• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Halo Wars 2 gameplay and impressions

U

UKUMI0

Member
Can't wait for this game, been playing the shit out of HW:DE and according to the previews I've read it seems to be an improvement without changing the formula.
 
C

Cranster

Banned
The console warriors are out in full force in the youtube comments, lol. I'm really looking forward to this game. I'm interested in seeing where they take the story in the campaign.
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
I'm not able to pick this up at launch, but luckily one of my friends is. She's gonna let me borrow it a for a few days, I can't friggin' wait!
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
That campaign footage is looking OK, about as good as you can hope for an RTS story mode.

Looks better than the first game's campaign for sure. Very active.
 
OrochiJR

OrochiJR

Member
Very interested in this but never got around to play the first game and the beta of the 2nd one. But I always wonder, how do the games control on a pad? Do they feel good to play or like a makeshift solution where you wish for a mouse and keyboard all the time?
 
U

UKUMI0

Member
Fat4all said:
That campaign footage is looking OK, about as good as you can hope for an RTS story mode.

Looks better than the first game's campaign for sure. Very active.
Click to expand...

The first game got fairly active towards the end if you made it through all the tutorial stuff at the beginning.
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
UKUMI0 said:
The first game got fairly active towards the end if you made it through all the tutorial stuff at the beginning.
Click to expand...

It did, but the problem was how slow the first half dragged.

It was such a slog that I almost didn't complete it and just focused on multiplayer for a few months, before I decided to set my mind to finishing it off.
 
T

Theorry

Member
OrochiJR said:
Very interested in this but never got around to play the first game and the beta of the 2nd one. But I always wonder, how do the games control on a pad? Do they feel good to play or like a makeshift solution where you wish for a mouse and keyboard all the time?
Click to expand...

Well you can try it tomorrow. Then the open beta starts for PC and Xbox. :)
 
U

UKUMI0

Member
Fat4all said:
It did, but the problem was how slow the first half dragged.

It was such a slog that I almost didn't complete it and just focused on multiplayer for a few months, before I decided to set my mind to finishing it off.
Click to expand...

Oh definitely, hopefully for this game they make it progress faster.
 
L

Lucifon

Junior Member
All Units!!

Can't wait to play the open beta with friends tomorrow. Game is far more polished than the beta months ago, as expected. Shaping up to be even more awesome than the first. There's just nothing else like it on the consoles, and barely anything like it on PC these days to be fair. Breath of fresh air from shooter fatigue.
 
T

The Flash

Banned
"Feels kinda like an old Command & Conquer game"

SMhqlsW.jpg
 
Z

Zvonimir Boban

Banned
vivekTO said:
PC it is! Why the comparison with C&C?
Click to expand...


http://www.pcgamer.com/halo-wars-2-feels-like-a-return-to-the-cc-era-of-real-time-strategy/

As you'd expect from The Creative Assembly's pedigree, Halo Wars 2 feels like a real PC RTS. Its basebuilding and tech trees are simpler than, say, Starcraft, but on the whole the game gives me a 90s Command & Conquer vibe. It's fast, flashy, and filled with fun unit abilities to juggle and use at the right moments
Click to expand...
 
RiccochetJ

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
I wish I was even remotely competent at rts games. Even on easy I get my ass kicked. I have to imagine that with a controller my incompetence will be magnified.
 
R

Rodelero

Member
RiccochetJ said:
I wish I was even remotely competent at rts games. Even on easy I get my ass kicked. I have to imagine that with a controller my incompetence will be magnified.
Click to expand...

You may find it works the other way, in truth. Halo Wars is relatively simple (compared to a PC RTS) and playing on a controller slows everything down, and levels out the curve somewhat. Plus, you'll have more casual modes like Blitz to play.
 
V

vivekTO

Member
Looking at the response in this thread , i think we need a
"Areee youuuu going to play Halo Wars 2 "
Every #Niche game needs help :)
 
RiccochetJ

RiccochetJ

Gold Member
Rodelero said:
You may find it works the other way, in truth. Halo Wars is relatively simple (compared to a PC RTS) and playing on a controller slows everything down, and levels out the curve somewhat. Plus, you'll have more casual modes like Blitz to play.
Click to expand...

I have to give it another shot. I tend to focus on a single unit or base too much and it's my downfall.
 
A

Akai__

Member
Looks good, especially the part with Jerome and because of Hornets. The mission itself is also that MP mode that we tested in the 1st Beta, but against an AI obviously. I think that's completely fine, but only if they keep that to a minimum. Don't want the Campaign to be about playing each of the MP modes against AI. That's what Skirmish will be for, so please don't overdo it. :p

UNSC buildings still look off to me. I don't like the designs. Units and the effects going arround look amazing, though. Have seen small details like the Warthog doing a burnout prior to using it's ability and I love details like those.

Overall pretty happy about what I see. Lets hope the story also delivers.
Lets also hope that they are not blowing up the Ark, because it's by far one of my favourite places in the Halo Universe.
 
D

Dalibor68

Banned
Does it have basebuilding, resource-gathering and superweapons? I could use something to fill the void of old C&C games (literally spent hundreds of hours in Red Alert 2 and Generals).
 
A

Akai__

Member
Dalibor68 said:
Does it have basebuilding, resource-gathering and superweapons? I could use something to fill the void of old C&C games (literally spent hundreds of hours in Red Alert 2 and Generals).
Click to expand...

Yes, kinda and yes.

Ressource Gathering comes from Buildings that you can build on each Base. The Base itself comes with 7 empty spaces where you select the Buildings for Infantry, Ground Vehicle or Air Units. Super Powers were already available in the 1st game and they redesigned those, so you now have a whole Tech Tree with passive and active Powers.
 
T

Theorry

Member
Halo Wars 2 benefits from the experience of Creative Assembly

Creative Assembly is at its very core a PC strategy game developer. Here's a studio that enjoys words such as 'anti-aliasing' and 'mouse acceleration'. What, then are they doing with a real-time strategy franchise that can be played with a controller?

Well, for a start, they're making it better. Unlike its predecessor, Halo Wars 2 now lets you manually sort your units into control groups and quickly switch between them using the d-pad, providing the kind of micromanagement we've come to expect from an RTS. Creative Assembly has included that feature in its games for almost 20 years, but we rarely see it on console.

If you're playing with a mouse and keyboard it's still a more intuitive experience, as you jump between locations by clicking on the minimap, or drag a box to precisely select the units you want to control. Those are always going to be difficult actions to replicate with a gamepad and so Halo Wars 2 provides some clever alternatives. Holding down the left bumper, for example, makes your cursor move more quickly, which in turn lets you to traverse the map with some urgency. The original game got a lot right when it came to gamepad controls, but the added expertise of Creative Assembly is welcome.
Click to expand...

Outside of the control scheme, the team also had some thoughts on what kind of units an RTS game needs to feel well-balanced.

"We needed more artillery pieces," explained creative director Alistair Hope. "So we created the Kodiak and the Blisterback. Mechanically we needed units with a longer range that could own an area of territory, but there was nothing in the Halo universe that was appropriate. 343 supplied us with a lot of reference material from previous games and then we worked on something together that could fit this role."

Hope, it's worth noting, had previously directed Alien: Isolation, a game highly praised for its respect towards the source material.

"That's generally true of anything we do at Creative Assembly," said Hope. "Even if it's historical reality, there's always an attention to detail. That's no less the case with Halo Wars 2. With the Kodiak, we wanted to create a new unit, but we didn't want it to feel completely strange and new and different.

"One of the goals is to make it feel like it always existed and you just hadn't seen it. So it looks and feel like a UNSC vehicle. It's not shouting that it's new. It just sort of fits into place."
Click to expand...

At a recent hands-on event, I spent most of my time with the game's campaign, replaying a new mission called Ascension. You start with a small force of UNSC troops, then you're tasked with capturing three separate control points positioned around the map, while holding off waves of enemies from the game's new faction, a Covenant splinter faction called the Banished.

It's an early mission and so it's perhaps unfair to expect a big, genre-defying setup, but as objectives go, this didn't feel all that different to the missions I played back in 2009. Just like the Kodiak, Halo Wars 2 wasn't shouting that it's new. The game looks sharper and there are a handful of quality of life changes that I really like, but so far, it feels like a continuation of the Halo Wars series rather than a significant evolution.
Click to expand...



http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...fits-from-the-experience-of-creative-assembly
 
D

Dalibor68

Banned
Akai__ said:
Yes, kinda and yes.

Ressource Gathering comes from Buildings that you can build on each Base. The Base itself comes with 7 empty spaces where you select the Buildings for Infantry, Ground Vehicle or Air Units. Super Powers were already available in the 1st game and they redesigned those, so you now have a whole Tech Tree with passive and active Powers.
Click to expand...

Huh, so you can't place buildings freely and only build 7 total? Not sure if I like that.
 
nekkid

nekkid

It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan.
Dalibor68 said:
Huh, so you can't place buildings freely and only build 7 total? Not sure if I like that.
Click to expand...

That's how the first one worked. It works given the limitations on CPU and control of a console, but I agree that it's not ideal from a variety and strategy perspective.
 
Z

zeox

Member
Dalibor68 said:
Huh, so you can't place buildings freely and only build 7 total? Not sure if I like that.
Click to expand...

you have a set number of building-spaces on a base. you can have multiple bases on the map, and most of them will have a smaller amount of spaces than the main.
I didn't like it at first either, but it might make the decision of plopping down a building more interesting. I haven't really played halo wars at all, so I'll see when I play the game for myself if that is the case or not
 
T

Tecnniqe

Banned
Dalibor68 said:
Huh, so you can't place buildings freely and only build 7 total? Not sure if I like that.
Click to expand...

zeox said:
you have a set number of building-spaces on a base. you can have multiple bases on the map, and most of them will have a smaller amount of spaces than the main.
I didn't like it at first either, but it might make the decision of plopping down a building more interesting. I haven't really played halo wars at all, so I'll see when I play the game for myself if that is the case or not
Click to expand...
Your first base starts at Stage 2 of 3 I believe with 5 platforms available to build on. You can upgrade it to 7. When you capture and build a new base it starts at stage 1 with 3(?) platforms in which you can upgrade to 5 and 7 unless my memory is playing tricks on me.


There's still strategy to placements (and what buildings to place) on the buildings but not like free building.
It's not ideal but also playing on PC it's not something that bothers some at all so you might just need to give it a go.
 
C

Calm Killer

In all media, only true fans who consume every book, film, game, or pog collection deserve to know what's going on.
Looks great. Can't wait to play blitz tomorrow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Digital Foundry: Dragon's Dogma 2: Does The New Patch Fix The Game? All Systems Tested
44
4K
sachos replied
Digital Foundry: Stellar Blade Demo - PS5 First Impressions - Every Mode Tested!
2
62
4K
poodaddy replied
Digital Foundry Direct Special: The Best Game Graphics of the Year 2023
3 4 5 6 7
301
16K
TxKnight7 replied
MVG — 'Half-Life on the PlayStation 2 is an incredible port. Here is why.'
Analysis Retro
20
2K
Red Crayon Aristocrat replied
Digital Foundry: Inside Alan Wake 2: How Remedy Delivered A Visual Masterpiece
1
529
Insane Metal replied
Top Bottom