360 Editor's Blog: Halo Wars - First Impressions

360 Editor's Blog writes: "We've finally had a near-complete build of Halo Wars into the office, so naturally there's a bit of a buzz around the place. It's always been a bit of unknown quantity - everyone who has seen it has been full of praise, but there's no shaking the whole console/RTS concern that has dogged the genre forever.

Only one way to find out, though, so I put it on to test out the first few levels, and it's rather nice indeed.

Visually, it's slick enough, with a nice motion blur effect on flying vehicles and a bold colour palette, and Ensemble has managed to capture the Halo spirit superbly in the animation. Just watching the little Warthogs leap over cliff edges is enough to raise a smile on any Halo-boy's face."

[Sonyslave3]

look awesome

[Panthers]

Indeed it does. I just wish this was coming to PC.

[happyface]

I bet this outsells Killzone by a lot

[Mr_Zkaar]

I would be surprised going on the last crazy buying spree on Halo3 that you don't buy this. I'm glad 360 owners get an exclusive in February even if it's not a console seller.

Not sure how well a RTS will play on a console really RTS is more for pc, but the 360 blog sort of like it, not sure if he sounded blown away with it.

But if a game sells more than another game doesn't make that better, just look at Halo 3, GTA IV etc their ok games but not awesome ones.

[DJ]

Microsoft is going to regret shutting this studio down. =/

[floppyfeet]

ensamble sucks now....

if you played age of empires 3 you would know that the studio is drained of talent at this point and microsoft would really just be wasting money on funding them.

The only studio closure that bothered me was bizarre creations....

But then again i kind of understand why they shut that down too , There really is no point in microsoft funding 2 developers (turn 10 and bizarre creations) that are making PRETTY much the same type of games. And from what i understand Turn 10 is making PGR now , so no worries.

[ThanatosDMC]

AOE sucked because you can just rely on one type of unit, a cheap and easy to make one, and spam the hell out of it and win.

It's used a lot in online games. Even melee fighters that's supposedly superior to musketeers or the likes get killed before they even get close to ranged units. That's how they lost AOE3.

I still find Age of Mythology as their best game though.

[Rhoic]

Not to mention they hired like 70% of Ensemble Studios into their in-house dev teams.

[The Judderman]

Im not really into RTS games but might give this ago. Will try the Demo in early Feb first though.

[tplarkin7]

I'm not into RTS, but the Halo universe sells it for me. The "new Cortana" looks cool, too.

[Blademask]

I cant WAIT for this!!!

[resistance100]

Its all going to be on how good the demo is for me, i haven't played a good RTS on consoles in a long time, so heres hoping

[kewlkat007]

what game can I compare this RTS to, so I get a feel for whats really being pushed?

Not everyone plays this genre..

[BrunoM]

i mean dont get me wrong i do have a 360 but these isent the kind of game to be played on the 360 is a pc kind of game and il wait and play on it for now i have enuf things to play on my consoles finishing a few 360 games so wen KillZone2 comes out i got only time for that BABYYY!!!!

[BrunoM]

oo and lets not kid or selfs these one really is coming to pc if halo games come to pc the RTS one is REALLY coming to it .. so ya il wait..

[floppyfeet]

its not going to pc , and i doubt it will sell very well on 360 either

But who knows , it IS halo , and there is a demo coming out

[40cal]

I hope its better than End War was.

[vmanj]

itll b funny if Halo warz a mere RTS beatz killzone 2 in termz of salez... now ppl r gonna say tht halo is such a big franchise and lil kidz love it but everywhere i go, i see so much hype for KZ2.Also alot of halo fanz arent looking into buying halo warz cause itz an RTS. newayz itll b cool to see the statz

[PotNoodle]

okz thatz coolz bruvz

[cayal]

Why would it be funny? Fanboyism too hard to resist ay?

[Halochampian]

it would be funny because N4G would turn into a riot zone. Everyone knows that it would.

I would just laugh because it is funny to watch people go crazy over nothing.

[cayal]

I just avoid any articles to do with sales (well most of the time).

As long as the game is good, why would I care what fanboys (of either variety) say?

[Mr_Potato_]

I hope it will be nice since it's one of the only exclusives on 360 this year. : /

Too bad MS is closing the studio too, they don't have many left either. Sounds logical though, considering their financial troubles.

I wouldn't be surprised if they stop with gaming as soon as 2010 to cut their losses in Xbox division.

[floppyfeet]

Halo wars and halo ODST are the only games coming out this year.

says so right in this interview

http://360.kombo.com/articl...

Microsoft is doing so poorly with their record breaking sales and profit from the xbox360 that they should just can it right now....

I mean , thats the RETARDED thing to do right?

[Mr_Potato_]

@floptard : relax man, I didn't want to offend you or the other 360 fanboy kids, sorry.

But only the most blind fanboy wouldn't admit MS has basically no exclusive this year, except DLC and XBLA games...

PS3 has tons more in 2009, the difference is even worse than in 2008...

And if MS closes the studio which made Halo Wars, there must be a reason you know. It could be the same reason they cut the price in half : they're just about to give up. Closing their only studios wouldn't make sense otherwise.

[Lord Xire]

Ok...so what your saying is

That the only exclusive games coming to 360 is Halo Wars and ODST.

Stop the nonsense.

[Halochampian]

6 exclusive 360 games popped into my head just now.

[Rhoic]

Seriously.. there's like 3 coming out in 2 months..

Ninja Blade
Halo Wars
Star Ocean

[lord_of_balrogs]

Hmm the demo is going to make or break my purchase of Halo Wars. I already have a full gaming list with FEAR2, SO4, and Resident Evil 5.

[edwineverready]

That says it all and that's from a xbox360 site.

[rhood022]

They didn't really say much about the control scheme which, IMO, will make or break for the game.

Personally, I hope it's like Civilizations: Revolutions. It struck a good balance and served its purpose well. But that game was lambasted for it's over simplification. I don't think Halo will have those same critiques IF it is like C:R, however. I mean, it's Halo after all.

[Pleth]

Claymation using Master C against the Helghast. Would boost ratings.

[callahan09]

This sounds pretty good. I've never liked RTS games (I liked Warcraft 2, but that's it. I just don't have the reflexes and thinking ability to simultaneously manage the units for an RTS. I admit: it's my fault; I just suck at the genre. Even Starcraft didn't do it for me, just too much for my feeble abilities). But this sounds promising.

[Killzonegamer83]

Some of you might remember my previous posts over the last few months and i have been really really harsh and fanboyish against the 360.. Well let me apologize and say im sorry.. Normally this comment would be bashing Halo wars and making fun of it but instead im going to say it looks good. It might come as a shock to a lot of you that i also own a 360 and not only a PS3.

I know i act like a big PS3 fanboy and i bash the 360 probably more than most on here do, but i cant deny it anymore. Yes i love the PS3 and i still do think Killzone 2 will hands down TRUMP the competition this year for any game. But i also admit i do play my 360 a ton and it really does have some great games.

And as much as it pains me to say this, xbox live is just a better online experience then PSN.. I know, i know.. its hard to admit it being such a Sony loyalist, but its the truth.. All fanboy and gaming politics aside, you have to hand it to MS, they really took online gaming and networking to the next level.

So with that said, i hope this game turns out good for you 360 owners, if the reviews are good i MIGHT buy it

[Anon1974]

I'm in the same boat as you, 360 and PS3 owner and I have to say, XBL really doesn't impress me. Now, to be fair..I don't know a single person who games online with their 360 so I don't game online with any of my friends using XBL. I've used XBL since the original Xbox and finally discontinued using it a year ago because my friends and family all bought PS3's within the last year. I understand the cross game chat can be handy but I've never had a reason to use it. Other than that, the XBL community really turned me off of the service. There was always the odd ass, you find that on the PSN too, but XBL became just too much of a hassle for me. At the start of every single match I would have to mute at least 3-4 racist, homophobic and generally foulmouthed 12 years olds before I could begin a game.

One of the months I was without my 360 due to RROD I bought Warhawk for my slightly dusty PS3 and I haven't looked back. The PSN is great, lag free, there's tonnes of content to download and you never have a problem finding people to play with now. I also generally found the community to be older, not so many kids yelling obscenities, ruining games they should even be playing. Maybe the friend management is better on XBL, but I haven't had any problems connecting to friends when I want to over PSN, and best of all that's $50 bucks back in my pocket.

[Lord Xire]

Save this crap for a XBL should be free article..

maybe then I'd dwell into the reasons why PsN sucks...but for now..

Since this is a Halo Wars post...

I think the game will be utter garbage for me because I hate RTS's.

But if your into RTS's then you might like this one it looks interesting and better then End War.

Reserved the LE because I want the maps.

[DarkSniper]

Halo Wars is the first exclusive to grace Xbox 360 this year. It is also continuing the trend of horrendously bad titles to grace the platform as well. Bungie is delusional to think that they can plaster anything with the Halo name on it and expect it to sell.

Microslaves were swindled once into thinking Halo 3 was actually an First Person Shooter that's worth any merit. Especially with Killzone 2 around the corner, which will dominate the market and place PLAYSTATION®3 as the clear front runner of 2009.

Sorry Microsoft. Once Sony said next generation started, your console has been lagging behind ever since then.

$niper

[Uneducated Loser]

haha

wanna-be Zhuk

you fail because you lack higher education.

[Graphics Whore]

The joke is on you Loser.

[cherrypie]

Bwhwhwhwhhahah!

Is this "The Year of the PS3" -- AGAIN?

Look at the results from last year? November and Demeber had the PS3 falling *LIKE A ROCK*.

I promise, Halo Wars is going to both be a critical and commercial sucesss. Without a doubt, Day 1 grand-slam.

You're an excellent troll.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Sniper is back on damage control means the PS3 isn't doing to good...:)

Sniper... owned

[Deadman64]

How much do you wanna bet more people will play Halo 3 online than Killzone 2? How do you wanna bet Killzone 2 won't sell nearly as much as Halo 3?

[IQUITN4G]

Fingers crossed for this.Iv'e followed this fairly closely and it sounds like it's not at all like how normally rts is on console - think more immediate strategy forming that is similar to say Street fighter or indeed Halo itself

[ASSASSYN 36o]

I have been waiting for this game. 2 player co-op in campain is going to be sweet.

[Sprudling]

How are the controls? I've played Starcraft and Warcraft III for years, and I'm unable to imagine how it's supposed to work (efficiently) without a mouse :)

[Rhoic]

All I know is that every previewer who has played it said the controls were "Disturbingly Intuitive".

[Sprudling]

Intuitive and inefficient are not mutually exclusive properties.

It's similar to first person shooters on consoles. It's obvious (ie. intuitive) how you are supposed to aim, but you still have nowhere near the control you would have with a mouse.

There is just no way anyone can win a tournament in Starcraft or Quake using a controller.

[Rhoic]

Considering that Halo Wars' controls were built around the 360 controller.. your comparison fails.

Intuitive - Being percieved. Knowing. Easy to learn.

Also, the controls are all mapped to single buttons. There's also no clutter on the screen. If people state that the controls are intuitive and easy to use (especially for a console RTS), then I would expect that means that they are good. Not to mention it competes on all other grounds.. graphics, sound, quality, etc.

[Sprudling]

I guess I'm just spoiled. For me, when it comes to FPSes and RTSes there's just no going from the mouse+keyboard control scheme to a controller :) All other genres are perfect for controllers.

(And for the last time; intuitive does not mean efficient)

[Tiberium]

Apparently darksniper hasn't seen the Dec. NPD. Sorry you fail again, loser.