Halo Wars 2: Review
PC gamers looking to get this game have to realise that this is a very casual RTS compared to what they may have been previously used to on PC with games such as the StarCraft franchise.
You will not have close to the same control and ability to micromanage either your units or your base (essentials in any RTS game). Not that a more casual RTS is necessarily a bad thing, a lot of people might be put off by games such as StarCraft, due to its more in-depth combat system and steeper learning curve.
My main issue with Halo Wars 2 is not that it is more casual, it's because it puts so much frustration and idiotic obstacles in your way. Sometimes it even requires more clicks to accomplish simple objectives than it would in the most complicated missions in more in-depth games.
The UI is atrocious for PC and has a lot of controller issues despite choosing M&K in the options menu. Speaking of the options menu, it is an utter mess. In total, there are 15 tabs for key binds with most of them not even making sense. Other option menus lag when you cycle through them even when they are completely empty!
Some hotkeys are worthless in game. For instance, you have to be able to see your base in order to build stuff, and the hotkeys for building depends on where your buildings are placed. Which makes them utterly useless as it is far quicker to just click on the buildings.
When demolishing a building, a massive warning asking "Are you sure?" pops up onscreen completely blocking your view. Console radial menus also plague this game, blocking your entire view once selected.
There is also no attack move. Your units DO engage everything within range and give a short chase that is triggered automatically. They are also generally smart enough in their targeting although whenever you try to micromanage they tend to not do exactly what you ordered. Also their pathfinding is quite pathetic.
Descriptions of various sort are missing so half the time you don't know what a level up does. As you can imagine this can get extremely annoying especially later on in the game.
You also have to bear in mind that there are microtransactions in the game, and not the good kind either. The annoying (shoved in your face) kind.
If you can stomach the horrendous UI and microtransactions there is a lot of content in this package though. There are several online modes and a card game type mode (which is where the microtransactions rain supreme). And of course there is a campaign that so far offers pretty varied missions, it's not a great campaign but pretty good.
Do note however that there is no cross play between Xbox one and PC. Given this is a windows store exclusive (not the most popular store on PC) and that there are numerous modes, I’m worried multiplayer might turn out to be useless for PC gamers as it will be hard to find players after a while.
Performance wise it runs okay (save for the lagging menus) but I did note that for a game that visually isn't anything amazing it hogs a lot more resources than it should.
To me, the game is held back A LOT by the terrible console UI. If this is patched in the future for proper PC M&K control I would consider a higher score. However, in its current condition, there are simply too many obstacles for such a simple casual RTS.
Verdict: 6/10
​
Check out the trailer for yourself below!
Let us know if you agree with our review in the comments section below!