquer 3(TM) and now Halo wars. The controls for both these games have been easy to handle and get used to, the developers have actually spent some time into working out some good systems for unit selections.
When i first played the halo wars demo i thought that the game was pretty rubbish, an empty shell of an RTS with no amazingly outstanding features and the only reason it would sell cases would be because it had the halo franchise behind it.
Rather than buy the game i therfore decided to rent it and i have to say i've been impressed with it, after running through the campaign on Legendary with a friend of mine (Co-op career through xboxlive and syslink available) i was pretty impressed by the gameplay. The game presented somewhat of a challenege, we got stuck on 1 or 2 missions for a bit but the rest were just at the right level. Some missions are… more »

Hi, i've been an RTS player for quite a few years, mainly from the PC but recently moving onto the xbox with Command and conquer 3(TM) and now Halo wars. The controls for both these games have been easy to handle and get used to, the developers have actually spent some time into working out some good systems for unit selections.
When i first played the halo wars demo i thought that the game was pretty rubbish, an empty shell of an RTS with no amazingly outstanding features and the only reason it would sell cases would be because it had the halo franchise behind it.
Rather than buy the game i therfore decided to rent it and i have to say i've been impressed with it, after running through the campaign on Legendary with a friend of mine (Co-op career through xboxlive and syslink available) i was pretty impressed by the gameplay. The game presented somewhat of a challenege, we got stuck on 1 or 2 missions for a bit but the rest were just at the right level. Some missions are really long and some are just way too short, i felt the campaign as a whole could have been longer however. The story of the campaign itself is actually pretty good, it keeps you intreagued to say the least, while it doesnt have all that eye candy of command and conquer :P it still managed to keep me from skipping the video's.

The online play is very good, classic halo style matchmaking with games from 1v1, 2v2 or 3 v 3 - with the two latter options having a 'deathmatch' option starting with high resources for a fast paced battle. The ranking system on it keeps you coming back to play another game which is very good, i think all online games should host a ranking system, i believe this is one of the main reasons lord of the rings conquest was a bit of a flop online after the inital Demo hype. It gives you somewhat of an incentive to actually keep going - especially if there are achievements linked to the said ranks.
Anyway i've rambled enough overall this game suprised me on how good it was and i would definately recommend it to those of you who enjoy a decent console RTS