Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War > you

[Heald]

Screw Halo II. Move over Half-Life II, with your '10-step unlocking process' and your inane installation process which reduces the value of the game (which is your property as soon as you buy it) to zero, all for in my opinon a massively-overrated game. Anyway...

The one game I haven't stopped playing this Christmas is Dawn of War. This kicks so much ass, I'm scared I might actually go into the next Games Workshop I walk past. I used to take an interest in Warhammer, but then I lost interest/found a life/ran out of money.

First off, the cons: - There is only one campaign. A good campaign, but it just means it becomes a multiplayer-only game.
- Only four races, two of which are almost identical.
- No map editor.
- Spent an hour patching it.
- The unit voices are incredibly annoying. Except the Daemon Prince.

Other than that, perfect.

Four races is big for some games, but considering the size of the Warhammer universe, they could have added more. Each army does cater to each fan though:

Space Marines: newbie's choice. Small amount of micromanagement and all-rounders.

Chaos Space Marines: Pretty much the same as Space Marines, except slightly weaker but they get to summon Daemons.

Eldar: Fragile range-attackers, they require a lot of micromanagement.

Orks: No micromanagement, cheap and weak. Easy to learn, hard to master.

It has a fairly unique base management system where you accumelate resources by either building special buildings (i.e. generators) or by capturing strategic points across the map. This allows for tactics such as cutting off your opponent's supplies.

The unit animations rule. You will fall in loves with the 'walkers' i.e. vehicles with legs/daemons. They can kick units across the map, throw them around, impale them on swords, the whole shebang pretty much.

Ragdoll physics in an RTS? Yes! Grenades and missiles will sent infantry flying.

Get this game.

[Razola]

The Chaos Space Marines only look similar to the Space Marines for the first tier. Both play differently unless you're an idiot.

And the game does indeed kick ass, it was quite possibly the best RTS of 2004 (I never played Rome Total War, but I heard it leans on the single player side of things). The resource system encourages lots of action from the get-go and no messing around with peons and whatnot. Throw in the victory conditions that revolve around control areas of the map, and the game is without action.

If the campaign was beefier, and some of the audio and graphic glitches were tightened up (though the voices aren't as bad as Heald would have you believe, the Orks as a whole kick ass), I would call this Son of Starcraft.

And if you want to see a good death animation, try to get a Force Commander to land the killing blow on a Bloodthrister. Just awesome.

[Lezta]

It's amazing; it's true. I did go into the next GW I walked past. It made me lose money.

I'm an Eldar man myself. I used to play them TT and now I play them DoW. *shrugs*

Banshee's forever! (they're cool dammit, regardless of exactly how useful they are)

[Heald]

The Chaos Space Marines only look similar to the Space Marines for the first tier. Both play differently unless you're an idiot.

True, but both have pretty much the same infantry units. The only difference is you can beef up Squads more using Chaos and Space Marines have better morale. Otherwise, when it comes to Daemons and Abilities, then they're both different, yes.

If the campaign was beefier, and some of the audio and graphic glitches were tightened up (though the voices aren't as bad as Heald would have you believe, the Orks as a whole kick ass), I would call this Son of Starcraft.

It's the best RTS I've played since Starcraft. The Space Marine's voices are annoying as hell and the Chaos voices of Cultists and Heretics are too stupid. Orks are pretty cool and Eldar are so-so. Of course, you could turn the voice-effect down, I suppose.

Also, there is an expansion pack in the making, according to unofficial news, with Tyranids (yes, the awesome aliens that kick ass) being a new army. I hope they also add the Imperial Guard, the Tau and the Necrons too, plus add more units and vehicles such as Space Marine Bikes and Chaos Dreadnoughts.

Did anyone else feel the Imperial Guard were next to useless? Imperial Guard rule.

[Razola]

True, but both have pretty much the same infantry units. The only difference is you can beef up Squads more using Chaos and Space Marines have better morale.

And their squad leaders are different. And their abilites (Chaos squads can cloak). The two just look similar; their play styles are different.

It's the best RTS I've played since Starcraft.

I'd since since Warcraft 3, but Warcraft 3 had a very different style. DoW is more closely related to Starcraft.

The Space Marine's voices are annoying as hell

I kinda like my army of James Earl Jones impersonators.

and the Chaos voices of Cultists and Heretics are too stupid.

In beta the Cultists and Heretics had a deeper and better voice. But the rest of the race is fine for the most part.

Orks are pretty cool

Ork rock, damnit. GREEN IS BEST.

and Eldar are so-so. Of course, you could turn the voice-effect down, I suppose.

Don't play them often enough to form an opinion.

Also, there is an expansion pack in the making, according to unofficial news, with Tyranids (yes, the awesome aliens that kick ass) being a new army. I hope they also add the Imperial Guard, the Tau and the Necrons too, plus add more units and vehicles such as Space Marine Bikes and Chaos Dreadnoughts.

There's already a mod for the Tyranids; it started in October and I'm not sure how much progress they've made with it.

Did anyone else feel the Imperial Guard were next to useless? Imperial Guard rule.

As a race they could be very cool, like an extreme version of the orcs with their 15+ squads and solid vehicles.

[Heald]

Just played online. It's true: all French people do Space Marine Scout rushes...they always fail like Mrs Hitler's abortion, but the comedy value of seeing poorly organised Scouts trying to form an offensive is kind of funny. Never ally with a Frenchman.

There needs to be a map editor. Seriously.

[Razola]

There needs to be a map editor. Seriously.

Technically there is one, but it's not user-friendly.