So the Halo Wars demo hit today with very little fanfare. I had no idea it was even dropping until turning on my 360 today.

So, how does this console RTS play?



The RTS may never be right on the console, and it seems as though Halo Wars isn't going to change that much. The "revolutionary" control scheme they developed is very shallow and somewhat clunky. Right stick controls the camera and left stick moves your cursor. A selects a unit, X sends it moving or commands it to attack, and Y is a special attack. Left and right bumper selects either all units or all "local" units. Really, that is it. The controls make it difficult to select two fronts or a certain unit type and makes combat a "select all, attack" affair. Not very strategic.

Resource management is very bare bones, as the game's focus is combat. You really only need one type of resource (some nondescript crates) and a few reactors to build nearly everything in the game. A few supply buildings and you're set. Some of the bigger units require three reactors, but it is very, very simple to manage.

Since resource management is minimal, the game's combat has to be fun. And it is. Controlling units from the Halo universe in large-scale battles is fun and a sight to behold. The special attacks - such as the Warthog ram or infantry grenades - are pretty awesome and the leader abilities - such as the Prophet of Regret's cleansing beam - are a sight to behold. But, as it does in all RTS' - combat boils down to rock, paper, scissors.



The demo also was not very difficult. After researching a few simple technologies (of which I hope there are a lot more in the final build) and building a few of each unit I was able to easily overwhelm the second level of the demo. Since there was very little resource collection, I felt the victory was a little hollow and unearned.

There is a tutorial - basic and advanced - that explained the controls well. But the demo levels seemed like an extension of that tutorial, as the game holds your hand most of the time with arrows showing you your next objective or NPC voice overs telling you what to do.

I was surprised that the Halo Wars demo was out today, and thus, had little expectations. I was not blown away, and don't think this is the game that will make the console RTS a force in gaming. I dabbled in Civ: Rev and felt that was a much better title. I will not be buying this unless it comes to light that the game is a lot a deeper than this demo.