Introduction:

Back in the day, tabletops were where it was. That is if you could afford the rather expensive bit of 'geekery'. The three major players were FASA with Battletech, Dream Pod 9 and the Heavy Gear series, and of course Games Workshop’s Warhammer.

Warhammer has always been the most adaptive of the three as the other two are based on science fiction, whereas Warhammer spans fantasy of yore to the far reaches of infinite space. The tabletop required thousands of squads of tiny plastic avatars that you, probably couldn’t collect all of, much less afford. If you found your bank account a little dry and dice are not up your alley, you can always play a game, on the PC, of course.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a stunning new science fiction strategy game from THQ. It is, without a doubt the best digital offering of the series to date. Former incarnations were lukewarm, at best, where everything about DoW has first-class written all over it.

There are a few hardcore WH players out there that may not feel this game is as true to the original as it could be. Games have never lived up to their original board/pen and paper counterparts, but this game does put its best foot forward, for sure. My prior experience with the tabletop actually made the game a bit more enjoyable. But don’t be expecting the same versatility.

 

Gameplay:

Starting the game, I noticed something odd. My sound was dead. It was due to my kX-driver installation on my soundcard, but after that little bump it has been fairly smooth sailing. The opening cinematic is enticing. Things ping and explode with great auditory delight. The music is suitably epic and the ambience is filled with machinegun fire and very atmospheric screams in the distance. The 3D-sound is superb, and the units have a few random things to say when selected. The voice actors are all top notch, minus the tutorial level. The tutorial level seemed like it was an after the fact inclusion.

Through the first few missions your hand is held, as if you’re learning even after the tutorial. Don’t expect that to last long however, as after a few missions you’ll start to realize how challenging the game really is, especially for an RTS. You’ll be overrun with Orks and other wonders before you know it…

 

 

There are four main races for you to choose from in the strategy romp, and each have their own skills and tactics. It will take a little figuring out - as with most RTS games, but the best strategies seem to make themselves apparent. Perhaps a bit too apparent, but it does manage to strike a balance in online play.

There are four races to choose from in the game, but only one is playable in campaign mode: the Space Marines. They’re a bunch of 9-foot tall space paladins with an undying allegiance to their immortal emperor. They are in pursuit of purity at any cost.

The Eldar race is basically what elves would be in space. Matriarchal and arrogant, the Eldar race is mostly about speed and magic. I think they are the strongest of all the mech-units, as the “Ent”(Metal Walkers) are devastating when used correctly.

The Orks, who are your basic fun loving war mongers. Their basis for society is that might is always right principle. They, however, often seem unorganized - but don’t let that fool you. They have an instinct for war and their touch as they come.

Finally the Forces Of Chaos: the 4th race, that are humans that have turned away from the emperor. They are mostly made up of necromancers and other abominations. They are also known as “The Great Enemy” of the Space Marines and their emperor.

The A.I. for each race is different. While this is normally a good thing, lower settings on the Eldar race just aren’t done very well. They don’t fortify bases correctly, but it was not made apparent to me till I allied with them. The other races’ A.I. seems to spam and rush more accurately.

There is also a bit of a limit to the types of units available. Every race only has about 11 units. Compare that to C&C, Starcraft or Warcraft, and it seems a bit few. Though there really are fewer units than the aforementioned games, there is enough variation to have a very dynamic experience. All the units also have upgrades that further factor into strategy.

The game mechanics work a bit different than your regular RTS. In DoW you have to ship in a squad, and then add to their rankings and give them special weaponry. You can also add heroes to squads, making them even more powerful. This simplifies controlling them, and makes it much easier to move your units around.

You have two types of resources in the game. Requisition points and energy. You can get more requisition points by controlling strategic locations around the map. You get energy by building plasma generators or setting up a collector on a deposit for even more energy.

Living units also have a morale meter. If it runs out they can end up panicking and taking negatives, or plain making a run for it. This adds another cool element to game play. Various weaponry, such as flamethrowers and grenades, actually reduce the morale of troops. If the units are getting totally stomped, their morale is also reduced. Though there are things you can get that replenish your soldiers’ morale. Another feature is soldier stress that many RTS games completely overlook.

 

Graphics:

The game is also a monster in the graphic department. So much so you may find yourself turning down Anti-Aliasing and some of the graphic quality options down to reduce stuttering. It’s no surprise with highly detailed units and breathtaking environments that it may overcome an upper midrange rig like mine. The dark, gritty atmosphere of a war torn planet is delightfully presented.

The units run around and have lots of animations/moves to dish out in combat. Even the main characters have nice lip-syncing during the in-game cut scenes. Everything is fluid and creates some of the most impressive battles I’ve seen to date. Units are tossed around, and the screen even shakes when something heavy hits.

The only beef I have with the graphic department is the orange clipping fog. You don’t see it unless your in 3D view, but as in-game cut scenes are presented before and after every map, it gets kind of distracting and should have been switched off or tapered down during them.

A cool feature they included is the ability to customize your armies for multiplayer. Complete with custom arm patches, insignias and a full colour scale for various trims and plates of your warriors. The best part is most of it can be done in game. The only problem that could occur is another player picking the same colours as you. But generally it is easy to tell apart your armies from someone else’s using the minimap.

 

Conclusion:

The game is very entertaining, while it lasts. I found it a tad short and the ending was a complete cliffhanger. I had expected to campaign as the other races after completing the Space Marine campaign, but in the end it left me a little cold in that department.

There is also no map editor included out of the box. Which can be something that always adds to any RTS game. It’s also something we’re used to having. It may be a bit of a problem as there are less than 21 multiplayer maps and most of them are 1 on 1 and game play has little variation. They say in their official FAQ that they are going to release a mapping utility, so hopefully it comes out sometime soon so the community doesn’t die out.

The game is worth your money. Though you might want to wait a bit till the editor is out and the mod scene gets going, as I feel it will either make this release from Relic a multiplayer monster or break it into gaming obscurity.

Warhammer DoW is an entertaining game with great polish that shows great promise, but just comes a bit short on the content side.

 

 

 

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