THE SPIRT OF FIRE, 28 YEARS LATER

After about 28 years, outside the conflict and isolated from the rest of humanity, the famous UNSC ship led by Captain Cutter returns to battle to face new challenges.

 

Creative Assembly develops a universe full of details and colors much more vibrant and vibrant than what is seen in the first chapter. Thanks to the extensive game maps the campaign offers a wide variety of objectives and strategic approaches.

 

All this is explained as we proceed with the story that, in addition to the classic gameplay focused on the creation of its base, will offer real battles with the bosses, tower defense sessions, timed goals, map control and so on.

In addition to the strong exploratory component, the levels take place in several phases; now we are building our base, now we find ourselves with our Spartan to explore the map recovering troops or gathering resources.

 

The clashes are more alive than ever, with constant events that force us to reevaluate our strategies and make the most of the surrounding environment. However, it is not just about strategy,

 

since Halo Wars 2 also offers a lot of collectibles to unlock including the Log Fenice spread in the levels with the purpose of deepening the story, and the inevitable skulls characteristic of Halo, real modifiers of difficulties that are unlocked by completing the secondary objectives of each mission.

 

The narration has much more space, if in the first chapter it was limited only to the kinematics, now the characters speak during the missions, providing not only important strategic information, but deepening the plot and allowing the player to participate in what is happening in the game universe.

 

It is therefore clear that the experience offered by the strategic Xbox is not “passive”, on the contrary it is full of dynamism and frenzy with dead times almost completely absent. It is interesting to note, among all things.

 

How  halo wars 2 xbox one  is now a well-established expanded universe, with a multiplicity of elements that coexist with each other coherently, even though this is constantly expanding.

 

We speak of a very strong attention to details that is expressed in many small things that a less attentive eye could ignore. Human models, including weapons, logos and various technologies

Actually

CA , who created the cult series of Total War , took the path of least resistance and did not break the mechanism built before it. In  halo wars 2 pc  there was absolutely a console approach to design. First, microcontrol – it’s simply not there. Managing units is not done with the usual framework. Button A allows you to select one of the units. With a double tap, you can select all “units” of the same type.

With the help of RB we select the whole army, and the left trigger (LT) opens the special abilities menu. The direction buttons are responsible for switching the camera from the army to the bases and vice versa. Quite simply, even though in the heat of battle sometimes you forget what it is responsible for.

Another thing is the very development of the controlled territory. And here the simplifications for this part of the fans of the classic RTS can hardly be forgiven.

There are only two resources: energy and supplies, and even ordinary soldiers can gather them. In addition, the creation of the base is strictly limited: you can only use the cells specially assigned for this, and expand – only by capturing the land that is controlled by the enemy.

Fortunately, developers do not prohibit the organization of something like a mini-outpost, creating new soldiers and armored vehicles in real time.

Finally, forget about the handy tree from the point of view of the PC approach, the new barracks or the processing stations.

The choice of buildings for erection is carried out using the radial menu. All this is convenient on the console, but for  halo wars 2 steam  such crutches look redundant. Still, a bunch of “keyboard and mouse” assumes a slightly different game design. But there’s hardly anything you can do about this – the game is officially cross-platform. With all the consequences, such as the mandatory installation of Windows 10 and the lack of a library in Steam.

 HALO WARS 2 RELEASE

Bright side

However, if you discard all the technical features of the release, you will get an extremely interesting picture. The fact is that Halo Wars 2 is almost the first truly high-budget strategy for many years. In a world where the cashier receives mainly militants with the open world and elements of social engineering, the new Microsoft project looks , frankly, amazing.

Excellent picture, insanely beautifully put the videos (those who saw the “remaster” Halo 2 , immediately understand what level of quality we are talking about), many modes for every taste and color – in general, it was possible.

To create a single campaign Creative Assemblycame up with the inherent savvy. Throwing all the piety to the genre of RTS, stagnant in development, the developers literally stuffed the  halo wars 2 story mode with various innovations. The essence is in diversity. Halo Wars 2 is a game about the plot, and that’s why quite often there are completely uncharacteristic for classical strategy assignments.

For example, at the very first level, you have to get away from the raging Covenant renegades by car. Or clean up the territory with the help of a Spartan with a machine gun. Or, just like in any network action, capture and hold control points. They will not miss you.

I believe you remember well that a regular mission in any part of the Command & Conquer could well drag on for an hour – a half of real time. The construction of the base, the collection of resources, intelligence, the destruction of the fortifications of the opponent, the protection of their … Here everything is not so. Levels sweep swiftly, even taking into account all the additional tasks from the series “Destroy the enemy outpost”.

Is it good? I tested Halo Wars 2 on Xbox One and I can state with confidence: for the console, this approach is justified. With PC, the situation is exactly the opposite – simply because its audience is used to a slightly different situation. In short, to wait for the Halo Wars 2 classic RTS is not worth it.

Network battlefields

Of course, Halo could not do without multiplayer. There are two global network modes: the usual battles and the so-called “Blitz”.

Start with the last one. The reason is simple: it is a combination of conventional RTS and collectible card game. Here it is necessary to capture and hold control points, but only instead of the base are the cards. Each of them symbolizes one of the types of troops – for example, ordinary infantrymen or aviation.

However, here is a nuance: the development of everything and everything in Blitz is wasted energy, which can be replenished, but not so easy. The options, in fact, two: either destroy the opponent’s troops, or disassemble the components of the energy core. At the output – one of the most promising network modes Halo Wars 2 .

With the usual multiplayer is still easier. There are several entertainments to choose from: “Bastions” (it is necessary to keep and build mini-bases), “Slaughterhouse” (in effect, the habitual destruction of the enemy base) and “Excellence” – RTS-analogue of all familiar rules with the capture and retention of control points.

It is easy to guess that it is in the multiplayer section of  halo wars 2 units  that it opens up to the fullest. Here it is clear that throughout the entire campaign, the Creative Assembly literally prepared players for battles with living people.

Multiplayer does not forgive mistakes and makes use of the whole arsenal of techniques studied in single mode. For example, it is important to adhere to the rule: aviation perfectly destroys the technique, the technique of infantrymen, and they, in turn, are very fond of flying flying vessels from heaven to earth. Just like all ingenious.