Halo Wars for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

This game, while not the most sophisticated or innovative RTS game, is a heck of a lot of fun. It has recieved a lot of criticism (efiin Gamespot) but i'm telling you that anyone but the most hardcore RTS fan wouldn't find any problem with Halo Wars' simplicity. In fact, I think the simplicity of Halo Wars is the one thing that sets it apart from the rest of the console RTS games we've seen. For the most part, RTS games have failed to deliver on consoles because of complicated control schemes trying to deliver detailed gameplay like what is seen on a PC RTS. Ensemble recognized that problem, and set out to create a game that would be easy to play, with simple controls, and still make it fun. They succeeded.
Halo Wars has its weaknesses, i'll say that much. I'm not really a fan of the campaign; the missions sometimes feel generic and simply thrown together onto a (surprisingly) good storyline. In short, the shallow missions don't do the story of the campaign justice.
The place where Halo Wars really shines, i'm finding out, is the multiplayer. I played my first online game today, a 2v2 battle. I played as professor Anders, and my ally chose UNSC as well. We used a strategy that seemed to be the complete opposite of that of our enemy. They rushed us with waves upon waves of attacks while we built strong defenses and let our economy flourish before unleashing super-upgraded units on them. We obliterated them, as i trained 6 vultures and my ally sent in a few spartans and enough tanks and marines to fill the screen. In short, it was epic. And that was just one short game. It was far from boring, and i can see myself playing for a long time in the future.
Halo Wars in no way revolutionizes the entire RTS genre; there's really nothing to it that you've never seen before (except for the fact that it's Halo-based units and environments) However, if you're looking to get into the RTS genre, there's no better way to do it than by playing Halo Wars.

I know a lot of people that are big fans of the Halo series but will not play Halo Wars. They think the series should be FPS. I think they are missing out.

The game has a great storyline, showing the original battles between the Covenent and Marines. Speaking of Storyline, you can unlock parts of a timeline going from the beginning of the war to the battle that destroys the Pillar of Autumn.

Now, the gameplay. The game consists of every level or skirmish, building a firebase (A temporary stronghold to place your reign of power in the battlefield) and building up your troops and marching to an enemy base or in the storyline, clearing out enemies to get allies to safety or getting to a certain area to gain more power in the war. All in all, the gameplay is smooth and quick, the battles can last long or short, depending on your troops against their troops.

The controls are layed out extremely well on the controller, each button having it's own role, doing one thing and nothing else. It makes the controls easy to grasp.

The graphics...well, it's breathtaking. It makes you feel like you are watching a real battle from a ship just barely above the troops. The cutscenes are even more so, looking next to real, better then most I've ever seen.

The Spartans in the story mode are near invincible, which most of you think makes the game too easy, but the you usually only get 3-4 spartans during one level, and they will after taking a lot of damage, fall weak, and will have to be revived.

All in all, the game is probably the best RTS game I've played and fits well into the storyline. Now I can't wait for Halo: ODST!