2008's big games reviewed already!

News
By published

We rate the most exciting prospects with presumptious insolence

Halo Wars | Ensemble Studios
Xbox 360

The similarly scaled Company of Heroes innovates cleverly by enabling intelligent use of cover, or the building of barricades - in contrast, by using C&C's old-fashioned approach, Halo Wars could end up tactically stunted and very samey.

Fingers crossed, though, for a constant stream of shifting objectives and events - like the appearance of the Scarab in the demo - to liven up the action and keep it all fresh. Even so, we can't shake the feeling that Halo Wars will never be as good on Xbox 360 as it could be on the RTS genre's natural mouse-and-keyboard PC setup.

But will it sell?
Hey, it's Halo, and Xbox 360 owners love shooting things. It'll sell like umbrellas in a rain storm.

Knee-jerk verdict
Halo Wars looks gorgeous and has the visual style and atmosphere of the series nailed, but let's face it - RTS games on consoles are only ever 'pretty good'. 8/10

Note: Please remember that these these 'reviews' are merely lighthearted scores based on nothing but our own arrogant prejudice and opinonated ego. Duh. We will review the game fully when it is released.

Halo Wars | Ensemble Studios
Xbox 360

We reckon...
The gameplay demo from last year points to an exciting potential, as do the newest screens. And developer Ensemble promises a nimble and console-friendly interface. Though we're a little uneasy that Halo Wars shares Command & Conquer's blunt 'stand still and shoot' action, while operating on a smaller scale than C&C's bulging battlefields.

The similarly scaled Company of Heroes innovates cleverly by enabling intelligent use of cover, or the building of barricades - in contrast, by using C&C's old-fashioned approach, Halo Wars could end up tactically stunted and very samey.

Fingers crossed, though, for a constant stream of shifting objectives and events - like the appearance of the Scarab in the demo - to liven up the action and keep it all fresh. Even so, we can't shake the feeling that Halo Wars will never be as good on Xbox 360 as it could be on the RTS genre's natural mouse-and-keyboard PC setup.

But will it sell?
Hey, it's Halo, and Xbox 360 owners love shooting things. It'll sell like umbrellas in a rain storm.

Knee-jerk verdict
Halo Wars looks gorgeous and has the visual style and atmosphere of the series nailed, but let's face it - RTS games on consoles are only ever 'pretty good'. 8/10

Note: Please remember that these these 'reviews' aremerely lighthearted scores based on nothing but our own arrogant prejudice and opinonated ego. Duh. We will review the game fully when it is released.

Ben_Richardson

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.