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Halo Wars analysis *sp*
Posted By: Leisandir <joecooperstein@hotmail.com>	Date: 11/19/09 7:32 p.m.
Let me preface this with a little background. I have been a gamer for years. I started out on Doom 95 and graduated to Half Life and other titles, eventually playing and thoroughly enjoying Halo. I do not own an XBOX or a 360, nor have I ever, so my playing of the games has primarily been limited to playing when staying with friends (or, at least for the first game, the PC release). I've read all of the books several times except the Flood, which I've read only once, and Cole Protocol, which I started and was quickly distracted by other things. Because of my lack of access to an XBOX and a couple of prejudices regarding the title, I'm a little late on playing Halo Wars. I recently moved into a dormitory, and one of my suitemates has a 360 set up in the common area, so I figured now was as good a time as any, and I rented, played, and beat the game. Before you read the rest of this and assume that I'm bashing it, please understand: I enjoyed it thoroughly. Here is my analysis, along with some questions. Let me start with the gameplay. When it comes to the genre of real-time strategy, I am - as, I know, are many other people - instantly dubious of any title on a console, especially one which is developed solely for that. I hold the opinion that the freedoms granted by the wonderful mouse and keyboard in addition to the freedoms of resolutions and other features make the desktop a far superior medium for that sort of game. I know that throughout the development of Halo Wars that it was tweaked and molded especially for the controller, and it shows. I feel as though the game would have been superior on the PC, but it certainly isn't bad on the XBOX. However, I do have some gripes. First of all, I'm somewhat upset by Ensemble's inclusion of the RTS tradition of team colors. It bothers me when a battle tank magically turns from green to orange in the middle of a level. It bothers me that every Elite, Grunt, and Jackal you encounter is wearing purple armor. It bothers me especially that when a Spartan boards a vehicle, its paint suddenly changes. While the feature has a purpose in multiplayer games, there are other ways to differentiate between each player's units, and in a universe like the one presented in this game, team colors aren't really necessary. On the battlefield (in Campaign), when you see an Elite, you know right off whose team he's on. When you see a Warthog or a Scorpion, you know that those are UNSC units. When you see a rotting, bulbous pile of flesh, you know it's some form of the Flood. I was quite pleased with what could be done in combat. The Spartan ability to board vehicles was nice, control over Marines' use of grenades is nice, bombing runs and orbital bombardments, all nice. I did feel that some of the execution was a little sloppy. The Spartans flying from the ground to the top of a Banshee could have been made much smoother. This may just be my own personal tastes, but I don't like when a game has something which very quickly reminds you that you are playing a game. Particularly with a strategy game, wherein much of the fun is in watching battles unfold from a floating perspective, those moments take away quite a bit. The style of gameplay was well-done, and my primary gripes with it are just that, stylistic. I would rather the game had been done in a different style; for the style Ensemble chose, it was well constructed. I wish that the battles had been closer to the ground with more direction of the troops; less massing of squads and just telling them to plow over the enemy, instead having to direct them to cover, utilize covering fire, etc. I don't care for the inclusion of buildings and the element of 'training' troops; having already gone with the we're-getting-supplies-from-the-ship idea, why not just have newly requisitioned troops arrive on the battlefield in Pelicans? As I said, it was well done for what it was, it just wasn't what I wanted (and yes, I am just one person, I'm not trying to be conceited or anything). One last gripe regarding the actual playing of the game. I absolutely did not approve of my Spartans all carrying around some heavy weapon. Spartans aren't seven foot weapons platforms, they aren't human-sized battletanks, they're highly-trained, tactically minded soldiers who just happen to weigh two hundred pounds and wear massive battle armor. I have no problem with including the heavy weapons, but as a special ability or an aquired item, rather than a primary weapon. The cutscene with Forge and the Arbiter shows the Spartans using a shotgun and M7s; why not have that in the actual game? Now, on to my opinions and questions regarding the story. First of all, has any explanation been offered as to why the Elites don't have shields? The nearest thing that I can figure is that they were developed during the war (the Fall of Reach talks about improving on the Covenant's shield technology), but that doesn't fit for several reasons. First of all, Jackals have shields and the Covenant vehicles have shields, and second of all, the Covenant isn't particularly innovative and the term 'new technology' is not something which fits with them. On the inclusion of the Brutes: I don't have any problem with this, other than their status as a footnote. "What are these?" "Oh, they're Brutes, no big deal, just kill'em." Why were they on the planet? What were they doing? How were they interacting with the other Covenant? Why are they hardly seen again throughout the rest of the game, except as Flood carriers? The Flood were good, though I was never scared while fighting them, and an RTS really offers the kind of opportunity to really scare players when fighting them. Think about the Terminals from Halo 3, with descriptions of battles with millions of Flood forms simply rolling over the opposition. Not that there should have been that many in Halo Wars (Spirit of Fire can't have had more than a few thousand crew and soldiers, and the Covenant can't have had many more), but the idea of your own numbers dwindling as the enemy's are bolstered throughout the game is somewhat frightening. One final question regarding the ending. If I recall correctly, Spirit of Fire was part of a fleet when it departed Harvest. It seems silly to me that no one in that fleet would be aware of its destination; they have to have told someone where they were going. At the end of the game, the ship has been drifting for several weeks and the crew is buckling down in cryo. What, then, is the likelihood that nobody from Cole's fleet would come looking for them? The ship had Spartans on it; ONI, at the very least, should have sent a Prowler, if no one in the fleet thought to come looking for them. Oh, yeah, and there was nothing at the end of the credits. I was a little disappointed. Overall, a good game, and I have only a few gripes about the story, which is an opinion exponentially better than I thought I'd have for this game.

Message Index

Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Leisandir	11/19/09 7:32 p.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	rolandk73	11/19/09 8:28 p.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Leisandir	11/19/09 10:05 p.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Metalingus627	11/20/09 3:27 a.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Bry	11/19/09 10:47 p.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Leisandir	11/19/09 11:12 p.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Bry	11/19/09 11:27 p.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Leisandir	11/20/09 9:07 a.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	ArteenEsben	11/20/09 9:46 a.m.
Re: Halo Wars analysis *sp*	Leisandir	11/20/09 11:04 p.m.