Halo Wars, and why it bloody annoys me

[Fletcher]

As some of you are aware, I gloated over my sheer glee like a 5 year old with cotton candy, in this case a 19 year old with Halo Wars Limited Edition in his hand, and the Mythic Map pack codes in other.

Halo Wars, annoyed the hell out of me. Why? Here is my list:

• Depth: - This game has little to no depth. Sure it has some great maps, good detail and a good battle 'triangle', but come on. This game I don't think even touches 20 player controlled unit types. Sure there are Sentinels, the Flood and civilians. But I was expecting a fair bit more than this. Anti-infantry, sure there are Flamethrowers for the UNSC, but I wanted a freaking Sniper Rifle. The NPC 'rebels' have them, but no you have flamethrowers, they're good, but not a sniper.
  Spartans, they're game rippers, take command of vehicles, boost them and can shred infantry if used right. That's all. Apart from the odd vehicle 'Spartan-jack'. They just boost vehicle power.
  Don't get me started at the building simplicity, sure I understand that it needs to be a fast paced game for consoles, but I wasn't expecting some matches to revolve around supply pads and warehouses for economy. A little trading would have been a bit nice between the ground and Spirit of Fire or other ships.
  
• Story: - Overall it was ok. Spartan Group Omega? Only there for 30 seconds midway through the game. I was expecting them to raze bases, many times. You can only do this once. Forerunner ships? I can barely make heads or tails of what they blimin look like, what are they knives? The Covenant, I wanted to play as them in story, and we never got to see the Brute Chieftain once at all in the story, only some Brutes in campaign.
  
• Unit movement - This annoyed me the most, if a nano-meter of a tank is positioned wrong, it can bottleneck an entire army. Forcing you to put men first, then tanks, against other anti-infantry, that is not good. Some vehicles also take suicidal routes to, well death. Sometimes they're just morons.
  
• Multiplayer - Oh my Christ, I can never in all of my 10 or so games, be paired with someone with two brain cells and a microphone. I'm there all on my own, building bases while it (I refer my ally as 'it') sits there and build marines or grunts, lots of them. An enemy scout would notice this and spam Jackals or tanks. My allies are always idiots... Whenever I do get a decent start, 'it' dies and I'm left with three quarters of the map being controlled by them with Scarabs breathing down my neck with Vultures. What they didn't expect was all my Cobra and Wolverine armies with Spartans and a few Hornets of my own. Somehow, I wiped 4 bases off the map with them before they resigned. That was a good match, 2 v 1 on my own... Seriously, NEVER MATCHMAKE, invite someone with a brain.
  
• No new content to come - With Microsoft shutting down yet another studio, there will be almost no chance of new content to this game, not even to fix some glitches I've noticed, not game changing but they're there. I was praying that I could have a chance to play as the Flood in new packs, new maps, new units or even new missions. But no, Microsoft closes the studios, a great one at that.
  
• Mythic Map Pack - Four words "Do not play it". The MythicWars playlist or whatever its called in Halo 3 is completely full of grade four Generals, network laggers, teenagers with girly voices, glitchers and general screamers I call "Texan Banshees" Seriously, if you managed to get the codes, or use the 'workaround' I've heard of, don't bother for another week or two, or just wait for the release. Its painful to the mind to play it. Even if the maps rule.
  

Now that is the end of my long rant. I needed to vent, I wanted to love Halo Wars, I wanted to live there for another few days, but I'm annoyed with it so much I'll play Bad Company for awhile. Or even do homework, which is taboo to me.

I hope you heed a few of my warnings, and don't expect too much from this would-be gem.

Liam "Fletcher" Riordan.

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"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
Fletcher's Feedback and Stories Thread

[AJBeast]

*sigh* I was really expecting ( or at least wanting) Halo Wars to be good. FIrst cause its by ensemble ( which makes me wanna rip microsoft a new one for shutting it down. I mean, ffs , Age of Empires was awsome. AoE3 even had 2 expansions and a solid online play), and second cause its halo , one of the things that kept me away from disco for so long.

But aparently , it was doomed to failure , as most other console RTSs.

And the mythic map pack ? Ill just wait till it comes out.

PS: Oh , and gametrailers gave it a 8.something. I watched the review and i was like "... seriously?"

[MrHeadphones]

Just goes to show. nothing can handle an RTS like a PC

[Fletcher]

Just goes to show. nothing can handle an RTS like a PC

True, I was so hoping that this game with its solid lore and simple controls would buck the trend.:unsure:

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"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
Fletcher's Feedback and Stories Thread

[Aaronny]

I played the demo and i am turely disapointed by this game, as you said, barely 20 units to play, 2 race, sucky base construction system....hell im certainly not gonna buy it

[stewcool]

I'll forward this rant to my friend.

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[Dopamino]

What you've described is pretty much exactly what I expected Halo Wars to be. My expectations for Recon are a bit higher.

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I mostly lurk around Media Center these days.

[Exile]

Yeah. Thought this was gonna be a flop. I image that Microsoft thought that calling the game -Halo- Wars would do the trick huh.

Stripes it off the wish list

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[Fletcher]

I played the demo and i am turely disapointed by this game, as you said, barely 20 units to play, 2 race, sucky base construction system....hell im certainly not gonna buy it

Oh how could I forget the base construction system? Sure, it prevents lag on multiplayer, and such, but I wish there could have been a bit more flexibility.

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"Oh chuffing blimey, another day, another person being whiney!"
Fletcher's Feedback and Stories Thread

[greasemunky]

I never understood how a RTS could have a snowballs chance in hell of being good on a console, lacking keyboard shortcuts & mouse control.