First Halo Wars was a squad-based RTS played very similar to popular RTSs of its time, like BFME,CoH and DoW. Considering 2000s were full of RTS like these, game's lack of unoriginality was acceptable and its okay story and great soundtrack helped me enjoying the game.
Sadly HW2 is pretty much play same as its predecessor, and yeah that means it feels like exactly playing a late 2000s RTS. They are releasing a RTS with 10 years old mechanics and demanding 40$, nice of you Microsoft.
Story is good for like for first hour. It has a very promising opening with very nice cinematics for a RTS, but rest of game's cinematics don't hold up that quality except for one.
Mission design becomes repetitive quickly. I would even say Warcraft 1994 had more interesting mission types.
1/3 of missions are pretty much like "defend your base for 20-30 mins", probably laziest and most boring mission type in the RTS genre. Oh and last mission is also a defense mission, what an amazing closure for a game.
As I said, gameplay just feels old. There is a lot of people claiming game was so good and underrated etc. but no one shows up when I ask if someone is still playing the game. Yeah, no one would play a DoW console rip-off, when you still have DoW1 and DoW2 with active playerbase.
It is a mid RTS at best and can't really recommend. Story has some nice Halo easter eggs and introduces the villains of Halo Infintie, but other than that there is really no reason to play this game.
Sadly HW2 is pretty much play same as its predecessor, and yeah that means it feels like exactly playing a late 2000s RTS. They are releasing a RTS with 10 years old mechanics and demanding 40$, nice of you Microsoft.
Story is good for like for first hour. It has a very promising opening with very nice cinematics for a RTS, but rest of game's cinematics don't hold up that quality except for one.
Mission design becomes repetitive quickly. I would even say Warcraft 1994 had more interesting mission types.
1/3 of missions are pretty much like "defend your base for 20-30 mins", probably laziest and most boring mission type in the RTS genre. Oh and last mission is also a defense mission, what an amazing closure for a game.
As I said, gameplay just feels old. There is a lot of people claiming game was so good and underrated etc. but no one shows up when I ask if someone is still playing the game. Yeah, no one would play a DoW console rip-off, when you still have DoW1 and DoW2 with active playerbase.
It is a mid RTS at best and can't really recommend. Story has some nice Halo easter eggs and introduces the villains of Halo Infintie, but other than that there is really no reason to play this game.
Looks pretty, and maybe more balanced? With a solid story, and cool new vehicles. But like...Idk, I am still MADLY salty that the deceived me on what population increases actually met. In reality, the armies were hardly at all larger. That was honestly one of the few improvements I was genuinely looking forward to so. L.
i only played this game when it came out insd i remember loving it. its a great introduction to the banished and the game feels like a great continuation from the last game, however the ending is very poorly aged since they scrapped the halo 5 story (thank god) i would've love to see where they were going with it.
I actually liked the first one better despite being a way simpler game and needing QOL fixes this game brought. The Banished was a cool new faction and Atriox was a compelling character, but the story kind of just ends with a sputter because they want to keep content for books, comics and other Halo games.
Co-op Playthrough finished in 6 hours 30 minutes with JJ D00M. (Minus failed missions time).
Another great addition to the Halo Wars games, can't decide if I prefer 1 or 2. Across the board the level design was either terrible or perfect and no inbetween. More units/buildings/interactive spots on the map but the graphics seemed a bit more cartooney for this one and also didn't feel AS HALO as the original Wars game. Cutscenes went hard.
Played all DLC. Was cool to play as Atriox and also firefight is a no brainer for strategy. Would've loved a mode like that on BFME.
Another great addition to the Halo Wars games, can't decide if I prefer 1 or 2. Across the board the level design was either terrible or perfect and no inbetween. More units/buildings/interactive spots on the map but the graphics seemed a bit more cartooney for this one and also didn't feel AS HALO as the original Wars game. Cutscenes went hard.
Played all DLC. Was cool to play as Atriox and also firefight is a no brainer for strategy. Would've loved a mode like that on BFME.
One of the only Halo games I had not fully played. This game is an excellent step up from the first. Lots of QOL changes make this game faster paced and gives an overall smoother experience. The Spirit of Fire crew this time around have much more personality and the Banished imho are cooler than the Covenant, Atriox is seriously intimidating, taking on 3 Spartan IIs. The missions are more varied and units are fun to control, especially late game. Definitely a great RTS experience for beginners and Halo fans.
What an incredible upgrade from Halo Wars 1. Halo Wars 1 was a niche foray into a genre that isn't played by many, so you didn't expect or even need it to be amazing by any means. It was solid, and that's what mattered.
Halo Wars 2 on the other hand? Excellent. And honestly, it's one of the better Halo titles if you can stand the RTS genre. I actually really have a soft spot for these characters - Professor Anders, Spartan Jerome, and etc. Not only is the gameplay of Halo Wars vastly improved over its predecessor, the game now also firmly cements itself in the timeline of Halo by introducing the Banished for the first time prior to Halo: Infinite. Units are satisfying to use, and having more voice diversity gives the game more personality and pop.
If you like Halo and/or Strategy, give it a shot sometime. It's a solid starter RTS too to get you in the genre, but I will warn that some later missions get fairly difficult.
Score: 88
Halo Wars 2 on the other hand? Excellent. And honestly, it's one of the better Halo titles if you can stand the RTS genre. I actually really have a soft spot for these characters - Professor Anders, Spartan Jerome, and etc. Not only is the gameplay of Halo Wars vastly improved over its predecessor, the game now also firmly cements itself in the timeline of Halo by introducing the Banished for the first time prior to Halo: Infinite. Units are satisfying to use, and having more voice diversity gives the game more personality and pop.
If you like Halo and/or Strategy, give it a shot sometime. It's a solid starter RTS too to get you in the genre, but I will warn that some later missions get fairly difficult.
Score: 88
This is like having an old shitty car and replacing it with a new one, and like it’s engine is better, and it goes faster and it looks more “modern”, but you still kinda miss the old one. That car might have looked “older” but it kinda looked cooler than the new one, and it still ran well, and you know what the old one had some god damn personality.