So I downloaded the Halo Wars demo and have been playing it, it's awesome. It controls are very, very well.  Single player seems okay, the cutscenes look nice, but multiplayer is where this is going to be sweet.  In the demo you can do a 1v1 skirmish against the AI on easy, normal, or heroic as the humans or covenant.  I'm going to buy this game.  

Skirmish AI:
The Heroic AI was way too easy for me.  I beat it on the first try.  Now I'm pretty 1337 so it's expected I would win, but there was no grayed out option for Legendary.  Does anyone know if they have Legendary in the full game?  The only way to make skirmishing the AI challenging would be to play against more than one if there isn't a Legendary.  

Playable Flood?:
The 2nd cutscene it shows the covenant opening something that supposedly has the flood in it.  Any word on if the flood are playable, especially in multiplayer?  If they are it makes the game even more similiar to StarCraft. Human=Terran, Covenant=Protoss, Flood=Zerg.  Which is far from a bad thing, as long as they did it right.
There are a lot of maps and characters grayed out that will be in the full game, but nothing for the flood.  So either you can't play as the flood or they purposely did not show them grayed out to be more of a surprise.  Maybe you have to unlock them by completing a portion of the game.  

Game Types:
The only game modes the demo shows are Skirmish and Deathmatch. Deathmatch you get a ton more resources, so nubs can fool around.  There is a limit of 6 players.  The demo only mentioned playing 1v1, 2v2, or 3v3, but I'm assuming you'll be able to do free for alls and 2v3's and such.  Although there were no such grayed out options.  I'm wondering if there will be more game modes.  

Maps:
The demo only has one playable map, there are 13 others grayed out.  I read something about more maps coming with the limited edition game.  I didn't see anything about a map maker or saving replays.  


So far I like the humans the best.  I've only played one skirmish as the covenant though.  I'm pumped for the full game.  I feel this game is a bit underhyped.  I haven't really seen much for advertisements or coverage.  I know kikizo did a preview thing on it a while ago.

I went to a multiplayer event last week which rocked pretty hard - it's basically just the Age of Empires template wearing sci-fi threads, and I did notice some pathfinding issues when large groups of allied units crossed paths (hard to untangle, because the control scheme doesn't really suit unit micro-management), but the depth is there, the sides seem well-balanced and it has that juicy, shiny Halo ambience in spades. With only a month till release I'm not sure we'll be running any other previews, but I'll discuss the situation with Adam.

In response to your questions, the Flood make an appearance in some of the multiplayer maps but only as part of the environment. I doubt they'll appear in single player, given the Halo timeline, but you never know. I'm not sure what modes or difficulty settings will be on offer - the AI is indeed rather sucky on standard.

Thanks for the extra info.  Shouldn't reviews be coming soon considering the game is finished?  

Release date is March 3rd for those that didn't know, and it has gone gold.  

Also, here is a youtube skirmish video against the AI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1BQvBAeSpU&fmt=18

Nice vid Loco. Thanks.

Hmm well I havent been too into RTS games for a very very long time. Only a few times I tried to dabble in them. Tho I like the ideas behind the genre and how engaging it can be, I just havent found one to pull me in yet. I'll have to try this demo. Been hearing a lot of praise and the first review I seen marks it with a 9/10.

Now I'm pretty 1337 so it's expected I would win, but there was no grayed out option for Legendary.  Does anyone know if they have Legendary in the full game?

There is a legendary. There's an achievement for beating it on legendary.

Aaaaaaand it's an 8.

http://games.kikizo.com/reviews/xbox360/halo-wars-p1.asp

Good fun, nothing ground-breaking. Needs more Helghast or something.

Edwin


Aaaaaaand it's an 8.

http://games.kikizo.com/reviews/xbox360/halo-wars-p1.asp

Good fun, nothing ground-breaking. Needs more Helghast or something.

Kill yourself, mmmkay

Seriously though, good review. Well written, but it seems you guys were a little harsh that it didnt improve THAT much over Ensembles last games. Is there really even a way to improve after AOEII? The only way I could see would be making the combat more interesting, and thats what they did here.

cool

immortaldanmx

Edwin


Aaaaaaand it's an 8.

http://games.kikizo.com/reviews/xbox360/halo-wars-p1.asp

Good fun, nothing ground-breaking. Needs more Helghast or something.

Kill yourself, mmmkay

Seriously though, good review. Well written, but it seems you guys were a little harsh that it didnt improve THAT much over Ensembles last games. Is there really even a way to improve after AOEII? The only way I could see would be making the combat more interesting, and thats what they did here.

If they'd kept it on one planet, given you a Covenant campaign and made the Flood a playable side it probably would have been a 9.

Cheers for the thumbs-up.

Edwin

immortaldanmx

Edwin


Aaaaaaand it's an 8.

http://games.kikizo.com/reviews/xbox360/halo-wars-p1.asp

Good fun, nothing ground-breaking. Needs more Helghast or something.

Kill yourself, mmmkay

Seriously though, good review. Well written, but it seems you guys were a little harsh that it didnt improve THAT much over Ensembles last games. Is there really even a way to improve after AOEII? The only way I could see would be making the combat more interesting, and thats what they did here.

If they'd kept it on one planet, given you a Covenant campaign and made the Flood a playable side it probably would have been a 9.

Cheers for the thumbs-up.

I cant see the flood being fun to play. But maybe a future DLC pack could add the Flood and the Human Rebels.

Yeah, could be. I think Robot Entertainment - the ex-Ensemble guys - are in charge of the DLC...

Edwin


Yeah, could be. I think Robot Entertainment - the ex-Ensemble guys - are in charge of the DLC...

I mean, Im not saying its likely, just that it would be cool. Also, I think Robot should get the chance to work on a sequel, and hopefully land with the AOE rights, or at least an exclusivity contract to work on the series.