The UNSC's Kodiak and The Banished's Blisterback both offer a much-needed artillery option to player's arsenals. The rosters aren't hugely different to the original game, but the newer units have clearly been created to fill a specific role on the battlefield. Focusing on just two factions here means that Halo Wars 2 does feel very well balanced. The multiplayer, then, is where this game has a bit more to offer. It's enjoyable, but won't do much to challenge your perceptions of what an RTS mission can accomplish. This makes for a fairly by-the-numbers campaign, interspersed with some very impressive CGI cutscenes. The missions themselves are varied enough, taking inspiration from a number of RTS tropes (defend this base for 30 minutes) or the multiplayer modes themselves (hold these control points longer than the enemy). So yes, Halo Wars 2 is a game about the UNSC stopping another Covenant faction from destroying the universe.
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I feel like the Halo franchise has been there before. The Banished, it turns out, are just another Covenant group that really don't like humans very much. There was a possibility here for an interesting backstory and a nemesis with some degree of depth, but it never lives up to that. Led by an especially large Brute by the name of Atriox, they're renowned for having rebelled against and broken away from the High Prophets without being immediately slaughtered. It's a pretty big deal and it's also recently been invaded by a splinter faction of the Covenant called 'The Banished'. That's the place where Halo rings are made. Continuing the story of the previous game, Captain Cutter and the crew of the Spirit of Fire awake from cryosleep to find themselves in orbit around the Ark. That's all the info we're given, as our Hunters card levels up. As well as a substantial single player campaign (which can also be played cooperatively!), there's a variety of multiplayer options, including matchmaking, custom games and a new, card-based, Blitz mode. But if you're after a very precise RTS game, where micro moments are king, this probably isn't the one.Īside from the gamepad controls, the most impressive thing about Halo Wars 2 is just how much stuff there is to play around with. Some of you will like the sound of that, particularly if you find games like StarCraft 2 overwhelming. With the game's pathfinding not being especially brilliant, I found myself relying less on individual units and more on steamrolling through opponents with a large, mostly automated, force. These may seem like small features, but they make everything a little easier. And if you're commanding a varied force, it'll only move with the speed of its slowest unit. Units automatically engage enemies, even while moving, selecting targets with some amount of intelligence. Although micromanagement is encouraged (units typically have access to an active ability), you'll find that Halo Wars 2 takes cares of a lot of the busywork. You can see the Xbox One's influence in more than its controls too.
#Halo wars 2 welcome to the ark Pc
An RTS game on the PC - better with a controller? 2017 is turning out to be quite the rollercoaster. Gosh, I can hardly believe I've written that. It's almost enough to consider playing with a gamepad instead.
#Halo wars 2 welcome to the ark windows
Even if you're playing on that platform (and you'll need Windows 10, by the way) with a mouse and keyboard, you'll be battling with radial menus and some very awkward keybinding options. Unfortunately it does feel like PC players have been somewhat shafted as a result. So yes, it plays very nicely with a controller. 'What's that, Isabel? This new splinter faction of the Covenant doesn't like us and wants to have a Halo War? That's unexpected!'
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That last one is particularly great to see, as it's something we expect from the genre when playing on PC and yet Halo Wars 2 is one of the first games to make this work on the consoles. It all works exceptionally well.įrom that point, you can cycle between each unit type and give them orders individually, allowing for some basic micromanagement, or if you're feeling especially fancy: create custom groups and assign them to the d-pad. In fact, double tapping that same shoulder button has you controlling every unit on the map. If that sounds a bit fiddly, you could hold down a button and paint over those you want to control, or tap a shoulder button to select everything on screen. With a gamepad you can select units individually or double tap them to grab every unit of that type. Unit selection is perhaps the best example of this. Availability: Out now on Xbox One and PC.