Review: Halo Wars 2 (Win 10 And Xbox One)

Real-time strategy makes an explosive return to the Halo universe in Halo Wars 2. Lead Spartans, Warthogs and other classic Halo fighting forces in a brutal war against a terrifying new enemy on the biggest Halo battlefield ever.

Pros:

• Gorgeous graphics, Best Halo game yet with mini Spartans running around, Even the little mini warthogs look cool. Some stunning locations to fight over.
• Full controller support as well as full Keyboard and Mouse.
• Cross buy where you get the Xbox One version for free.
• Has its own Halo front end where it stores all you Halo games and has a built in feature offering a more detailed stats screen with game history etc.
• 1000 Gamerscore.
• RTS game play but is more RTS lite as it does the basics and doesn’t over complicate the methods and controls in other hardcore RTS titles. (This is a good thing!)
• Game plays out typically where you need to build up a base and collect resources so you can build troops, Vehicles and more buildings. Attack your team and destroy them.
• Graphic options: Resolution, Full screen, V-Sync interval, Detail level, Texture filtering, Texture quality, AA, Shadow map resolution, Foliage quality, Terrain quality, Ambient occlusion, Cloud shadows, Particle shadows, Reflections.
• Controller options: Can swap LB/LT buttons around, Activate a swap for the D-Pad.
• Tutorial section (Optional) covering the basics, Advanced techniques and Blitz.
• Campaign is 12 levels and supports co-op.
• Campaign actually has a bit of variety to it, Not all missions are build a base and attack, Some have you controlling small teams and assault or taking a spartan with you and hijacking tanks. Its a great pacing masterclass. It even has boss fights.
• Blitz game mode is a fast paced card based RTS experience. Call in reinforcements and troops by playing the cards. A great spin on the RTS game and a lot of fun and easy to pick up.
• You can earn Blitz cards from playing the campaign and leveling up.
• Earn EXP from campaign and online modes to level up your overall rank.
• Skulls are back! They are unlocked by doing tasks in game and can be activated to change the game.
• Daily and weekly challenges for bonus EXP.
• Easy to learn, What they have done is made a RTS game very accessible even to non RTS players. Its high on action, Low on micro management and clunky controls.
• Controller works very well for the most part. The right stick is your camera and you can move it 360 degrees and zoom in and out at any time.
• Auto saves regularly but does have a dedicated save button with 10 save slots.
• Campaign has main and optional side missions.
• Collectibles are phoenix logs adding to the lore and skulls.
• Campaign has a scoring system with a end of level score and rank.
• Decent loading times.
• Multiplayer has 6 modes: Vs AI in 3V3, Rumble, Team objective, Solo war, Team war and custom match.
• Eight multiplayer maps.
• Skirmish game mode.
• Global service record has a brief overview of your stats.
• Hilarious grunt voice work as always and decent voice work for the other characters.
• Brilliant animations. You can zoom in and watch the epic little fights playing out.
• Theatre allows you to re-watch cut scenes.
• Currently 7 commanders to choose from with each one having unique leader powers.
• Leader powers bring the heavy actions to the game. Could be an ability to build faster or maybe a rocket barrage, They have to be charged and paid for but man does it pay off.
• The main villain in the game is Atriox and he is hands down the best Halo villain to date. He commands the Banished army, A collection of dispensable brutes hired by the Covenant to take out other armies.

Cons:

• Controller still feels like its lacking compared to mouse and keyboard.
• No cross play with Xbox One players even with co-op campaign.
• Cut scenes render at a much lower quality and looks a bit rough compared to the rest of the shine.
• Changing campaign difficulty is not straight forward. I landed up doing it by replaying the first level and picking the difficulty from there.
• A lot to take in at first.
• IAP for Blitz packs, I mean its not bad but for some its not wanted.
• No free for all game mode.
• Only one controller layout.
• No way to know the skulls criteria.
• Failed objectives show up on the next mission.
• Frame rate drops.
• Performance takes a hit at random points and its not even in big battles.
• Balancing issues in Blitz.