I didn't say 6.5 was the average, I said in the context of the decidedly mixed reviews 6.5 isn't an outlier. Edge gave it a 7, 1up a 7.5 ect. 6.5 makes sense in the context of the other reviews (and none of the reviews, even the Xbox magazine ones, are particularly glowing compared with other big releases like Gears of War 2 or Halo 3).
Maxim's review was surprising given that a lot of outlets have given Killzone 2 a perfect score (10 or 5 out of 5) so a 7 seems outside the 8-10 range. 6.5 is not really outside the range at all in this case and after watching the video review makes perfect sense.
I forgot the Ensemble made Halo Wars thing, that was a mistake on MS's part. Bungee is a much better RTS developer then Ensemble which makes competent but unexceptional games. Myth was a very exceptional game unlike any of the Age of Empires games which were just competent RTS games that did nothing in particular better then every other almost identical game (Rise of Nations, Empire Earth ect).
On a side note devs need to stop taking their best licenses, farming them out to inferior studios and watching them go to s**t. Bioware does it giving their best games over to Obsidian which makes not nearly as good sequels to gems like KOTOR and Neverwinter Nights, here Bungee does it when they would have done a MUCH better job keeping it in house...
To give you the 9.0 or better Bungee version based on myth here it is. You have armies but NO BASES, instead you have a squad that deploys in the field. As they survive they become vets with better abilities to hit enemies and survive longer. You also get Master Chief style hero characters which are more powerful then normal soldiers but still fight along side them. You are expected to, with a team of no more then two dozen units, fight off hordes of flood and covenant with no back up. There would be a strong feeling of being deep in enemy territory and heavily outnumbered (which is what Halo is all about at its best right?).
There actually is more or less that game I described above, its called Dawn of War 2, its awesome, you should play it. Regardless though, Bungee could have made a very good Halo Wars if they had taken it upon themselves instead of making it a half assed license cash in. I really do hope now that they're indy again Bungee will make a new proper RTS game, its been too long (the squad multiplayer in particular was fast paced and awesome).
PSN ID: ChosenOne feel free to add me
