Bitching and complaining about the price of add-on packs or DLC is nothing new and will always be with us; it's to be expected that if you give people the opportunity to complain some will. Even with that in mind, there seems to be a high level of enmity for the Halo Wars Strategic Options DLC that was released this week.

To recap, for 800 MS points ($10) you get three new game modes and four achievements worth 100 points. Of the three modes, two require you to play party mode. The total download size of the DLC is about 2MB.

The official Robot Halo Wars forum (Robot is Ensemble Studios reincarnated) is abuzz with gamers telling tales of disappointment and amazement at what they see as being a rip-off scam perpetrated by MS in collusion with Robot. Part of the the confusion comes from the fact that the description of the DLC did not say only one mode would be playable without a party. While this isn't exactly false advertising, it certainly is an interesting omission. If I had to come up with a suitable analogy I'd say this was like getting a six pack that you needed 6 guys to help you open up and drink. OK, not the greatest analogy but you get the idea.

Some posters are rightly comparing it to other DLC that gives you entirely new content. I say rightly because we are talking about price of the DLC and what you get for it. Anyone pointing out that this game is an RTS so it's different and shouldn't be judged by those standards is a fanboy that you should ignore as quickly as possible.

I was strongly considering getting the DLC but the fact that it includes no new maps AND the party system requirement for two of the modes convinced me otherwise. Instead, I bought Bionic Commando Rearmed partly out of protest against this DLC.

Let's face it, Halo Wars Strategic Options DLC is an epic fail.

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