Halo Wars - Multiple Mode Review

Games Halo Wars Series
1

Overall the game was fun to play. Ignoring the bugs on this post. It reminded me of Halo Wars the original. In some ways its a step forward and others a step back.

The good:

It is simply fun. Enjoy the game modes and the faster building time. Seems simpler with less building options and more complex with multiple resource needs, more u not count selections.

I enjoy the maps and the extra base options including mini bases.

Seems to be a well thought out strategy approach similar to the original.

Strategically holding multiple.spots for resources make sense.

Great base count in 2v2

Antivehicle infantry is a well deserved addition.

Anti infantry air will always be great.

The needs improvement:

Unit max counts seem extremely low especially with units taking up more unit space. Would suggest doubling it.

Domination is too short. Needs 10,000 points as the time you build up a little, it’s over with. You can completedominately the game at the end and lose. No ability to turn it around. Researching is not necessary.

Domination: Sometimes you cannot takeover a territory with no on else there. Lost as a result of that. Not sure if its a game setting to prevent you from dominating all territories or what.

Character abilities is harder to use and does not seem to always work.

Selecting units is a pain. Halo Wars 1, you could highlight units that you wanted on the screen by adjusting the selection diameter size and not be forced to select everyone in a fixed diameter it entire screen.

Miss the transport option. ODST drop option may be too limited as an ability.

Building up a large warthog army or marine army but 40 units is no longer a possibility. Pop usage per char is too higher making garrison points useless especially for Marines and warthogs.

Do not see an option is mark a base for attack as a signal.

With Marines and odsts taking up so much of the pop unit, vehicles are the safest option.

Top 3 changes:

  1. Double max pop to 180.
  2. Increase domination score by 50-100%
  3. Allow the user to select a group of multiple units on the screen by adjusting the size of the selection diameter. The diameter should not be a fixed diameters or require you to select everyone in the screen.

3 Key measures to maintain:

  1. Paper rock scissor approach with counter units for every building (airplanes that are for anti infantry, antivehicle infantry, anti air vent vehicles).

  2. Number of bases to people ratio in 2v2. Basically 3 bases per person (if you add up all the mini bases) is ideal at min.

  3. Multiple resources, base upgrade driving levels (instead of reactors), more units to be selected and used per character (more options are great…maybe even add more unit healers).

Overall: Fun and worth buying but not quite there yet. With a few minor tweaks, this game can be a lot better than the original though I still say the original is better as the too 3 changes are big ones to me.

2

I love Halo Wars and the Halo universe. I think Halo Wars 2 is a great game, and it has given me faith in 343 studios for the coming years. Halo wars 2 has grat art and is largely a balanced game. There are a few suggestions however that I would like to make:

I think they need to give the banished better options for anti-air. It has been absolutely impossible to compete with the extremely fast and versatile air units on the other team. I maxed out population on an entire army of anti-air and it got crushed by an army sentinels when I was using Decimus. The UNSC air units as well, especially the condor are insanely hard to take down if they have any kind of support units, especially ones in the air.
Also, one thing I loved about halo wars 1 was that if a team managed to get a Scarab, you had to game plan for it. The Scarab should honestly be much more powerful than the condor, especially considering the inability of the anti-air the banished have. In Halo Wars 2 it feels like the Scarab just takes up a lot of unit space, and is more hype than bite. I didn’t understand the point of adding in the Condor for the UNSC because they already had the Vulture. Sure the Scarab was a lot stronger than the Vulture, but Vultures cost less to produce and were less to your unit cap. It feels from my experience with the game that if a team builds a few Condors, Vultures, and Hornets, it can’t be stopped, simply because the maneuverability. It is impossible for a player to react quickly enough to that kind of attack if they aren’t in the vicinity. This is why I ask that the Scarab gets a huge damage and health boost. I and many people I play with would like this because it would make confronting the Scarab a pressing matter. If I attack an enemy base with a Scarab and support units, they will have time to destroy my base, and turn around and destroy my scarab before I am able to destroy their base.

Main points:

  • Banished Anti - air cannot keep up, not fast or versatile enough
  • Banished Anti - air seems to cost too many units to field, and then not do enough damage or produce desired results
    -Scarab needs a damage boost and health boost.

I remember I maxed out population and built a scarab, 10 engineers, and the rest anti-air. My Ali had all sentinals. We got attacked by 2 armies of maxed out sentinals and got completely demolished. The Scarab and anti-air in this game just seem to be a joke.

Thank you for your consideration