Halo Wars 2

After the first part, the strategy game Halo Wars returns in the second part, and this time it was developed by the Creative Assembly team, known for working on strategy games such as the Total War series, with the promise of offering a changed experience the way to play strategic games, and we’ll see to what extent the development team has come close to fulfilling these promises.

We begin with the story of the game, which begins 28 years after the end of the first part, when the crew of the Spirit of Fire ship, having completed their fierce battles with the Alliance, hibernated in their vehicles until the next battle. The events here take place after the end of the war between humanity and the Alliance and after the events of the fifth edition. In the main series of the series, the ship’s crew wakes up in an unknown location in the galaxy and near a facility called The Ark, the facility for the Forerunners where the rings or halos were made. The ship’s crew receives a distress call from an unknown sender and the three Spartans are sent to investigate the situation, but fall into a trap set by an enemy. mysterious.

In the story you will be confronted with Atriox and his soldiers who formed a group called “The Banished”. These are a group of brutes who were led by Atriox after he defected from the Covenant and fought against them. This group was the only one capable of sowing fear in the ranks of the Alliance and given your loss in the galaxy and the disruption of communications between you and Earth, you must take the lead… This battle is in everyone face the enemy with your limited resources.

The story starts slowly and the developments that take place in it are actually not many, but they are of great use to fans of the series, since in the files that you find in the game world many questions are answered that will introduce you to more The Ark facility, the Forerunners’ creation of the Halos, the war between the Covenant and the Exiles, and history. It won’t be immediately understandable to anyone who hasn’t played at least several versions of the main series. A lot of attention has been paid to the story in the narration, as there are many film clips that tell us the events, and the ending of the game leaves you a bit shocked and with a big question mark.

The graphics are excellent, the environments are rich in detail, and the maps on which you carry out your missions range from medium to large in size. The effects for attacks and explosions are excellent and serve their purpose, but you can’t say there’s anything special here, other than the game has adequately covered this aspect. The melodies here are distinctive and fit the atmosphere of the battles you will fight, as they are characterized by an epic and enthusiastic atmosphere, and the team’s choice of melodies was successful.

The game system is simple and easy to use, and getting used to it is quick, as depending on the place you settle in, you build a basic base for yourself or a mini-base and then place energy generators or resources on it and create other facilities, which vary from tier to tier, but they are mainly facilities for infantry soldiers, vehicles and aircraft and finally special forces and advanced units such as the Spartans. You select one or more units to enforce your orders such as moving and attacking the enemy. Some units have special attacks that you activate using a dedicated button. Additionally, units that survive in combat gain experience, which makes them more effective in combat.

You have a certain number of units that you can command at the same time. For example, the game may limit you to commanding 100 soldiers, but the units vary in number. If you request a fighter, it will be counted as 4 soldiers. Heavy tanks will be counted as 6 soldiers, so you will need to divide your fleet between the different types wisely. The game uses the rock, paper, scissors system in combat, as vehicles are generally very effective against infantry, infantry are effective against aircraft, and aircraft are effective against vehicles, but of course there are some exceptions for some special and special ones Vehicles or units.

As a player, you have abilities called leader powers where you press a special button to open a list of your abilities that are very important in battle. For example, one of these skills is the ability to specify a specific area where mechanisms they can be deployed to process and repair your teams and units, or the ability to move your force from one place to another in a short time in emergency situations to move. As you progress in battle, you gain points that you can use to purchase and develop these skills, which you must reacquire with each stage or confrontation, and these skills differ from stage to stage.

The beauty of story mode is the variety of gameplay experience, as your missions are not limited to building a base and protecting it. Story mode offers 12 missions, and during these different missions you invade enemy bases to control resources. Go on a mission to rescue captured soldiers or try to penetrate enemy systems for variety. A game of this type is welcome, and you will face some bosses on your journey that will not be easy to eliminate. The game offers a very satisfying challenge for fans of games of this type and the experience is entertaining in its various missions.

The cooperative game mode offers you many opportunities to play against the computer in different phases. This is something you may want to do to gain some experience in the arena before competing against the actual players. Then we have rumble matches where you control the largest number of facilities and protect them during a given period of time up to 3 against 3 players, and the winner is the one who controls the largest number of facilities at the end of the time, and then there are team objective matches that determine you in two teams of 2v2 or 3v3 to control the bases on the map and earn a certain number of points or have the highest number. Finally, from the points at the end of the battle for victory, we have the traditional team war and solo war games, where you play as a player against one player or 2 against 2 in a traditional elimination game where you build your army and try to Destroy the enemy’s base before he destroys yours.

Finally we have Blitz Mode, the newest addition to the title, in which you use a specific set of cards to play, designing your own set of cards containing no more than 12 different cards. You can get a card packs by completing story missions or engaging in daily confrontations and challenges in multiplayer mode or by paying within the game, in this phase you will have your own base protected from the enemy. There are several bases or centers at your disposal on the map. You have to control and protect from the enemy in order to collect a certain number of points and win the battle. Of the three centers, you need to control two to earn money. Points: To summon units, open the card list and only four cards will be shown. If you use a specific card, you will be shown another card and you can switch between the cards shown to select the card you want.

The average time needed to complete the story mode is around 15 hours on medium difficulty, and in the high difficulty options you will undoubtedly need more than 20 hours. The additional modes the game offers provide more value, and Blitz Mode adds another dimension to the truly strategic gaming experience. Halo Wars 2 is a fun and entertaining game. It offers great and very satisfying content and an experience recommended for fans of this type of game.

This game was reviewed using an Xbox One review copy provided by Microsoft prior to the game’s release.