Yeah, I know it's supposed to be iMpressions, but it doesn't sound as good.

So, like many other people today, I downloaded the Halo Wars Demo. So far it seems to be a pretty cool birthday present, despite being only a demo that will inevitably lead to me spending money.

I was cautiously optimistic with this title, seeing as how Console RTSes seem to have that stigma of being inferior and flat compared to the PC counterparts, where if you're not Korean, you don't stand a chance playing online. The optimism part comes in with it being developed by Ensemble Studios, who are responsible for one of my personal favorite series, Age of Empires.

Just playing through what I did (the tutorial and the map after that), It certainly feels like a Halo title, and more importantly, feels like a good RTS. Using the analog stick to choose upgrades and building units certainly takes a minute or two to get used to, but with enough familiarization, you can make do just as fast as selecting a building with the mouse and clicking (or hotbuttoning) the corresponding action you wish to do. The ability to set a global rally point is also a nice addition that streamlines what would have otherwise been a lot of clicking. Troops also have secondary attacks, which recharge with a little indicator on each unit, and sending a swarm of UNSC marines with the RPG upgrade can prove quite devastating compared to, say, a group of terran marines. Yeah, I went there.

What I didn't care much for was the way you select units. a blue circle is made when you hold down the A button and move it over some units. A nice addition would be to add the use of L and R Triggers to change the size of said circle, but with other methods of unit selection, such as the LB/RB All Units/All On Screen selection(or even toggling between different types of units), it's more of a simple "I would like this" as opposed to "this cripples the game". I find myself using the LB/RB selection methods and entirely foregoing the A button selection, and then just using the Right trigger to filter from that selection.

My biggest fear was the controls, as with any console RTS game, and with Halo Wars, I just don't see any big flaws that couldn't give it a competetive edge, even against someone with a mouse and Keyboard (unless they were going up against a Korean, something that I would never wish upon my own worst enemy). Major things have been mapped properly (switching between bases is a breeze), and the controls are incredible. I can't believe I'm saying this about a console RTS. There are very few gripes about what I've played so far. Easily a Day one Purchase for me.