In attempts to keep my resolution regarding more frequent blog entries  (of which I’ve been doing a stellar job to date >.>) I thought  it might be interesting to jot down my impressions of game demos as they come out. Since we’re still a small outfit, we’re limited to what’s available to the public, which means demos probably won’t get covered until they’re release over XBLM and PSN. Hopefully this year we’ll be able to change that.  With that said…

The Halo Wars demo was released yesterday on XBLM, and I sat down today to give it a good play through. To be honest, I haven’t been into RTS games for a while. The last time I played one was back in the mid 90’s when Westwood still owned Command and Conquer. (Ouch!)

The first thing you’ll notice when you launch the Halo Wars demo, is that it feels like Halo; in fact, the menu system looks like it was taken straight out of Halo 3. It’s also impressive how much it feels like Halo when you’re moving your units around on the field. The music, the characters, the landscape:  they all shout out “Halo.” With that said however, there is something very distinctive missing. No, it’s not Master Chief – although I’m certain that may end up playing a factor in some people’s minds – what I feel is missing is that “Boo-yah!” feeling you get when you shotgun an enemy in the face!

I’ll be honest: Halo Wars seems like it should turn out to be a decent game, but I’m not entirely certain who it’s aimed at. The original Halo games were hugely popular because they were First Person Shooters; a genre that’s, in most parts, easily accessible to a large amount of people. Sit a frat boy down in front of a game where you shoot people with a gun, and he’ll feel right at home! Sit down that same frat boy in front of a game where he has to control a bunch of tiny units on a screen at different locations on a map, while being attacked by other tiny units, and then tell him he has to manage to fend off all those enemies while simultaneously taking over their base – and don’t’ forget to manage your resources -  and you may quickly find yourself with a confused  and overwhelmed frat boy.

For fans of the Halo mythos, this game should be a welcomed change of pace. From what I’ve seen so far, the game seems to do a good job of immersing you in the events which took place 20 years before the events of the first Halo game. The cut scenes are visually pleasing and the voice acting is top notch.

It’s no green screening, but hey, nothing’s perfect.

So what did you think of the Halo Wars demo? Do you think it’ll fit well in the Halo universe? Do you think I was too hard on the frat boys? Let us know!