By Ben
Davies --
April 16th, 2009
Halo Wars
I’m aware this review is a little late as Halo Wars was released at the end of February, but the site was down around that time.
Halo Wars was developed by Microsoft Game Studios (who worked on the original Halo games) and Ensemble Studios (creators of ‘Age of Empires’) and details events on the UNSC cruiser ‘Spirit of Fire’. Set 20 years before Halo: Combat Evolved this is an RTS (Real Time Strategy) designed exclusively for the Xbox 360.
The game enables you to play as both the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) and their Alien enemies; The Covenant, although the campaign takes place from the point of view of the Humans.
Prior to release there was much speculation about whether Ensemble could create an RTS that worked well on a console, and I am pleased to say that they did so very well. Controlling units is simple enough to be able to do so with only a few buttons, but to fully realise the potential of units, a player must utilise more advanced methods of control and command, all of which fits nicely into play. Most selection is done with the left thumbstick and ‘A’ button, as well as the left and right bumpers to select all a player’s units and all those currently on screen respectively. Bases are built and units are trained using the ‘Circle Menu’ which brings up a circle (surprisingly) at a tap of the ‘A’ button on buildings and building sites. The D-Pad has its uses, pressing Left will cycle through your bases, pressing Right will take you to wherever the action is and pressing Down will throw the camera to different groups of units. UNSC players can also press Up on the D-Pad to bring up the leader power menu. These special abilities range from healing and repairing your units to dropping in elite soldiers and carpet bombing your enemies. Pressing Up with the Covenant will select your leader, who actually takes place in the battle and has their own unique special ability. Attacks and move orders are done with ‘X’ and special abilities are activated with ‘Y’.
Visually, even on a tv which is small and in no way HD, the game is very impressive, with detailed worlds and units, awe inspiring locations and beautiful cinematics. Everything runs very smoothly and the whole game has a very Halo feel, whether you’re fighting Hunters in a huge Forerunner complex, driving a Warthog through a vast icy valley, or battling the Flood in an infected Chasm, every map and level is a joy to play. Really. Also the music is great.
This brings me on to the subject of Multiplayer. Both online and offline skirmishes are available, as well as the Campaign being completely co-operative. In a skirmish or online game you choose one of six leaders: Captain Cutter, Sergeant Forge or Professor Anders for the UNSC; The Prophet of Regret, an unnamed Arbiter, or an unnamed Brute Chieftain for the Covenant. All have their own unique units and powers and this adds a great deal of diversity to the games. The AI is impressive, particularly on higher difficulties and in general, other players are supportive and fun to play with. The only slight criticism I have is the few maps available to play on. Admittedly, Ensemble actually shut down when they finished the game (although a small group of developers have promised to continue working on downloadable content for the game) and the selection of maps they offered is not sparse. But when somebody compares it with the maps available for Age of Empires or Age of Mythology they fall a little short.
But that really shouldn’t put you off this game, as it is easily overridden by all of the good stuff about it. If you own an Xbox 360 and haven’t got this game, get it. If you have got it, Kudos.
The Good: Good control, Visually amazing, Good multiplayer, Excellent Story and Voice acting, A great game for Halo Fans.
The Bad: Few maps, Not able to ‘Build Everywhere’.
9.5/10
Categories: Reviews |
Tags: Games, Halo, Halo Wars, Review, XBOX 360 | 108 Comments
By Harriet
Beach --
April 15th, 2009
I recently read of a little incident where government officials (well, now ex-officials…) Damian McBride and Derek Draper began what has been described as a ‘slur campaign’ against senior members of the Conservative party, and the reaction from the media has, once again, been wonderful. The shock, the horror, expressed by online news publishers and national papers alike has exceeded all of our expectations: respectable, honest politicians slandering the opposition? Never!
I have two major issues with this story. First things first: the word “campaign”. To my knowledge campaigns are about raising public awareness, changing public attitudes and generally involve THE PUBLIC. These e-mails were private, between members of the same party, and while I obviously don’t agree with their actions at all (infantile morons), I also don’t think it can honestly be called a campaign. Section one down.
Now that I’ve had my technicalities rant (yes, I’m pedantic, but one would have hoped that the press were capable of using a dictionary) I’ll explain annoyance-factor mark two. Why, oh why, would anyone choose to “smear” the reputations of other politicians by e-mail? Of all the methods of communication… On one hand, while e-mail may be quick and easy to use, it really does just prove that McBride had no real, hard founded evidence; if he did he could easily have taken the correct action and who knows, possibly even begun a campaign! Beyond that, I honestly thought most people left electronic insults behind by the time they had left school. It’s pathetic, immature and if that’s not enough then just plain stupid, because they can deny it all they like but the evidence is pretty easy to find. Maybe some of these supposed role models should do as they tell the dreadful ‘youth of today’ : act their age and not their shoe size.
Categories: BB Writings |
8 Comments
By Alex
Cottrell --
April 12th, 2009
That’s right! After a brief few months drinking on hiatus, we have returned to deliver more of our opinions on what’s good, what’s bad and what’s ugly in the world today…and boy have we got some things to say since we last left you.
So stay tuned for more BetaBloggers (and don’t forget to subscribe!)
Categories: BB Writings |
No Comments
By Rob
Selway --
November 27th, 2008
Imagine you’re the MoD.
You are approached by two soldiers.
One of the soldiers is in a wheel chair. No legs, he lost them fighting. The other doesn’t appear to have any injuries.
Kerry Fletcher, 32.
They both want compensation. Who should get the most money?
“What’s wrong with the other one?” you ask. She has an issue with her boss making sexual advances towards her.
The other soldier has a fairly obvious issue, essentially the fact that he has no legs.
By this point, I’m sure you’ve decided who deserves the bigger payout. The guy with no legs, right?
Well if you answered “Yes”, you obviously don’t work for the MoD.
Kerry Fletcher, a 32 year old lesbian, was bullied by her boss who made sexual advances towards her. He then tried to destroy her career once she rejected him.
Now, I’m positive this wasn’t a nice experience. She does deserve compensation and the boss deserves to lose his job.
Although I don’t believe she should receive the £186,896 awarded, when Mr. Ben Parkinson only receives £152,150 after losing both legs and suffering brain damage.
The MoD need to sort themselves out. Kerry Fletcher’s case is almost insignificant compared to someone losing their legs! Her wounds will heal, but best of luck to Ben Parkinson and all of the other soldiers, injured or fighting.
Categories: BB Writings |
Tags: Compensation, Government, Kerry Fletcher, Ministry of defence, MoD, War | 1,772 Comments
By Ben
Davies --
November 20th, 2008
Okay. This has got to stop. Whilst in Wales I saw a story on the local news regarding a lad of about nine years, who was suddenly hailed by a police officer as he walked down a street. The PC shouted “Wait!” as this fellow crossed the road. His response was to give this officer the finger, moments before being thudded into by a Honda.
The officer had seen the oncoming car and tried to warn the guy, but the boy completely ignored it and as a result spent a couple of days in hospital with a broken arm; the doctors don’t reckon he’ll be out of the cast for about four months. Tough break there moron.
When interviewed afterwards the officer in question was quoted as saying “I can’t understand why he didn’t listen to me.” What I think he was actually saying was “Jackass.” Fortunately for the kid, the driver of the car saw him emerge from between a pair of parked cars and hit the brakes so he only hit the kid at about twenty miles per hour. The officer hurried over and called in for an ambulance and the driver (who fortunately knew the family) called the parents.
Eyewitnesses have said that they heard the officer warn the boy and saw him disregard it, so there was really no denying that it happened, and this leads me to wonder…Why does nobody ever listen? I find that if a police officer says ‘wait’, there is usually a good reason.
Categories: BB Writings |
Tags: Ben Davies, Never listen, Police, Wales | 129 Comments
