RF Generation Message Board

The demo was released last night on XBL. Anyone else DL it? Impressions?

I tried out the first 2 campaign levels on Easy difficulty (because I'm new to the whole RTS genre) and found it to be a lot of fun and very user-friendly. I didn't try out skirmish mode yet, though, to see how the Covenant plays out.

I'm liking it so far. And the scoring system seems pretty cool, too. I wonder how the skulls will affect the game? Anyone heard? I've also heard that the Flood will be playable as a 3rd faction.

Looking forward to it's release. I reserved the Limited Edition. 8)

I played the Skirmish and I enjoyed it, for not being a huge RTS fan. I'll have to step up the difficulty because I found Easy to be way too easy.

I agree with that. But I think it's designed that way in order to appeal to newcomers to the genre (like myself). 8).

I'll probably step it up to normal next time I play.

Ensemble Studios sure can make a good game and I'm sure Halo Wars will be great if you're an RTS fan, but I still think there will be at least 15 used copies in every Gamestop in the USA a week after it comes out. ;)

"THIS ISN'T HALO!"

"HOW DO I MAKE IT FIRST PERSON?!"

I just hope it gets the RTS genre a few new fans.

I'm not a Halo fan but I do enjoy RTS titles, even on consoles. If anyone can make a decent RTS on a console, it's the kings of PC RTS gaming. I've never played a bad Ensemble game, even the DS titles are good.

The Lord of the Rings RTS wasn't too bad, but I know this one will be much better than that. Looking forward to trying this demo out when it's available to silver members.

It works for me! That's one...8)


That's reassuring. I hope the end product is as good/better than the demo's first impressions.

I may have to try LOTR:BFME2 again in the near future. Thanks for the feedback on that one.

You only have 1 week to wait Tan for the Silver members to get it! 8)

I was watching my friend play it for a bit last night and I consistently let him know how awful it looked and how much better Starcraft is. Not sure if any of that is really true though, I was just trying to be a jerk.

There's nothing Ensemble Studios can't do, that's for sure. This'll be a great game. :)

That's f---ed up, man. Your friend may not be one for very long if you keep that shit up. You need help.


I hope you're right! 8)

Well Starcraft is better...

I personally am shocked that Bungie isn't more involved. They made some of the best RTS titles ever with the Myth series, the original Halo was supposed to be an RTS, and yet they aren't even involved.

:laugh: Oh god please tell me your post is a huge joke. XD I'm literally laughing really hard at how stupid of a comment you made. Do you really think my friend of many years is going to care what I say about a DEMO he is playing? Do you think he's going to get angry over that? I can't honestly believe that any good friend of mine would get pissed over something like that. We aren't little kids. Oh man your post is hysterical. What type of friends do you have that would actually get pissed about something like that for an extended period of time?

Oh your god your post seriously made my year thus far as far as forum posting is concerned.

I'm guessing it's because they aren't a part of Microsoft anymore. Ensemble Studios is owned by Microsoft and so is the Halo franchise. After Bungie left I think all they are responsible for now is whatever content rolls out for Halo 3.

Though I'm sure those who stayed with Microsoft instead of moving on with Bungie are probably consultants on the game.

Yeah, I was trying to be subtle, but that seemed kind of like a sad little desperate fanboy thing to say, phoenix. Half of being a friend is being a jerk.


From what I've seen of the game, they don't got nuffin to do with it. Looks like it'll be OK, but it's inside the box of mediocrity.

Since your age wasn't in your profile, and because you felt the need to write exactly what you did, I jumped to the conclusion you might have been (a kid). Obviously, I was mistaken and would've been better off ignoring your post. My bad on that x 2. Lesson learned. :P



No doubt that Starcraft is legendary for being one of the best PC RTSs available. However, since PC RTSs have been around for many years, they'll always have an advantage on console RTSs since to consoles it's such a new genre. And since I've never been into high end PC gaming, my perspective on RTSs will be different than most when it comes to evaluating console RTSs...right or wrong I flat out won't compare them to those on PCs.

That being said, and whether or not HW is "mediocre" from the perspective a PC RTS gamer, from what I've seen and played of HW...I like. A PC RTS gamer might not, but that's why you'd own a PC and a copy of Starcraft in the first place, right? 8)

Starcraft is not high end PC gaming. It looks like crap these days; but it still plays amazingly.

Also, my saying that was just a little jab at your silly comment at Shimra.

Hey no problem phoenix. I understand your post and I can guarantee I have made comments like that myself so no worries at all. It's just kind of funny when you are the one on the receiving end of an incorrect comment. But yeah I've definitely made comments like that.

^Glad to know I'm not alone there. Thanks for understanding. 8)

The review:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/45932.html

In short: they sacrificed scale/amount of units/micromanagement to make it playable on a console.

Result? The game lacks depth compared to other RTS games.

No matter how you look at it, you really need to have a PC for a full RTS experience.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. It agree that it would be better if they had Covenant and Flood campaigns included as well, though.



If the default difficulty is too easy, I would agree. However, there's always the opportunity to ramp it up and/or add the use of skulls (of which we really don't know how they will add to the gameplay depth at this point) to enhance the experience.



From the point of view of primarily a console-only gamer, I really don't care to ever play an RTS on a PC. Imo, the console RTS experience is full enough for me so long as it's a good game and that it's fun to play.



Sidebar - A few points in defense of console RTS's in general:

1. If we're to assume that the reviewers are playing on the default difficulty, what's so wrong about having an RTS game be "scaled down" to be more user-friendly to newer gamers to the genre? If a new RTS gamer finds the difficulty too easy, then they can ramp it up! Which may add to the depth of the game even if there aren't as many bells and whistles to it. The overcomplexity of the mouse/keyboard and micromanagement are some of the reasons why I never got into the genre on the PC. If they're too complex or require too much micromanagement, they cease to be fun, imo.

2. What's the point of reviewers comparing an RTS on the PC to an RTS on a console? If the console RTS holds up as a high quality game, then it should get high quality scores. There's a huge issue with reviewer bias regarding this point in many circumstances. Don't get me wrong, if console controls are clunky or gameplay/graphics/sound aspects suck outright, they should be critiqued accordingly; but they shouldn't be compared to using a mouse & keyboard.

That's just my $.02. 8)

They're both RTS games so naturally, we'll start to compare. Following your logic you could also say:
"What's the point of comparing electric cars with regular cars?"
The answer would be (again): they're both cars. :P

But please don't get me wrong because I agree with pretty much everything you're saying there. You're just looking at it from a console-gamer point of view, while I'm looking at it from a PC-RTS gamer point of view. :)


I think exactly the oposite when it comes to RTS games. To me, RTS games are the pinnacle of "How much things can happen at the same time without me losing control"-gameplay. It doesn't mean I don't like simple games (I love simple games, actually) but I just like RTSs to be hectic. That's what makes them RTSs, really. :P

^Interesting perspective. I think there's really no right or wrong way to look at the genre in general. If one prefers PC RTS and another prefers console RTS but both enjoy the games for what they are, that's really the best scenario for all RTS gamers. 

As a new genre to consoles, I think that it's definitely getting to the point where developers are becoming more encouraged about it's possibilities rather than being dismissive of it. BFME2, C&C3, Tom Clancy's End War, and now Halo Wars are at the very least evolving the genre on the console. So it's encouraging to see what the future may hold for it. 8)

You're right.

I guess I was looking at the game a bit too much from an PC-RTS gamer point of view in my first comment, sorry about that! :)

No problem. Perfectly understandable. :D

Console RTS games have been around for a long time now. Some of my favorites of all time are C&C on the PS1, Populous on the SNES and Dune on the Genesis.

The only reason it has become more prominent is because PC developers are branching out to consoles more. The failures and bad games of the past tend to stay forgotten.

I also loved Dune on the Mega Drive and spent many many hours on it. Damn I can't wait for StarCraft II, day one purchase for me.

I don't mind console RTSs, this game just looks a little weak to me.

Which console RTSs have you played? Any recommendations?

I smell sarcasm; but back in the dizzay I played a lot of C&C: Red Alert and Red Alert: Retaliation on the PS1. Loved them at the time.

Granted as of late I have not played any on consoles; but what I really mean is that I'm open to the idea. I don't think you need a mouse and keyboard to micro-manage.

I really have no idea about Halo Wars; but from the gameplay footage I've seen it just looks lacking. Like there isn't much there.

No sarcasm intended. I had purchased BMFE2 and C&C3 when they were on sale but didn't really play either all that much so I was curious if you had a take on the newer RTS games for the console.

I've pre-ordered HW-LE, so I'm thinking that if I enjoy that one enough, I may be willing to play the others. Also, since I haven't played them much, I've pretty much held off on getting C&C3: Kane's Wrath and Red Alert 3 (even at discounted prices) until I get a better grasp of the genre as a whole.

I figure if I enjoy HW enough, after I've had my fill of it I'll try to tackle some of the more "complex" console RTSs.

Halo Wars looks like "My First RTS" much like Halo was "My First FPS". ;)

Maybe that's exactly the effect they were hoping for. Hmmm. ;D

Meh, you're probably right. I'm sure Ensemble made the game with that in mind.

So, tonight I'm going to go to Gamestop's midnight launch and count up how many people are there. Then on Thursday and next Tuesday, I will return to see how many used copies there are. This should be fun.

For my money, I'm glad they did. Seriously, if I enjoy playing HW enough I'll be more likely to try out other console RTSs.


I didn't know they had a midnight launch. If there's more than 10 people there I'd be surprised.

My thoughts are that most people that buy HW will be those that are have played and enjoyed the demo already and are likely to be new to the console RTS genre so they figured they'd start with this game (like myself).

I don't know. I honestly don't think Halo Wars is going to pick up any new players, mainly just draw current Halo fans in.

I agree with Cobra. The name "Halo" doesn't really scream "New RTS gamers, come here!" or atleast not to me. :P

Maybe not, but the demo was good enough to draw an RTS newb like myself into the console RTS genre, where other console RTSs have not.

I'm getting it from the POV of someone that wants to like the genre, but currently does not (and I'm someone that would never play a PC RTS). And from the demo, I found it user-friendly and encouraging enough to convince me to give it a chance. Then I'll see where my interest goes from there regarding the genre.

Sounds like a plan. :)

Have you bought it yet? And if so, what do you think?