Really pleased with this game!
I want to start with a disclaimer on this one. I've only played a few missions and a skirmish so far. Still, I've formed an early opinion that I'm eager to share.
I was a fan of the original Halo Wars. While it's not as deep as the RTS games I've loved in the past, it had a good story mode, the controls were a good introduction for fans who might not have grown up with the genre, and it looked really great. It also had one of the all-time great Halo cut-scenes (look up Halo Wars Monsters some time if you've never played it). So I was naturally really excited when HW2 was first announced.
I started to worry a bit after trying the beta for Blitz mode because I was fearful that they'd gotten rid of all the base building and classic style RTS in favor of the card based battles that Blitz mode is all about. That started to put me off the game completely, but once it became clear that it is a separate mode and that if one doesn't want to one never needs to venture into the card-battle Blitz mode at all I was immediately back on board. Don't get me wrong, if Blitz mode is your thing then by all means have a blast. But that kind of game is not for me and it never will be. Call me cynical if you like, I see those kinds of modes as cash-grabs that don't add a lot for how much of a monetary investment one is asked to make. Any time I'm asked to spend money on random digital "property", I'm out. Again, no judgement if you're into it, but it is not for me.
So with baseless fears abated, I picked up the game in time to take advantage of the "play early" option that allowed for pre-orders. I had a cold this weekend and desperately needed a distraction so it was a welcome delight while going through a pretty crummy few days.
The story has started off exactly as I'd hoped. It picks up with the crew of the Spirit of Fire many years after the end of Halo Wars 1 and throws you into a new adventure right off the bat. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that fans of the first will likely get on board with this new story and gameplay pretty easily. I've taken to it and I bet you will too.
As for the aforementioned gameplay, it's classic Halo Wars. Similar enough to the first but with some neat new twists almost right out of the gate. If you enjoyed 1, then picking up 2 is a safe bet for you. Consider it highly recommended.
I'm going to go ahead and end this here for now. As I said, I've only played a few missions so far. I just wanted to let people who are wondering if this lives up to the first game or not that as a fan I consider it a good follow up to a really fun game. Fans will dig it, and if you've never played an RTS before this is a perfect game to consider picking up if you'd like to give the genre a try. It's got a "My First RTS" kind of feel to it, but I don't say that to be snarky. If you want a super deep RTS, there are tons on the market from decades of gaming prominence that the RTS of old once enjoyed. Supreme Commander, Command and Conquer, StarCraft 2 are all still out there if you want the depth. This is a much more shallow game that focuses more on fun and story and for me that's just fine! Give this one a look, especially if you're a Halo fan! I've personally been playing this one mostly on the PC, but thanks to the Game Anywhere feature that comes with buying digitally, it works great on either PC or Xbox. And it's built to work well with the controller or the KB/M controls, whichever you prefer.
