![]() Following the events of Halo 5, the all-new story is told in action-packed missions set on the legendary Halo destination known as the Ark. Halo Wars 2 also supports Xbox Play Anywhere: Buy once, play on both Xbox and Windows 10.Īll-new, Action-packed Story – The heroes of Halo Wars awake to find themselves - and the galaxy - in more danger than ever. ![]() Halo Wars 2 is a real-time strategy game playable in native 4K Ultra HD graphics with HDR on the Xbox One X and Windows 10. But if it's challenging strategy you want with PC-friendly controls, there are far more satisfying worlds than this.It’s the Halo experience you’ve dreamed of – controlling entire armies of Marines, Warthogs, Scorpion tanks, and Spartans on the battlefield from the Commander’s point of view. It's aimed less at the hardcore crowd that eagerly checks for announcements of a new Ashes of the Singularity expansion and more at the Halo shooter fans who'd like to see that universe from a perspective besides the sights of a rifle. Toss those considerations in with the awkwardness of the controls and the featherweight strategy, and it's clear this isn't the kind of game that'll ever morph into a serious strategy esport, but neither is it meant to be. Worse, in several multiplayer matches the camera speed, the action, and the business of selecting cards all slowed to a jittery crawl. After several hours with it, though, I can't quite shake the feeling that much of Blitz is based on the luck of the draw, or that it's best to go all in and play your best units early. It's a cool idea (aside from the microtransactions needed to buy more packs), and I initially enjoyed tinkering with optimal decks. The real standout is the "Blitz" mode, a wave-based match in which you capture points, and play new units with a custom card deck that lets you choose from one of four random cards. It's hardly unplayable, though, and that's a good thing as there's a healthy amount of multiplayer variety which includes everything from deathmatch to battles for territorial domination among up to six players. ![]() In multiplayer, though, I found myself struggling a bit with these issues along with occasionally unresponsive Spartans and a minimap that only sporadically responded to clicks. ![]() I learned to live with all this in the campaign. It's clear this isn't the kind of game that'll ever morph into a serious strategy esport, but neither is it meant to be. It's enough to make me think Halo Wars 2 would have been better off never coming to PC at all. Weirdly, the options menu is bound to F10 rather than ESC, and nothing remotely hints at this. Zooming in and out with a gamepad requires nothing more than moving the right analog stick, but on PC, a little awkwardly, you have to use the Alt key and the mouse scroll wheel. The PC version runs better than I expected, but the frequent gamepad-focused radial menus constantly seem out of place with keyboard play. The default (though changeable) keybinds are laughably unintuitive. Still, there's always a sense that we're the afterthought here. Good thing, then, that we as PC players have access to keyboard and mouse controls that manage all these complications more effectively, rendering some battles a bit easier than what our console cousins see on the Xbox One. Sometimes they flatout refuse to listen at all. The frequent need to micromanage the AI makes things worse, as Spartans enjoy focusing on smaller threats while giant robotic spider tanks rip them apart. When it tries, as in a mission requiring you to hold multiple bases, the appeal of the otherwise smart gamepad controls wears off quickly. It's a decent setup, and it works primarily because Halo Wars 2 doesn't present many scenarios on its small maps that demand careful strategy. There's always a sense that we're the afterthought here. Isabel's worry isn't unwarranted-by all appearances, Cutter and the Spirit of Fire have about as much chance against Atriox and his goons as a flickering candle against the ocean. Elsewhere, the despondent AI Isabel, clad in cargo pants and crowned with short-cropped hair, serves as a nice alternative to the cerulean sultriness of the series' well-known Cortana. Atriox, their vaguely Uruk-hai chief, brims with delicious menace, although it's wasted when the narrative largely shuffles him offstage for large swaths of the plot. Right after the crew tumbles out of their icy beds, they're dumped into a conflict with a band of brutes called The Banished who've freed themselves from the evil Covenant and wiped the floors of multiple planets with their former overloads. Halo Wars 2 tells a decent tale, at least as far as Halo goes, and those fantastic cutscenes usually manage to smooth its rougher edges. Halo Wars 2 manages to deliver a story that's at least as good as those in some of the main Halo titles.
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