Halo Wars Demo Impressions
I downloaded and played the Halo Wars demo this weekend. I must say that I was impressed. Ensemble Studios did a really good job making the game approachable on all levels. I had no difficulty in learning the controls and dishing out Spartan justice. There were only two missions to play so beyond being a rather short demo, I had no complaints.
Building bases was easy. Controlling the resources and supply was pretty easy. Selecting Marines and engaging them in battle was pretty easy. Overall, the setup was easy and friendly even for those who aren’t big RTS fans. There’s something to be said about the Halo universe. It makes playing such a typical RTS more enjoyable.
The story is set 20 years before the Halo event and it was really interesting. The characters all seem great too. One thing I noticed was that the Covenant are definitely going to be much more fun to play with. The little time I got to play around with controlling them was great. They had more interesting weapons and characters.
What was also impressive was the level of detail in both the UNSC and Covenant. Ensemble Studios definitely went out with a bang visually. I could very well call the scenes in between missions and to start the game a masterpiece. I’ve never seen the Halo universe displayed in such a way before. If there was ever a feature film, then they should consult the people behind the cutscenes in this game. It was glorious to watch.
The demo should hit this Thursday and I think it’s well worth the time to download and even purchase when it releases.
200/200 achievement! 
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
That’s awesome. I’m excited to get my grubby hands on it Thursday. Not really an RTS fan, but the Haloz could pull me in.
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
Very cool. I’m looking forward to giving it a try too.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
I can’t wait, C&C didn’t quite do it for me and I think that Ensemble being at the helm and having the Halo universe to work with will provide the first really enjoyable console RTS.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 am
I can’t wait to get this. Man its hard listening to all the reviews for those lucky to get a hold of it early. Can you play Multi against a friend with the demo? I think it was suppose to have a map for that in this demo too.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:58 am
nope you can’t play online in the demo. they have normal missions and Skirmish. didn’t play Skirmish. the menu system is very much Halo 3′esque.
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I am glad to learn that the game was easy to get used to. I’ll give the demo a shot.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:08 pm
I’ve never played an RTS in my life because I thought it’d be to hard to get the hang of & the fact that I’m just not a KB&M guy…period, this is the first RTS I’m planning on attempting and the more I keep hearing about it the better it sounds.
February 7th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
How can you mess up on an rts?
February 8th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Well, I played the two missions of HW and I realized a couple of things:
1) I now know why I don’t play RTS games and why I had reservations about playing Halo Wars. I had almost zero amount of fun with the demo.
2) Halo is such a great FPS that it’s asking too much for the Halo universe to translate well into an RTS. Part of the “love” of Halo is being in the boots of the Master Chief. The whole time I was playing the demo, I was thinking about the “snow” levels of Halo: CE.
I’ve already deleted the Halo Wars demo from my hard drive and started playing Halo 3 again. I will certainly be passing on Halo Wars.