All in all it’s just good fun, and to be honest I haven’t enjoyed myself like this in a game for a while. Levels are varied and at some points touch genres (like tower defence) which you might not expect. You can definitely see how the controls are made with a gamepad (controller) in mind. Cycling through every base, quickly reaching units under fire and many other things take a matter of moments. Controls are quick and snappy, which allow for ease of access when selecting and commanding units. Mechanically speaking, Halo Wars 2 is incredible, maintaining the same simple design as its predecessor but still managing to have enough depth to keep it compelling. The campaign consists of 12 missions which go for about 25 minutes each (if par time is anything to go by), but they can go for longer, in fact my entire play through took about nine hours. Focusing on story development wholly during cutscenes allows focus on either the story or the action, and the two don’t become muddled. Detailing in things like character models and the background/foreground really just helps you become absorbed in what you are viewing. The art style is also executed very well as it pays homage to Halo’s roots, which is something I respect. Visually speaking, cutscenes and action sequences look phenomenal, with pre-rendering coming leaps and bounds since 2009. The beauty of the approach that Ensemble took with the original and Creative Assembly have also taken with the sequel is that cutscenes are excellently used to deliver information imperative to the story and develop the plot. It’s a story with a classic Halo feel that is both grand in scale and well executed, slowly building the story crescendo until reaching a satisfying climax. The thrust of the campaign involves you uncovering Atriox’s nefarious plans and ultimately putting a stop to them, but there are tangents and intricacies which make the journey interesting. Halo Wars 2’s story immediately kicks in, but isn’t hard to follow. The menacing and merciless Atriox is a brilliantly executed character and his brute strength and cruel nature belies a cunning and intelligence that make him a formidable adversary. The Great Journey is at the pinnacle of Covenant faith, so the Banished are essentially religious and social pariahs, and they’re none too happy about it. The Great Journey (which the Covenant believe is triggered by activating one of Halo’s infamous rings) is a holy event believed by the Covenant to deliver a form of ultimate ascension, although in actuality activating a ring would annihilate all sentient life in the universe. He leads the Banished, who are essentially ex-members of the Covenant who have been cast into exile (hence the name) and kept away from The Great Journey. Atriox is a vile Brute who is the only one of his kind to ever defy the Covenant and survive. It is Isabel who informs the crew of a threat who becomes Halo Wars 2’s main antagonist: Artiox. From the way she moves to her mannerisms, she’s someone who you can tell has seen some things in her short time spent commissioned as an AI for the UNSC. Isabel is an interesting character as she is an AI, but she’s been designed to have very human-like behavior. It’s immediately apparent that something isn’t right with The Ark, and this is where you are promptly introduced to Isabel. Obviously, since we return to the Spirit of Fire we also see the return of characters like Captain James Cutter and Professor Ellen Anders. The Spirit of Fire and her crew find themselves at The Ark as they come out of a slip-space warp, which is especially strange seeing as the Spirit of Fire’s FTL core (which allows slip-space warping) was destroyed to stop the Covenant from using the Forerunner Fleet at the end of the first Halo Wars. Halo Wars 2 is set 28 years after the events of the original Halo Wars and some time after the events of Halo 3.
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