Halo Wars is Heavenly

A long time ago, I bought Halo Wars from some used game store. I was freaking out, since I was (and still am) a huge Halo fan, and I never played a real-time strategy game with a touch of Spartans and Covenants.

I popped it into my Xbox's disc tray, and started playing through the campaign. Two things I didn't like right off the bat. Population limit. Expansion limitations.

I grew up playing Command & Conquer games. Firstly, I never played with a population limit (caps the max amount of troops you can have). This bothered me immensely as I love nothing more but to make a horde of troops to just crush my opponents. And secondly, I wasn't use to the expansion mechanics in Halo Wars. In games like Command & Conquer, I've always had to build my base, and continue expanding to make myself even more and more fortified. In Halo Wars, I was stuck with a base that maxed out at seven building spots and four turret placements.

Being immensely disappointed, I returned Halo Wars the next day.

So about a year has passed since then. The other day I talked with my Xbox friend. He offered me Halo Wars in return for another game. I accepted, and we traded games. I guess that after a year, my thoughts for Halo Wars must have changed.

Boy was I right. I've been playing Halo Wars for the past week. It's such an amazing game even though it's two years old now. Beautiful graphics, intelligent and clever game-play mechanics, and simply Halo.

I figure I hadn't played Halo Wars enough when I first got it to appreciate it enough. Halo Wars stands out uniquely among the real-time strategy games out there. I don't really care about population limits at this point, guess time do change hearts. And I finally understood how base expansion works.

Like I said before, a base is limited to seven building spots and four turret spots. I didn't know that in order to expand, I had to attack neutral bases or enemy bases and then by placing another base on there. And that opens up another seven spots and four turret mounts.

Happily content with the game settings now, I delved further into the game-play mechanics. So I found that Halo Wars really focuses on unit upgrades. So say I plop down a Scorpion. I can upgrade it to have canister shells so it can be more effective against infantry. Then I can upgrade it again and make it more combat reactive. And its final upgrade (Sergeant Forge only) upgrades the tank together into a Grizzly tank, a heavy almost invincible UNSC tank.

Halo Wars took another great leap by allowing the player to play as the UNSC or the Covenant forces. What's more is that each faction has three unique heroes that the player can play as. Each hero has their own unique effects and troops. I prefer Anders though, because I just won my first three versus three game online with her about an hour ago.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Halo Wars still has an active gaming community, with at least 3500 players online at all times.

I'll stop raving now. I'll finish off by saying good job Ensemble for making such a good Halo game.

Phantom Brave, Best Turn-Based Strategy Game Ever

Nippon Ichi Software honestly makes the best strategy games ever. Of one of their numerous successes, I think Phantom Brave is one that will be forever famous.

Phantom Brave introduces a revolutionary new game-play mechanic. A free grid movement and attacking system. If you haven't noticed yet, pretty much every turn-based game is either one, like Final Fantasy where you tell your guys what to do, or two, moving your characters on a grid. In Phantom Brave, you're allowed to move your guys and objects in pretty much any direction. There is no grid to keep them locked in an area. In fact, certain characteristics of the map might even make you slide or bounce.

Aside from the battle itself, there are numerous other features of Phantom Brave. For one, you can explore and decorate your little island with items you collect or buy. On this island, you can fuse objects or even characters together to make stronger objects.

Here's something you don't find in too many games. Phantom Brave can randomly generate maps to play on. Clearing these randomly generated maps can grant your items and characters bonuses.

If you're a fan of Nippon Ichi Software games, then you'll notice many references to other games made by them, namingly Disgaea. I won't say anything. That's for you to find out.

Although this game was released to North America in 2004, this is truly one of the most unique turn-based strategy games ever made. There is currently a remake for the Nintendo Wii and Playstation Portable. If you're a fan of Nippon Ichi Software or strategy games, Phantom Brave and its remakes are definitely something you would want to check out!