Halo Wars Demo

rizzla

Managed to get my hands on a Halo Wars Demo redemption code. Major Nelson says it should be available to everyone... soon.

Anyway, the game is not bad. It's a 2 mission demo. The controls are alright, I thought the camera movement was a little to sensitive. Not interested in Halo universe so the story is a little wasted on me, cutscene's do look great though. Haven't played any console RTS's so I can't compare it to anything unfortunatley. Obviously it's not as precise as a pc RTS and in hectic firefights it will become frustrating.

A-Trak

Out of curiosity, (OK, jealousy.) where did you get the code?

rizzla

Major Nelson gives away free codes all the time. First time I got lucky, wish it was the Operation Anchorage code though.

calex71

rizzla wrote: »

Major Nelson gives away free codes all the time. First time I got lucky, wish it was the Operation Anchorage code though.

unless you want 100 easy achievement point and some kit to help you finish fall out 3 then a free code or 800 points would be a waste lol, operation anchorage is ok for 2 hours of play but i bet theres more fun in the halo wars demo

super_furry

Got the full game and it's brilliant. I'm a Halo fan and haven't played a RTS since Warcraft II, but I love it. They've captured the feel of the series perfectly.

OctavarIan

Demo is out now

A-Trak

OctavarIan wrote: »

Demo is out now

Cheers,

Am downloading now - is big at 1.5gigs too.

FreeOSCAR

I really enjoyed the demo, wasn't expecting much from it to be honest but it was quite good.

LD 50

Downloading now.

EDIT:Still Downloading. Its taking its sweet time:mad:

Helix

have the full game here, patch out already and its not out for 3 weeks lol

wes

Just finished the demo and taught it was excellent.

Never really played much in the way of RTS games before, but managed to get the hang of this.

Will probably pick it up, when its out.

Flaccus

Just played the demo too and definitely buying the full game. Was worried there might be lots of micro management in it, which is typical of a lot of rts games. But this was grand. Certainly captured the halo feel too. Hopefully will have gears2,fallout3,deadspace,fable2, and prince of persia finished by the time it comes out

LD 50

Finally got to play it. Its pretty good, really enjoyed it. I'd like to see how the story pans out.

honeybadger

how long did it take the boys above to download the demo,i had the xbox on 4 an hour and a half earlier downloading it and paused it at 42% cause i wasnt leaving the xbox on that long yeno with out playing it,and also is the game play anyting like overlord the way you can send the minions running around??

rizzla

About 5-10 mins. On UPC 20mb line.

Flaccus

Pity you can't zoom in a bit closer to the action like other rts games. Also it seems you can only select all your units (with LB) or individual squads with A. Makes it a bit awkward, say if you want to leave some units behind guarding a base and move out with the rest...you need to point the cursor and hit A for each group you want to select. Other RTS's did it better.

Helix

its a bit fiddly at first but im really enjoying it

rizzla

Flaccus wrote: »

Pity you can't zoom in a bit closer to the action like other rts games. Also it seems you can only select all your units (with LB) or individual squads with A. Makes it a bit awkward, say if you want to leave some units behind guarding a base and move out with the rest...you need to point the cursor and hit A for each group you want to select. Other RTS's did it better.

Up and down on the right analogue zooms in and out, not hugely close though.

LB selects all your units, RB selects all units on the screen. I just kept using that shortcut, didn't even try to do a bounding box by holding down A and dragging the left analogue (anyone know if you can do this?)

I found it really average, with lots of polish. Think Halo fans will get alot from it and enjoy it more than me though.

Fol20

Flaccus wrote: »

Just played the demo too and definitely buying the full game. Was worried there might be lots of micro management in it, which is typical of a lot of rts games. But this was grand. Certainly captured the halo feel too. Hopefully will have gears2,fallout3,deadspace,fable2, and prince of persia finished by the time it comes out

Micromanaging is what makes a good strat game.Who wants to play a game with no dept to it.I havnt played it yet but i hope its not a casual rts and i hope the controls are good.

Vyse

Really enjoying the demo. There's a lot to it, I was suprised. I like they way that everybody is assuming that it's going to be crap cause it's not a FPS. From somebody that doesn't traditionally play RTS games it was nice to try something new.

super_furry

Flaccus wrote: »

Pity you can't zoom in a bit closer to the action like other rts games. Also it seems you can only select all your units (with LB) or individual squads with A. Makes it a bit awkward, say if you want to leave some units behind guarding a base and move out with the rest...you need to point the cursor and hit A for each group you want to select. Other RTS's did it better.

Hold down the A button and the selection icon will expand allowing you to select multiple units.

rizzla

Vyse wrote: »

Really enjoying the demo. There's a lot to it, I was suprised. I like they way that everybody is assuming that it's going to be crap cause it's not a FPS. From somebody that doesn't traditionally play RTS games it was nice to try something new.

I assume you're talking about other forums cause the posts so far here haven't mentioned that it's going to be crap because it's not an FPS... but then why would you say everybody?!? Colour me confused

kaimera

i liked it, nice variety of units/upgrades to play around with.

easy enough to control, can see it being a tad hectic with a lot going on tho...is there a way to select all types of a particular unit on screen?

Helix

the triggers let you select whichever type of unit you want iirc

Vyse

rizzla wrote: »

I assume you're talking about other forums cause the posts so far here haven't mentioned that it's going to be crap because it's not an FPS... but then why would you say everybody?!? Colour me confused

Not so much crap but I don't think expectations for tha game were very high, especially when you are seeing headlines like this:

http://thenightlygamer.com/hwdemobetterthanexpected.html

http://thegamereviews.com/article-1065-Halo-Wars-Can-it-Not-Suck.html

Also, reading some of the comments here there does seem to be an element of suprise to the quality of the game. Personally I wasn't expecting too much, but after the 2 big demos that were released yesterday (the other being Killzone 2) this is top of my list.

I'll give you the everybody though!!!

silvine

Posted the below in Halo forum but the real discussion seems to be happening here.

I got a preview copy of the game yesterday. I played through the tutorial and first act last night. Some thoughts:

1) The controls are the best yet I've seen an RTS use on a console. Everything is doable within the press of one of two buttons. There's no submenus or messing around with hidden functions. If you want to attack you press X, if you want to use a special power you press Y. If you want to navigate to your base press left on the D-pad, if you want to navigate to your special unit press up on the d-pad etc. It's definately more natural than C&C3/Red Alert 3.

2) Ensemble studios clearly respect Halo 3. The interface and the music are all very similar. The sounds of the weapons and the looks of the vehicles all look like something Bungie would do. The cut-scenes though are better than I've seen in Bungie's effots.

3) RTS fans will scorn it. It's simplistic. You can't select where you build your base, there's little resource gathering The terrain, while it looks 3d, actually isn't i.e. you can't fly or go underground (at least not in the first act). Similarly, there's no unit formations.

4) The game spoon feeds you tips/info. Clearly, this is aimed just as much at people who have never played an RTS before as it is at Halo fans.

5) The missions are tightly scripted and quick. Granted I only played the first act on normal but it was a little easy and each mission took about 20 mins. You always know where to go next too.

6) I never though the Halo story was that good but Ensemble have gone to great pains to tie their plot in white the previous three games. There's even a timeline in the menu which explains the key dates/events in the Halo universe. The missions themselves have cut-scenes, lots of new characters and a good bit of story.

7) I wasn't able to sample the multiplayer but going by my impressions of the single player matches will be quick. It takes relatively little time to build/destroy things and there's a tight unit limit. This isn't an RTS for turtles!

no sign of the FLood yet

robinph

honeybadger wrote: »

how long did it take the boys above to download the demo,i had the xbox on 4 an hour and a half earlier downloading it and paused it at 42% cause i wasnt leaving the xbox on that long yeno with out playing it,and also is the game play anyting like overlord the way you can send the minions running around??

You should have left it running and just turned off the xbox, it will then just keep on downloading in it's low power mode and then turn itself off properly once the download has finished...although you may need to turn on that mode before hand in the system settings.

Flaccus

Fol20 wrote: »

Micromanaging is what makes a good strat game.Who wants to play a game with no dept to it.I havnt played it yet but i hope its not a casual rts and i hope the controls are good.

Not in my opinion. Some games have too much bloody micromanaging which takes the fun out of rts games for the masses and makes them boring. This obviously doesn't apply to the hardcore. That's the reason why most people I know don't like rts games like Supreme Commander. Halo Wars from the demo appears to have a decent enough balance though which makes sense as it's aimed at consoles.

Flaccus

super_furry wrote: »

Hold down the A button and the selection icon will expand allowing you to select multiple units.

Cool. Thanks. Am only used to RTS games on the PC. 1st time on a console.

Moiph

I was a bit sketchy as I'm used to RTS games on the PC myself, but I really enjoyed this. I reckon I'll pick it up when its out.

Fol20

Flaccus wrote: »

Originally Posted by Fol20 View Post
Micromanaging is what makes a good strat game.Who wants to play a game with no dept to it.I havnt played it yet but i hope its not a casual rts and i hope the controls are good.

Not in my opinion. Some games have too much bloody micromanaging which takes the fun out of rts games for the masses and makes them boring. This obviously doesn't apply to the hardcore. That's the reason why most people I know don't like rts games like Supreme Commander. Halo Wars from the demo appears to have a decent enough balance though which makes sense as it's aimed at consoles.

Ok thats an extreme case of micromanaging and i have to agree with you on that game.I never liked supreme comander anyway because it had too big a spectrum to be covered.But after playing halo wars now,its a complete casual rts.Theres no real tactics to the game,basically all you do is order all your units to attack or none at all.Games such as company of heroes are prime examples of rts tactics done well for example without positioning your men in good positions or using the right stuff against certain units,you will be destroyed.Im still hazey as to whether i will buy this purely on the fact that it is so casual orientated.Me thinks im gonna wait until dawn of war 2 and star craft 2 come out.

Helix

halo wars does exactly what it sets out to do imo

its not one for the rts hardcore or anything like it, and nor does it ever claim to be

what it does is offer the casual rts player an enjoyable game

hardcore rts games have very little place on consoles

me-skywalker

No its a very well develeoped well marketed indepth cash in franchise!

Casual rts? but that defeats the purpose of 'real' - 'time' - 'strategy' if i wanted casual ild pick up Duck Hunt and blast away at that to kill time.


If they wanted to be serious why didnt they take time developing it further and getting it on pc ... give it 4months and it'll be on pc.

Helix

me-skywalker wrote: »

Casual rts? but that defeats the purpose of 'real' - 'time' - 'strategy' if i wanted casual ild pick up Duck Hunt and blast away at that to kill time.

i dont think casual rts defeats anything. if you want an in depth rts, halo wars isnt for you, but everyone knew that already

yes its probably a cash in on the franchise, but that doesnt make it any less enjoyable for people who wouldnt be massive rts players (like me).

"casual" isnt always a dirty word. it can sometimes provide one of 2 things for players

a) a gateway into a genre they mightnt necessarily been interested in looking into

b) a game for people who just dont have the time any more to spend hours and hours on a fully featured game

i used to like rts games, but then i used to have more than a few hours a week spare to play games recreationally. halo wars offers me something i can just sit down and jump straight into for 40 minutes to an hour, and you know what? its bloody great at what it does

nobody is going to approach the game expecting an in depth title, so i dont think that has to be factored in