Why is Halo Wars 2 SO AWESOME!? (Act Man Review)

axeman's report February 16th 2017 8 years 8 long years that's how long it took for Halo Wars to get a sequel at first my experience with this game was going well but then blitz pack after blitz pack missing content after greed made what was going to be a no question 10 out of 10 game into something else and tired of course that's all halo is today it's something else but now it's beautiful halo wars 2 Ultimate Edition is almost out and so many questions linger in the minds of anxious Halo fans RTS fanatics and curious gamers does the game live up to the hype is the campaign and story a step in the right direction where the trailers and ads as deceptive as Halo 5 is the game fun and is it worth it and what about blitz and the microtransaction if you want the answer you better get your ass out of the cryo tube take some adderall and we'll find out what type of Halo Wars game we woke up to if you're more interested in my review of the campaign and you can fast forward to this time here but for now we're going to start with the multiplayer and what can I say but Wow halo wars - knocks it out of the park with the gameplay I couldn't play matchmaking because not many people own the game at the time so I can't tell you how well the server's work but I'll be damned if I told you I didn't have a blast playing against the AI and let me tell you did that hype me up to play against real people I'm ready to win ready to battle just need to figure out which button lets me teabag halo wars 2 is rather simple when compared to other realtime strategy games and in this case that's not a bad thing at all because the skill gap will be tremendous there's so many ways to play especially with teammates so many leaders to use with different strengths and weaknesses and badass powers that can change the tide at the snap of a finger one of my favorites is the grisly drop off that Sargent Forge has God is that awesome after playing through the tutorials and the first few levels of the campaign you'll know everything you need to in order to achieve victory on the battlefield but it's all about how you use that knowledge and if you can use the tools and strategies appropriately this game is very accessible just about anybody can pick up a controller and play but it takes a true leader a true military strategist to know what units to build when to scout the enemy when to assert map control when to be defensive or offensive and knowing is half the battle now one thing you're probably thinking about is the control realtime strategy games simply aren't meant for consoles and let me tell you the control is fluid I did not expect it to be this good halo wars to prove that it's possible to create a fun awesome realtime strategy game on consoles however the major flaw of halo wars 2 as a whole is not in what it has but what it lacks like a theater mode no not a theater mode to rewatch cutscenes but watch your own gameplay I think having a feature like that is essential for a game like this especially since halo 3 pioneered this game also has no competitive rankings or playlists nothing and I cannot wrap my mind around that you see with MCC the game didn't launch with a ranking system at all with Halo 5 the game launched with too much ranking system and now with Halo Wars 2 the game is launching with no ranking system why here I am hyping myself up practicing different strategies against bots getting to know the game so I can mop the floor with the noobs but there's no competitive rank that will give me bragging rights honor glory what being a leader is all about though it's not all bad because daily and weekly challenges make a glorious return and I quickly notice that there's a large variety of them that'll give players something to shoot for day after day and week after week and there is a way to brag and show off with your service record which gives you a lot of interesting stats as well as your win ratio so at least there's something it seems to me that this is the third Halo game in a row that's going to need serious post-launch support right out of the gate and that just sucks and the number of playlists game modes and maps seems very small there are eight Maps five playlists and three game modes not counting blitz again what's there is fun as hell and there's a lot of depth to each one of these modes I just wish there was more variety but overall the core multiplayer and gameplay the most important part of any video game is incredible addicting well polished and fun as hell hopefully there will be some updates that add those missing components and variety let's not forget overwatch didn't launch of a competitive ranking system either but that didn't stop the fun factor or popularity of that game now anyone who thought blitz wasn't going to be pay to win I'd like you to stand up now everyone that's sitting down point and laugh at how wrong those people are blitz is pay to win no other way to put it we even tested this more powerful units have a blatant advantage over less powerful units meaning opening more packs gives you stronger units than your opponent if you can somehow convince me that isn't pay to win I will write a full 10 page essay on the color blue blitz is pretty much the same as it was in the beta though this time we have blitz firefight which is exactly what it sounds like seeing how long you can last against endless waves of enemies the core gameplay of blitz is very fun intense and customizing your deck unlocking new cards is so damn satisfying I love that strategic element so much and it'll be interesting to see how the meta forms and changes in the months after release I'd probably be addicted to this game mode were it not for several crippling flaws one there is one map I don't even need to say anymore or I predicted this in my thoughts on Blitz beta video and I'm not happy - there is no variety each game at the same time in score limit the same objectives the same layout with nothing to break up the monotony aside from the different leaders and decks it's such a shame because I want to love it but it's not something I'm going to be spending a lot of time playing because it's lacking so much 3 there are no leaderboards no way to compare with your friends or other people who has the best score not even for the campaign mission it absolutely boggled my mind when I spiteful Sean from Forge Labs and I got to round 47 in blitz firefight thinking we'd be the top people on the leaderboards when the game came out only to realize they didn't exist what their leader booster has are you later birthday points if there's points like that there's got a leaderboard cut a nice track on Colts life I've seen if it's in the game menus if we kind of come if there wasn't maybe it's on Halo Waypoint or something then maybe have to look at them on there because it's got to be in leaderboard somewhere otherwise what's the point in playing firefighting getting to the highest score leaderboards are a great way to encourage people to play the game to get the top score again it's that fight for honor prestige rank but that's not all we got no XP or blitz packs for playing blitz firefight so the only reason you're going to play it is for fun but good luck having fun when you played on the same map for the hundredth time in a row and I'd like to point out the store part of the game yeah that feature in every triple-a game now where you go to spend your real money notice how familiar it looks it's basically the exact same setup from Halo 5 copied and pasted I want to love blitz and I do enjoy it but it's simply impossible to ignore the pay to win aspect and the lack of variety it has I just hope they're able to optimize this game-mode as quickly as possible now I'd like to highlight and quickly talk about some of the other parts of the game that the other reviewers might not touch on like how good the soundtrack is it's new it feels like Halo it works so well no matter what is going on and every time I turn off the Xbox after playing I hear that beautiful piano from the main menu in my head you're a longtime Halo fan you'll be surprised by how many familiar sound effects you pick up the overall sound design flows seamlessly with the rest of the game and that is exactly what it should do as far as glitches go I'm not sure if there will be a day one patch to fix some of these things but I did run into a couple issues very occasionally campaign missions wouldn't load sometimes an animation would glitch and this typo right here but one recurring bug that you'll immediately notice is whenever someone is talking in a briefing or in game the previous icon in text will flash for a fraction of a second this happens every single time but for the most part the game doesn't suffer from any major glitches or anything that really jeopardizes the gameplay so know that it is very well polished the UI is crisp clean everything looks nice and it's organized logically important stats are related to the player it's all there when the UI designers do things right people won't be sure they've done anything at all now before I show or talk about anything in the campaign that wasn't in the trailers I'm going to let you know beforehand of any important spoilers at this point I'll be giving my review and opinions of the overall quality of the campaign and story doing what I can to avoid spoiling what actually happens so if you want to play a little wars to completely blind but still want to know if the gameplay is good skip to this time here for everyone else buckle up [Music] so you're all wondering is the story as bad as halo 5 is the marketing just as deceptive and I will tell you right now hell no because Qatar does get the car for 3k and this is how no it's not even close halo wars 2 story is a huge step in the right direction for the franchise but I wouldn't build up your expectations super high because the major issues for the campaign like the rest of the game is what it lacks however I'll tell you what this game doesn't lack and that's character no no no no real character I couldn't keep track of all the times I was playing and heard my units say some funny-ass [ __ ] literally bursting out laughing on multiple occasions hi Arthur district you can see with snake my advice is concentrate on the job at hand and Canada think of halos more other than all that it's too much and yes there is [ __ ] profanity in this game sorry holy [ __ ] you [ __ ] thought halo was turning into a game made for goddamn children didn't you I can't give enough praise to the voice actors and writers for this every unit is charismatic in their own way the graphics and animations they have are so sweet sometimes your Spartan or honor guard will do this in game assassination that just looks so [ __ ] cool the in-game cutscenes actually look pretty good and it has a graphical style that I really enjoyed on a side note if you're a hardcore Halo fan you'll definitely notice some familiar imagery and references to past games like this achievement right here and one of the greatest innovations that Halo Wars 2 brings to the table is a robust highly detailed codec system you are in entries by finding these Phoenix logs in the campaign and accomplishing other things you can read about anything in these logs and it's all in the game I can be a [ __ ] nerd without leaving the game but some of this stuff should have been better explained within the campaign itself I'll get into this later now Halo Wars 2 has one of the most incredible intros I've ever seen it's dramatic and blur as always knocks it out of the park though they didn't create as many cutscenes this time around the intro sets up interesting themes about the effects of being in a coma what it's like to realize you and your entire race have been pawned in a scheme of power and control over throwing corruption destroying your shackles and chains your crew is your family and so on the foundation is laid for some truly awesome storytelling the banished are shown to be an extremely potent threat that not even the Covenant could control at the height of their power they're led by a tree ox a brute that doesn't mess around and his top lieutenant Decimus on the flip side captain cutter returns and this time he actually has personality unlike in the original with professor Anders and red team let me tell you red team is so freaking cool are you taking notes team Osiris I had some friends over to play Halo Wars too and they played the first two mission and I made sure to gauge how they were feeling about the game and after one of the Spartans said something my buddy laughed and he was like man I love these Spartans already and that was a really good indication to me that red team is written pretty well when someone who played the original Halo Wars but knows nothing about Halo Wars two can look at these characters and be entertained and enjoy them within the second mission all these elements are taking place in a brand new setting in time 28 years later after the original which makes any change to the way things look the art style acceptable in my eyes and by God does this game look beautiful it seems the new and old art styles have combined to create something that appeals to the eyes of new and old Halo fans there's no nanobot [ __ ] that shames the armor of red team the banished vehicles and units looks so freakin cool and it adds a very unique spin on the look and feel of the Covenant races vehicles and especially the brute but for all the seeds of a good story that are perfectly planted most of them never fuller into something truly spectacular the dialogue and the way characters interact with each other is well-written but all too often the story favors plot exposition and strategic talk rather than fleshing out the characters or some of the complex themes and this is understandable because realtime strategy games need that exposition personally I think the way characters talk with each other is far more interesting than what is happening with the plot I'm more interested to see how Decimus and a triack's relationship is rather than where a triage has the bulk of his forces I'm much more interested to see how Captain cutter and the rest of the spirit of fire crew handle coming out of cryo sleep for 28 years in the Phoenix logs it says Decimus secretly believes in the divinity of the forerunners and there's nothing besides that codex that hints or tells us about it Gila wars 2 had some really cool concepts characters and ideas I just wish there was more time dedicated to flesh them out I want to stress that halo wars 2 doesn't have a bad story no no no it is fantastic but if it had that extra layer of depth that extra bit of time dedicated to the characters it would push it into the halo 2 levels of storytelling Tartarus the prophets have betrayed us [Music] the quick journey has begun at the brute not really so to the profit report to really see the inner workings of the banished to get a more personal view of a tree ox as a character and what his leadership means to the other brutes ending spoiler I'll tell you right now expanding material isn't necessary to understand the story in fact you could enjoy halo wars too without playing the original but the biggest problem I have with the campaign it's incomplete that's right the game ends on a ballbusting cliffhanger you didn't like the endings for Halo 2 or halo 5 you're gonna hate this I don't even understand what the ending is both cutter and a tree ox look at their strategic maps and that's it there's no resolution and if that's not enough they attempt to tie in the story with the Guardians at the last minute I don't think this was a time constraint issue but rather a decision made to sell future campaign DLC which is not only slimy but it negatively affects the narrative although the saving grace is the Codex which has a lot of campaign logs that provides incredible insight into the story some of this stuff guys it's going to blow your mind when you read it halo wars 2 doesn't have complex well-developed themes like halo 2 and reach it doesn't have the strong character development of halo 4 it doesn't have a fantastic fitting end like halo 3 but what it does have that it shares with combat Evolved and the original is a fun intense and enjoyable ride from start to finish so the story is pretty good but what about the gameplay well if you've been paying attention you'll know it's incredibly fun don't spoil too much but no doubt after you beat one mission you're going to be looking to play the next immediately they offer unique gameplay elements and endless reasons to play them you might go through the campaign and realize you didn't get all the skulls so you go back but you didn't beat us on legendary so you go back but then you didn't complete all the bonus and optional objectives so you go back but you're still not satisfied with your scores so you go back and then you notice you didn't get all the Phoenix logs so then you go back but then your buddy wants to play so you go through the campaign with him and you go back and you realize that you've been leveling up this whole time just playing the campaign it's so you go back the difficulty in this game is very fair I'm normal I had trouble in a few parts and even lost a couple mission so if I want to beat this game on heroic and legendary I'm gonna have to step up my game and good challenge is one of the most important things in any video game and Halo Wars to nails it over the summer I benched all the Starcraft games and expansions Warcraft 3 and the Frozen Throne and Halo Wars and I gotta say I absolutely love good realtime strategy games and if you love those too and if you love halo I'm sure you'll enjoy it overall Halo Wars 2 is a fantastic game and a welcome new addition to the Halo franchise and it's a worthy sequel to the original though the game is not without its flaws that mostly arise from greedy corporate decisions the gameplay cutscenes art design music and control are all so phenomenal that it's worthy of a confident recommendation to all halo and realtime strategy fans I give this game a solid 8 out of 10 my friends we all woke up to one hell of a galaxy [Music] so what are your thoughts and opinions are you going to get halo wars - why or why not whatever you're thinking go down to the comments right now and let me know if you enjoyed the video leave a like and subscribe to the x-men for more awesome content if you want more Halo Wars 2 videos then go check out my second channel alright everyone thanks for watching that's all I've got for today this is the act man signing out peace

Channel: The Act Man

Views: 611,794

Rating: 4.9208665 out of 5

Keywords: Halo, The, Act, Man, Halo Wars 2, Halo Wars 2 review, Halo Wars 2 Cutscenes, Atriox, Atriox trailer, Halo Wars 2 Trailer, Halo Wars 2 Blitz, Halo Wars 2 gameplay, Halo Wars 2 Blitz Firefight, Halo Wars 2 skulls, Halo Wars 2 walkthrough, Halo Wars 1 cutscenes, Halo Wars 1 review, Halo Wars definitive edition, Blitz microtransactions, Halo Wars 2 blitz packs

Id: 4CVQKRgD0Kc

Length: 21min 16sec (1276 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 16 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/TheEld]

Amazing opening.

[u/darthjames]

I am adoring this game.

[u/NGTTM]

I really liked the review and indepth analysis you did of Halo 5's Campaign, and after seeing this review of Halo Wars 2 (along with that amazing opening, well done on that), I'd love to see a similar thing for this game's campaign. Do you have any plans for that sort of thing?