Great Fun for a Short While

Author's Rating:

Pros: Dominating people over Xbox Live is immensely thrilling

Cons: All non-multiplayer portions are some-what repetitive and can get stale

The Bottom Line: 

Good game, but it's no best seller.  Great for tank fetish relief.

Author's Review
I have heard a lot of negative criticism for this game out there so it's time for someone to talk about the short-lived and little enjoyment found in this game. 

Halo Wars, as I have come to find, is a great for people new to the RTS genre.  It is incredibly simplistic (due to the ability to maneuver with a console controller) in design and straight forward.  Build units and research with one tap of the A button using resources gathered in the field, construct buildings in pre-determined spaces, and launch specialized attacks by either selecting groups of similar units or the entire armada.

The game controls do not inhibit the ability to play the game as some have said in other reviews on and outside of Epinions.  Sure a console controller will never match up in a full keyboard and mouse in RTS's but Halo Wars does a great job at overcoming that problem.  For the most part in the single player campaign, each level will essentially require only one unit type.  99.9% of the time all you need is a big honking tank fleet to wipe out the Covenant; .1% of the time you'll need the Anti-Air vehicles to protect said tanks from tan-ish flying flood birds that spit on your godly tank army as the tanks are unable to shoot at anything above a 20degree angle.  So it's not so much that the button layout is important as much as the gameplay is so predictable (or that the tank is so powerful) that players do not need much else in the way of constructing units.

Conversely, it is vital to know your way arround on Xbox Live.  As one would hope with expect from online game-modes, the naturalhuman ability to think outside the box leaves a multiplayer experience that is varies everytime you play it.  In the campaign, you will face the same scenarios each time you play a level, and again the tank will become your new bestest friend.  And trust me, due to the games lack of change in the campaign you'll need to spend a good amount of time online to make the $60 investment worth while.  What's really sad about Halo Wars is that they don't tell you all the useful bits of information on controlling your army in the single player (again, as I have stated before this is most likely the cause beacause the only unit you will ever need is the tank; ok I know I've mentioned the tank like 10 times already but if you can't stand this much repetition in tank-loving then you should not buy this game).  I had to pick up the manual and read the controls to survive and enjoy the online world of Halo Wars.

Why read the manual?  For starters, each time you play a match on Halo Wars you will find new a scenario or fighting style created by an individual, one that usually does not consist of tanks.  And even so, what if your opponent does build a tank army?  Or something that has destroyed your holy tank fleet?  What can you possibly do?  Read the manual.  I can't stress it enough when playing online.  There are a few key little buttons not used nor mentioned in the single player experience that makes all the difference.  The most important of these is the select a specific unit type control.  With it, you can send targets to fight the units they are best against.  Once you have mastered this technique, you'll find the most entertaining part of Halo Wars: the gentlemen's thrill of accomplishment one finds in winning a battle of wit and intellect such as a win in chess or cards.  The feeling that your strategy and your ideas were better than someone else's.  To bad the single player campaign couldn't have done that by changing up the fighting styles.

And in the end, you might enjoy Halo Wars.  Now I know I have really beaten down on the single player campaign in this review but it is worth at least trying out, that is if you decide to buy for the fun I have found in the multiplayer experience or just to fill in the gaps your Halo fan-boy collection.  Whatever it may be, if you like Halo and like RTS games, you could do a lot worse then Halo Wars.  That's not saying it is a must buy but it certainly not a horrible purchase decision and it is nice to break up your Modern Warfare 2 addiction with a little something something that reminds you that there are other things in life worth trying.