Halo Wars 2 Reviews
Halo Wars 2 is a dull RTS with a beautiful spirit
Halo Wars 2 is an RTS for the layman. Easy-to-learn mechanics and basic micromanagement keep the game interesting and engaging, but it lacks the strategic depth to keep hardcore RTS fans invested for long.
Halo Wars 2 both illustrates the problems traditional RTS titles have on console, and demonstrates how to overcome them with its excellent Blitz mode.
Halo Wars 2 isn't a bad game, but compared to the wealth of excellent strategy games we've been spoilt by over the last few years, it feels positively ordinary. Exceptionally well-handled Halo fan service obfuscates a mediocre game that doesn't really have any new ideas. Fans of the franchise will appreciate what is here, but RTS buffs will be better served elsewhere.
Halo Wars 2 is a great and light RTS experience. If you like campaigns in this genre, you should check it out, but if you are looking for a hardcore competitive experience, you will not find it here. Blitz is ok, but the micro transactions system dose not work well.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Halo Wars 2 has an epic campaign, a complete multiplayer and amazing cinematic moments. Meet a new and fearsome enemy Atriox that endangers the entire galaxy and the UNSC must stop it by all means. It improves all aspects and adds new things like the addictive Blitz mode. Play alone or in company and enjoy one of the best experiences.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Halo Wars 2 suffers a little from its console limitations, but it’s a solid RTS with a strong campaign and a good overall feel for the Halo universe. After a slow start the mission design grows much more interesting and while there’s little here you won’t have seen in a StarCraft, it’s all handled with variety, pace and drama. There’s potential too in the multiplayer modes, particularly Blitz with its unique hybrid style. It might not be the Halo sequel that you asked for, but it’s a fine one to be getting on with.
In terms of a console RTS, Halo Wars 2 stands just about at the top. It’s easy for newcomers of the genre to pick up and play, but still has a enough meat and complexity for veterans to be satisfied. Because of how the campaign wraps things up, I truly hope it gets a sequel. But until then, Halo Wars 2 is definitely a quality exclusive to add to your Xbox One lineup.
Halo Wars 2 is a ballroom blitz with dangerously addictive levels of fun. It may be lacking in the length department when it comes to its tragically short campaign, but it’s a shining second chance example at proving that strategy games can work on console.
Halo Wars 2 isn't afraid to mess with the standard RTS formula, and it's a better game because of it.
Halo Wars 2 is a terrific successor that manages to be everything you could hope for in a console RTS.
Boasting high production value and the minor intrigue of what a new villain might mean for the greater series, Halo Wars 2 is fantastic for casual RTS gamers, but probably not for anyone else. Its relatively flat story, short campaign, and strategically shallow mechanics hold it back from greatness, instead relegating it to being yet another example of why RTS games don’t mix well with consoles.
Halo Wars 2 is the sequel that no-one really asked for, but is a surprisingly solid traditional base-building RTS, and is finally on a platform suited for the genre. The campaign is a little lacking, but several different multiplayer modes and the promise of "six months of regular updates" make up for it.
Halo Wars 2 is a worthy follow-up to one of the most underrated exclusives on the Xbox 360. The game makes a point of proving RTS games have a place on consoles with a smart, intuitive control system and a campaign that puts older RTS stories to shame. The Halo universe suits the units/base system so well, and if you’re a fan of the series we recommend this game to you - even if you’re not an RTS nut: it’s easy to pick up, it’s fun to play, and it gives a wonderful new perspective on the Halo universe.
There are several levels of madness. Until now, attempts to create an RTS for the console were probably only ahead of a bungee jump without bungee. Halo Wars 2 of the development duo 343 Industries and Creative Assembly clearly shows that times are changing.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Halo Wars 2 is familiar but different in all of the right ways. A short, robust campaign, rich with genuinely effective character performances and a compelling (though far too absent) villain is complemented by a multiplayer facet that is far better off on the back of a daring deck-building venture.
When two unfamiliar leaders of two very familiar factions square off, an interstellar David and Goliath struggle ensues! Microsoft Studios is enlisting keepers of the Halo franchise mantle 343 Industries with crucial support from Creative Assembly for the second call to arms in this RTS aside.
Halo Wars 2’s compromise between strategy and speed leaves a system without a functional amount of either. Its story bears the hallmarks of the world Bungie first crafted 16 years ago without any of the melodrama or myth. Missing so much of what makes an RTS work and what makes Halo a fiction so many choose to escape into, it’s easy to wonder who Halo Wars 2 is even for.
Halo Wars 2 is hands-down the best RTS on console and a joy to play with a controller.