I know that its a couple years old, but I really need a new RTS. Sins is awesome, but every now and then I want to do land battles. Anyway, I was looking at getting UaW. Partly because it is really cheap (about $10 on Amazon). However, the reveiws I've read are mixed. I've heard some of the music, and it is amazing. I've also heard that it has SecuRom, but I've only seen that said once. If it is true, however, I almost certainly won't get it.
So, I would like to know if UaW is a decent game worth getting, and if it has SecuRom. Please?
Its ok and yes it has SecuRom.
I think it has SecuRom, but not the very bad version(exSpore). It also doesn't have activation limits I am aware of.
The main problem I have with it is GFWL. From what I can tell, you need to log into GFWL to even save your single player campaign games. At least I couldn't load my progress when I went back to it several months ago after not playing for a while(I got to the final campaign). It also refused to let me log into my GFWL account unless I shut down XFire(that might be specific to this game). For both of those reasons I have not played it since then and I am considering uninstalling it as I am not sure when I will play it again.
I orignally got the game as a Christmas present and thus didn't have to pay for it so that may cloud my resaoning a bit. Overall I found the first two campaigns were fun(but I only did play them once each) and the story was decent. The three races play significantly different. One deploys drones from a building that bring back resources, the second deploys walkers that use extraction beams to harvest resources and the third has buldings that generate resources on their own.
The gameplay is a bit dumbed downed as it is designed to let PC players go against people on consoles but still acceptable. The research tree is nice as you can't research everything in a single game: you must decide between getting high levels in one or two areas or get a little from each field.
This is not a game I would pay full price for, but $10 sounds reasonable. As I have to put up with SecuRom in NWN2, that is not a turn off point for me. From what I can tell both games use an older version of SecuRom that is not as invasive as the current one, which is why I tolerate it.
The new Total War will be out shortly. And Halo Warsfor Xbox 360. Would they suffice?
The game is average. It has one function which is super-great, and that is the walking bases that you can customize.
I had it, it was fun, campaign, was enjoyable. After you learn how to play well, AI was too easy even on hard. And no one ever played the mutliplayer. But I enjoyed it the SP portion.
Thanks for all the info. I have one question, though. You said that it has the less invasive SecuRom, but is it still a version that doesn't uninstall when you uninstall the game itself?
I know nothing about Total War, so I have no idea, but Halo Wars is a definite no. I have yet to play a RTS on a console that hasn't sucked. You really need a mouse to play them.
And again, thanks for the info.
It probably doesn't uninstall the SecuRom because all games with the same version of SecuRom use the same install of it(the other games would be broken if one game removed SecuRom with it). As this is the older version of SecuRom, there should be a simple removal tool that gets rid of it. I tolerate the older version of SecuRom because from what I can tell it just doesn't let the game run if you have programs running it doesn't like instead of messing with your system. The main problem I have with it is the length of the disk check, but I have had no problems using a mini-image to launch NWN2 to prevent my disks from being worn down.(and I am too lazy to search for the disk and put it in)
I have heard that the beta of Halo Wars in downloadable for everyone with Xbox live Gold, so if ypu have that it might be worth giving it a try. Halo Wars is the first RTS designed for the console from the start so it might not suffer from the problems other RTS games had as they switched from mouse to controller(which is probably the mian reason they sucked). As it is being made by Ensomble Studios(Age of Empires series), I think they may be able to pull off good/decent controls on the 360.
For $10.. maybe. But I don't think it's a very good game. The graphics are decent, and the races are generally interesting and unique. But what really killed it for me was the camera, especially when playing Hierarchy. The camera, basically, does not zoom out. The default setting has it way, way too close to the ground. It's hard to fit even one Hierarchy walker (except the science one) on the screen and still be able to see anything else. Often you have to scroll the map because you're either getting shot from off-screen or your units' range extends off-screen.
Halo Wars is extremely dumbed down from a pure RTS perspective. In it you're not even really meant to select individual units, you're always encouraged to just select all. There is no way to group units into control groups (that I could find, or that was explained in the tutorials) which also usually means if you've got a mixed selection and you hit the special ability button, they'll all do their own thing.
The rest is fairly generic as far as RTS gameplay goes.
and as of yesterday, the Halo Wars demo is available to silver accounts on Xbox Live.
p.s. 10 scarabs = OWNAGE!!!
Well, I guess that means I won't get it... I hate SecuRom too much to buy a game with it.
I'm going to agree with Annatar about Halo Wars. Compared to a real RTS, its simplistic and dumbed down. Plus, many of the fans of it (not all, mind you, but enough) treat other RTS like dirt, and think that Halo Wars will revolutionize the genre. I was reading a preview for it in a gaming magazine (don't remember which one) where they called all of us PC RTS fans a bunch of "RTS snobs" If they're going to insult me, I definetly don't want to buy their game. Just because we know what a RTS should be like doesn't mean that we're "snobs"
\end rant
Demigod and Empire: Total War come out next month. I plan on buying both. Even got a new CPU for those especially epic battles
And don't forget! GLaDOS only runs on a PC.
Just looked up halo wars, from the demo movie, it looks like... a dumbed down RTS with graphics like SupCom. Not to dis SupCom, but a new game should at least look better than a game which is what, 2, 3 years old now? Then again, it is running on a 3 or so year old console. By the look of the demo video, it is more a game of rock paper sicsors than strategy. And due to the wonderfully horrible RTS controller, even moving around the map looks to be difficult.
Well, I have to agree with them about the thinking Halo is the best FPS, but that's because the total number of FPS that I've played amounts to about 3 (unless you count Portal, then its 4).
Personally, I think that Halo Wars would bomb no matter what it there weren't all of the crazy obsessed fans (no offense). If they were to ever play a real RTS (like the ones you mentioned) they would quickly realize that Halo Wars sucks cow manure in comparrison.
In my opinion there are some genres that are better on consoles, and other that are better on PCs. RTSs for sure belong on PCs, but I think that, generally, games that require less strategy and more "twitching" (FPS, racing, party games, etc) are better on consoles. RTSs, TBSs, and other games that require you to think a little more instead of charging in with guns blazing are far superior on PCs. Which is why I almost only play PC now. I don't really like the "twitchy" games.
I thought it was horrible. I was really excited to get it and it sucked. I couldn't even get MP to work.
The gameplay itself is amazing - had so much potential. Unfortunately something called Games for windows live completely destroyed any hopes it had of being successful. If your want it for online play - forget it. Single player - havent tried.
@Kyogre12
FPS games do not belong on consoles because you cant aim properly with a controller, and in most FPS games for consoles they have Auto Aim put in. FPS games are met for PC's because of mouse and key board which is much easier at aiming. Also Games look better on a PC ( if you have a good graphics card that is) Consoles graphics is basicly a reworked gefore 7900gtx which is about 2 and a half years old.
meh, the few times that I've played FPS, I've liked them better on PC. Of course I rarely play them, so it really doesn't matter (again, unless you consider Portal a FPS).
Universe At War is quite good (I bought it for the achievements and gamerscore) and is made by ex Westwood Studios veterans.
The good:
The bad:
At release, it was plagued by GFWL gold which was required to play ranked matches and Conquer the World (multiplayer campaign against eachother like the Masari campaign) which caused many competetive gamers to not buy UaW.
It's strategy is quite deep and it is worth playing. But it's really best in multiplayer on small to medium maps (On big maps and in lategame, Masari is unstoppable as they get unlimited resources).
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