Halo Wars 2

• Developers: 343 Industries, Creative Assembly
• Publisher: Microsoft Studios
• Genre: Real Time Strategy
• Platforms: Xbox One (Reviewed), Microsoft Windows
• Release Date: 21st February 2017
• Microtransactions: Yes

Build, Shoot. Ooh-Rah!! Repeat

American Gods

Neil Gaiman has been my favourite author for a good number of years. I’ve enjoyed his body of work throughout the two mediums he has been the most celebrated for (his original script for RoboCop 2 doesn’t quite make my Top 10 I’m afraid). In my opinion American Gods is an absolute triumph in terms of being a culmination of ideas and philosophies he has developed over the decades and allows you to question your own ideologies in ways you never thought you would.

Now, I know right away that many of you will be thinking “has Darren uploaded the wrong review in the wrong section (again)” so I’d best explain. While playing through Halo Wars 2 campaign mode I was afforded ample opportunity to be reacquainted with an old favourite and as it took up as much of my time as playing the game I’m reviewing I thought it only fair to give it acknowledgement.

Essentially it’s a nice way to segway into the review for the game because it instantly sets up your expectations for the bulk of what you’re paying for and helps me to put across many of my concerns in a simplistic manner.

And also because I genuinely believe that more people need to be reading Neil Gaiman’s writings.

So with that out of the way, what did I really think of the game overall?

Put Your Skills To The Test-osterone

I’m gonna make a confession straight away for clarity and fairness. I’m not a huge Halo fan. And not for the reason that many of you would expect, it’s way more bitter than the usual anti-Master Chief rantings that litter message boards. Back in the day Halo 3 was the very first Xbox game that I legitimately 100 percented. Every achievement, every collectable, every Grunts head turned into a party popper because, why not. I felt content and an enormous sense of pride. Then DLC was released and new achievements were added and the completion of the Herculean task I had undertaken was spat on from a great height. Given the absurd difficulty of some of the new achievements added there was exactly zero chance of regaining what I had so cruelly had taken away. Halo owed me.

Since that time I have never really delved into the campaign modes of future releases favouring instead to collect a library of “you won’t believe this sticky bomb kill I just got” videos to impress exactly nobody. So this is my first opportunity to jump back into the rich lore of the Halo Universe, drink a 6 pack of “Alpha Male Juice” (no, not that kind), and blow up the indigenous populations of planets unlucky enough to have me pay a visit.

And as you’ve probably already guessed, hells tits can it be a chore at times.

It’s not that it’s poorly developed or that it’s particularly bad in any department it’s just that way too many aspects of it are mind meltingly repetitive and this is from someone who is a devoted achievement grinder. The main story isn’t exactly fresh nor does it venture down unexpected avenues but that’s hardly a negative as Halo does have a tried and tested narrative that raises few complaints from either avid fans or detractors. But it’s the delivery of the story that had me reaching for the remote desperately trying to find a setting lower than mute. The dialogue from the male characters during cutscenes and the utterings of the marines at your disposal (every. single. time you have to click on them) contains enough testosterone to produce sex changes by osmosis purely from holding the joypad in your hands. They come out with the kind of lines that would have been cut from an 80’s action film for being too unnecessarily macho and instead would be used by Borderland 2’s Mr Torque as a way to lampoon those type of Hulkamania/Commando characters. The truly uninspiring villains seem to blurt out the same threats of violence against their minions with every encounter and are about as fleshed out as a mid 90’s wrestling bad guy.

Even if you do find a way to stomach the dialogue you then have to get past the often tedious task of building. Most missions follow the same line: clear an area, establish a base, build upon it, create troops, send them merrily to their deaths, wait around while your energy stocks are sufficient enough to create more willing target dummies to charge mindlessly at the enemy’s guns. More often than not you will have to sit around and wait (and wait) for your power and supply reserves to recharge enough for you to be able to add to your base, or regenerate slaughtered units, or rebuild turrets as the enemy closes in to bring ruin to your HQ, anyone who has a particular interest in watching numbers slowly increase or circular dials refill will be well within their element. For a game that does lean on it’s moments of action effectively these parts of the game quickly start to grate on your nerves as there can be little else to do while you wait. Yes, you can scout other parts of the map to try and find all of the hidden collectables but as soon as you leave line of sight of your HQ you’ll often find that all hell breaks loose around it and your attention needs to be drawn back to it.

Wargames

But it can’t be said that these two points make the campaign mode unplayable. Essentially it is well developed in a number of departments, crucially one of which is the controls. I’d recommend to anyone that they do quickly go through the tutorials as even though the controls are fairly instinctive a lot has been done to make what could be complicated simplistic. Later missions that could be problematic with a lesser control system give you a chance to control your units in a way that will allow you to attack, scout, and defend in a playing style that best suits you. Having too many button combos or commands in tense situations would swiftly become irritating and very confusing.

The range of units available to you is also impressive, despite looking limited at first glance. Every unit has a use and are effective when used correctly but they are also forgiving if called upon to take up tasks that they are not designed for. No marines aren’t particularly useful at taking on units of Wraiths but they will slow them down enough for other units to get into the fray. This adaptability again allows you to approach missions in a way that either best suits you or excites your imagination. Yeah, it might take a while to build them but who doesn’t want to send a nest of Scorpions off to slaughter a pocket of Grunts for example?

Graphically the game delivers, mostly in the cutscenes. The face rendering of Isabel alone is exceptional and her facial expressions add a much needed sense of sympathy for the characters compared to the aforementioned rough edges of the marines. The cinematic cut scenes draw you in and succeed in keeping your attention through the tried and tested method of quick cuts and explosions. Although it isn’t especially needed for the in game graphics to be ground breaking they are sharp enough so as not to become a mess during vast comings together of multiple units engaging in combat.

How To Make Friends and Blow Them Up

The real lasting appeal of the game though lies within the online modes. You almost feel that this was always at the forefront of the developers minds and the campaign mode serves as a way of protecting them from the backlash that often hit games without one to truly explore. Although the different modes don’t really offer much in variety they have a disarming charm that will appeal to you and draw you in even though you won’t always know why. Games like Rocket League have proven that ease of access and simple pick up and play mechanics are very much in at the moment and Halo Wars 2 capitalises on it well. Although there is a certain element of “pay to win” with micro-transactions leering their ugly heads the more patient amongst you will find that simply playing for the enjoyment and finding gains from losing will quickly rank up units and unlock more weapons of mass destruction without having to decide if you really do need to eat this week.

The options of selecting different commanders, each with different tactical advantages, and the ability to build your own “deck” of units is a resounding win in the personalisation stakes. Being a wargamer of another variety I’ve always enjoyed tweaking lists of units so as to maximise the synchronicity of my army. Halo Wars 2 gives you as much of a choice in this aspect as it does for the “I WANT ALL THE TANKS” gamers. You’ll initially want to play the second way but I doubt most gamers will be able to resist the chance to see what happens when you tinker and test.

It’s also nice to see that, as of time of writing, the only DLC advertised in the game is the free download of an additional commander to build a deck of units around. Most noticeable because of how rare such a notion is nowadays, especially when relating to AAA releases.

War is Like Love, It Always Finds a Way

In conclusion I have to say I’m torn about my overall feelings towards the game. While it can’t be said that the campaign mode is particularly bad the moments where it becomes tedious can be too often and do cause you to seek other distractions while counters slowly tick upwards and units perpetually announce their introduction with stag night style verbal  interactions. But when the action does ramp up it can be as equally heart pounding as your mind races to calculate what is needed to survive and succeed and how to attain it.

While lacking variety the online modes are just fun and do exactly what those seeking them out would want them to do. I do feel those coming late to the online mode will potentially be overwhelmed and frustrated by vastly superior forces, but that is a pitfall that befalls gamers in most online modes.

It isn’t a game that will be for everyone. This is as Marmite a game release as you’re likely to see until the next Assassin’s Creed. If this is your style of game I urge you to buy it solely for the fact that consoles are criminally lacking in variety of game styles so every variation needs to be encouraged. If this is not your style of game but you’re curious then I urge you to have a distraction handy for the slow parts or tears of unbridled frustration as you swear at displays showing how long you have to wait for ‘X’ to happen is likely.

Overall- “The two most Powerful Warriors Are Patience and Time”

PROS

• Intuitive, easy to master control system that doesn’t overwhelm or hinder no matter how much chaos ensues
• Cinema quality cut scene animations that help drive the story and truly empathise with the bulk of the characters. A rarity
• An adaptive online experience that allows you to be as creative or destructive as you desire.

CONS

• Enough cheesy “real man” dialogue to make the entire 1980’s decade wince with embarrassment
• The textbook definition of Repeat Ad Nauseum with disturbing regularity
• Although an original plot wasn’t exactly a requirement the Villains offer zero to the proceedings and their motivations will be forgotten swiftly.

Verdict

8/10

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Warcraft

In The Beginning…

If recent events have taught us anything is that people aren’t always as apathetic as we perceive them to be, despite whole catalogues of evidence to support it. Whether it be the EU referendum in the UK, the US Presidential nominations, or the territorial pissing contests in the European Football Championship it is clear that people do still have passion for ideologies and beliefs that they will passionately, and sometimes aggressively defend.

Any disagreement of these beliefs has needed to be approached very carefully as it would be too easy to tred a dangerous path that has pit brother against brother, mother against daughter, and tainted life long friendships.

So with all that in mind I thought I’d write a review of the recent Warcraft film.

You see the reason I started the review as I did is because, some are inevitably not going to like that which is only my opinion and possibly a guide to those still on the fence. Even the most blinkered “fan boy/girl” has to admit that we are a passionate community and often insist that which we adore should be beyond criticism (I would personally defend Red Dead Redemption til my last breath). I do expect some to disagree with this review and you are welcome to, but keep in mind nothing is perfect.

Making War..

The transfer of games to film has rarely run smoothly as most of our readers will be painfully aware of because the story telling of both need to be executed in sometimes contrasting ways. I didn’t really want to dissect this film by focusing on how true it is to its source material as I feel that would be giving it too much credit in some areas and not enough in others.

So I will start by saying; no it’s not as bad as some have branded it. In terms of other Blockbusters released so far this year it is certainly a better put together effort than a good number of others. Visually it is stunning, especially the design of each individual Orc. It is clear that much attention was given to their design and it borrows sensibly from a number of sources. Secondly, despite where your current opinion lies, it does appear to offer promise in the story telling department for future installments with its conclusion.

However, it is a film that leaves itself open to attack even more than some of the cookie cutter extras that litter each battle. Firstly, I’m not entirely sure that the studio clearly had an idea who they wanted to appease more with their approach. The film has been criticised by hardcore fans of the series for making noticeable changes to it’s deep lore that offered nothing further to the plot and it was simply not the film they were hoping for. Casual fans, myself included, felt lost in the Ocean of meaningless places, names, and history that were thrown in without context. As one reviewer quipped it feels like the second film in a series rather than the first.

Crafting Worlds..

The Lord of The Rings and Star Wars franchises constantly discussed places and people that required us to use our imagination to visualise but had characters discuss them in such a way that even the most rookie level viewer could say “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I understand what you mean”.

Warcraft quickly develops a habit of alienating it’s casual audience members by merely skirting over subjects almost making them an afterthought which does nothing to help you relate to any of the characters. If you’re happy enough knowing that ‘x’ is good and ‘y’ is bad from a confusing or often non existent explanation as to why then this film is right up your street.

In terms of the actual story it is scattered at best. The premise is simple; Orks have destroyed their world so transport themselves to the Human world to survive. The Humans aren’t exactly thrilled to see a horde of hulking invaders make claim to their land. It kicks off.

Of course it’s not as basic as that in it’s execution dangling such juicy tidbits as an ancient and evil power called The Fell, a Guardian of the realm, and an Orc warrior woman who appears to bridge the gap between the warring factions. But again the lack of explanation of key components means that the basics are all you will care about.

The Fellowship

How has Gul’dan come to be supreme leader of all the Orc tribes despite possessing none of the qualities they themselves demand they want from a leader?

We know that Medivh is the “Guardian” because we are told so. All evidence in the film points to him being as useful as Ann Frank’s drum kit coasting solely on his reputation so he desperately needed to be fleshed out more.

As for Garona, the Orc “Maiden”, any passing interest in her possibly intricate origins are trampled firmly into the ground as swiftly and dismissively as the revealed real threat.

The pacing of the film does little to aid you as the film often manically cuts between events rapidly without letting you digest what you have witnessed which only adds to the frustration. It is a scatter gun approach to editing that is becoming more commonplace in cinema but drives the plot as poorly as it did in Batman vs Superman.

Stories of Yore

Both the story and editing have the attention span of a 2 year old surrounded by new toys on Christmas morning. Plot lines are inspected and then discarded before being permitted to justify their place or even be properly concluded. One character’s betrayal of another only has accidental consequences for a third but does nothing to further either the betrayer or betrayed in any way.

The last criticism I will make, before steering back to the positives, is sadly the crowning turd of my complaints. The performances of too many of the ensemble is just lazy and truly uninspired. Ben Foster has the demeanour of someone whose main battle is actually staying awake, Paula Patton seems to be constantly irritated by what I can only imagine is underwear invading aggressively from the South, and the usually impressive Dominic Cooper has the grace of a king who attained his position by collecting tokens from special packs of Dwarf Ale and is still wishing he’d taken the Jetski instead.

It’s disappointing mostly because of the performances that director Duncan Jones has drawn from actors in his limited yet impressive back catalogue, especially Sam Rockwell in the exceptional “Moon”.

But enough of the bad because I promised it wasn’t all thus. Poster Orc Durotan and his pregnant mate Draka go a long way to humanise the bestial horde and give an intriguing side to their race making them anything but one dimensional. They are trying to survive rather than conquer, they look for a better place for their families and much of the promise for the sequel(s) arises from this storyline.

Both Clancy Brown’s “Blackhand” and Daniel Wu’s “Gul’dan” fill the screen with menace on every appearance and future villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe should be taking long notes from their demeanour. Despite the lack of explanation as to how Gul’dan became such a threat it is clear he is one and his powers offer the kind of instant threat rarely seen in modern cinema.

The climatic battle that it all builds to is satisfying in its execution, if not stunted in its conclusion. Rather than being a Transformers-esque mess of CGI it at least flirts with some form of fight choreography and offers tension in places. A well advertised showdown between two key characters is not quite as epic but it’s this that makes it just as satisfying for different reasons. It fills me with hope to see that there are film makers who realise that better doesn’t always come from bigger.

Art Of Warcraft

Sequels are likely, and not solely because the enormous success the film enjoyed in the now crucial Chinese market. As the film draws to an end it does so with promise of a bigger story to come, one which will hopefully plug the gaps for the still trying to be initiated and keep their interest high. Fans of the games have been divisive but overall elements of it have met approval.

I will say that I left the cinema very mixed because despite the background lore being treated like a Disney step child it does offer interesting shades of grey to “good and bad” away from the central antagonists. It’s an interesting attempt that I hope fires the starting pistol to better polished efforts. It’s far from perfect and does deserve a lot of the criticism levelled against it. To those still not convinced it does I’ll end with a direct excerpt from the script:

Anduin: Sounds like a trap.

Garona: It is not.

Anduin: Could be.

Garona: It is not.

Anduin: Could be.

Garona: It is not.

6/10

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• Developer: Cyanide
• Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
• Release Date: 22nd September 2015

“You’ll Never Walk Again!” While not subtle, this simple play on words is what helped hook me on the early versions of Games Workshops’, quite literal, Fantasy Football. It was an amusing throw away joke included in the games rule book that not only served to add some background to the world the game was set in but also to hammer home two of the games core concepts; ultra violence was the order of the day, but with tongues firmly planted in cheeks. This was a game that was going to promote Gouged Eyes and ripped spleens but all for comedic purposes. For the uninitiated, Blood Bowl is a turn based take on American Football set in a fantasy world and played by such figures as Orcs, Elves, Ogres, and Dwarves. 2 players play 2 halves in an attempt to out score and out maim each others teams. Blood Bowl 2 sees Cyanide Studios taking a second bite at adapting the long running board game after their initial attempt in 2009. So the initial thought is what do you add to improve a video game adaptation of a 28 year old board game?

THE ELF, THE ELF, THE ELF IS ON FIRE
Although Blood Bowl was a faithful transfer of the board game there were several criticisms to be levelled against it. Outside of league campaigns and a very basic online mode the game was extremely bereft of options. A lack of any kind of story mode meant that all the game consisted of was creating a team from several preset races and entering them into every increasingly difficult cups and leagues. The creation side began and ended with naming the team and players and selecting a badge to identify them which was a severe let down given that the source material that encourages creativity. As the game progressed it was availed for your players to impove their skill set but little else was put in place to keep the interest of the average game player. Blood Bowl 2 has addressed the former issue with a campaign mode that not only adds some depth to the proceedings but also serves as a lengthy tutorial for new players. Long time players should not be deterred by this though as a lore heavy background story is told as you progress that is both amusing and entertaining. While a very forgiving affair at first it quickly teaches newcomers what the rest of us already know; in Blood Bowl anything that can go wrong will go wrong but is part of the games charm. Random events are thrown in to add variety and there are even several occurrences I can honestly say I only ever expected to be hearing about in the intentionally clichéd commentators fond retellings of infamous moments in the games history.

ORCS, ORCS WHEREVER THEY MAY BE…

The game truly realises its full potential once you dive into the online mode. As discussed earlier, Blood Bowls online feature was as painfully basic as is imaginable and laughably inept considering offerings elsewhere. The longevity of the game for both old and new players lies here-in because Cyanide have structured it in a way that will keep you invested in the development and future of your teams much more than the single player mode will. As with the SP mode the players in your teams will age, pick up niggling injuries, and improve their skillset if able to do so. This means players values increase and decrease with each campaign until they either retire through old age or complications from blunt force trauma. The initial consequence of this is you won’t be able to rely on your star players to carry you indefinitely so you’d always need to be keeping a keen eye towards creating the next generation of marquee players to carry on the teams legacy. Obviously you can do this by playing rookies to help their ratings but another option is to make use of the online transfer market. During a season transfer windows will open giving you the opportunity to buy and sell players to and from other users. The chance to purchase a quick fix to an area of your team or bolster your bank balance with a crafty sale is certainly a plus for the tactically or financially sound amongst us.

The online leagues themselves cater for all types of players accommodating everything from noobs to hardcore gamers. Unless they really want to, new gamers will not be forced to go in against the more rabid and committed players and will find leagues available that exist solely for the enjoyment of the game. On the flip side the competitive gamers will easily find leagues heaving with the like minded and will drool at the fact that Cyanide are even setting up world wide tournaments with sizeable cash prizes. This is further evidence of the studios commitment to a long term plan and is a move that is causing much chatter.

GORY, GORY MANGLED HALFLING

Next up in the much improved section is the graphics. While not a giant leap in overall quality, especially given that this now a next gen sequel, it is more in the animation of the characters were the improvement lies, the starkest example being when a character successfully “blocks” an opponent.

Instead of the activity being seen at distance the camera switches to a close up of the action showing the unfortunate recipient being struck with absolutely breath taking force. It gives a better sense of satisfaction and encourages hitting as often as is allowed. Each race has several different animations tailored to their physiolgy which goes a long way to add a sense of identity. Its a nice little extra but far from perfect as quite horrendous clipping during the animations can take the edge off them on occasions. Away from the games themselves their is a much deeper creative element when first putting a team together. One of my main gripes about the original was the lack of personalisation in this area. All players of a certain type appeared to have been subject to a rather lacklustre cloning process and the choice of uniforms were a rather flat red or blue (which was selected for you depending on whether you were playing home or away). Realising that most games offer multiple choices relating to your characters appearance players are now greeted with an array of both race specific and generic wardrobes to pick from and in game currency that can be obtained by playing in solo or online tournaments make it possible to purchase further outfits. Add to this the options to alter the appearance of your players by selecting from a series of pre-set heads and upgrade and add sponsors to your stadium and it really helps you to make your team YOUR team and make them either as mean or ridiculous as allowable (personally, I can never resist giving my thrower an eye patch toting head to help explain away any calamitous dice rolls.)

LOON ARMY

So while there’s marked improvements is it better in all areas? In short, no. As happy as I am with the fixes the game does feel that a few things have been taken out to compensate. The number of teams available in the release, not including Release Day DLC (but why would you include that?) is the same number as it’s predecessor, albeit with a slight variation of the races. Blood Bowls DLC team the Dark Elves are now fully active in Blood Bowl 2, the Wood Elves and Lizardmen have been relegated to pre-order bonuses/DLC, and the fan favourite Goblin team have completely disappeared (sacrificed figuratively and in this game possibly quite literally). While Cyanide have added 2 new teams with the High Elves and Bretonnians fan reaction to some of the poor choices in this department has caused the developers to hit the damage control button with the promise of 4 new teams being made available free to existing customers. Sadly, the fact that these new teams will only be made available through Steam will do little to make their console owning customers feel any appreciation. A better variety of teams should also have been considered as their isn’t as much of a distinction between them as is possible. The game features 3 Elf teams and 2 Human teams (who do admittedly differ from a tactical stand point) but it still feels that the options are the “average in all areas”, the “heavy hitters”, or the agile teams whose players move quicker than snot off a whip.

On top of the loss of one race is the loss of one of the games true guilty pleasures with the lack of secret weapons with the Dwarf Death Roller currently being the only inclusion. Although mostly, but not exclusively, tied to the absent Goblins it is an omission that is a little more head scratching. Rather than offering an unfair advantage to players they were more likely to thoroughly bastardise your best laid plans in amusing fashion. For a game that relies on Sods Law the random factor of hallucinogen fuelled Goblins on Pogo Sticks or clumsy footed Dwarves running around with chainsaws have stood the test of time with the board game and would have added yet another gear to the fun factor and an air of schadenfreude for players.

A more minor complaint is in the sound department. While the match time hits are satisfyingly bone crunching the commentators still only feel connected to the proceedings by proxy. Yes, this is another area that has been improved in respects that you are less likely to get frustrated by hearing the same limited quips repeated ad nauseum, it does still feel like they are more commentating in a game rather than on the game. They do come out a few decent interactions in fairness and don’t swamp the uninformed with too many insider gags that not all would appreciate.

FINAL WHISTLE

Overall Blood Bowl 2 is a significant improvement on its predecessor making great strides in the much needed areas of gameplay, creativity, and replayability. It is infinitely more accessible to new fans while giving long term players most of the elements they would have expected to find. It still doesn’t quite feel like the finished article and many will question if more could have been in areas such as the number of races available and the incredibly noticeable clipping during the block animations. The online mode will certainly help to keep the game breathing, meaning future releases to the franchise could be likely. A step in the right direction but also a team still being rebuilt.

7.5/10

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