Dawn of War

[Rivera Bladestrike]

Anyone else check out the new demo for the Warhammer 40,000 series? I downloaded the demo off of some site and I had a lot of fun in it. I'll probably pick it up when it comes out.

[Sartori]

Love it, but I might be biased - i dig that universe already. About time they came out with something worthy on the PC.

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

Yep, Dawn of War gonna rock!

[Boogahz]

Was a blast...just need more than one map to play on

[Xzion]

can someone link the godamn demo and stop talking about it?

[Akaran_D]

I played it.
I didnt like it. It felt way too generic for me.. like every other WC clone I've played.

Maybe I'm missing something.

[Sionistic]

can someone link the godamn demo and stop talking about it?

its like, taken over http://www.fileplanet.com

[Sartori]

A generic WC Clone? Pretty funny considering that most design work by Blizzard in any of their games was shamelessly ripped from Games Workshop.

I guess what goes around comes around when it comes to good real-time strategy games tho...I mean, even if the similarities pretty much come to a screeching halt right after you notice that the ONLY thing either game has in common is you can build units & buildings...and oh yeah it's a 3-D RTS.

Ignorance is bliss.

[Letania]

Could really give a shit less about who comes up with what, and then who steals those ideas. Whoever does it right, wins.

I've heard high praise of this game from friends of mine, a few of which I played WC3 with for years. If they call it a good RTS, it definitely has my attention; but I'm waiting to get my hands on a full version of it.

Warhammer universe has always intrigued me, but I never got into it, for some reason.

[Akaran_D]

Sartori:
I grew up into the RTS genere with Blizzard introducing WC, WC2, then SC (which I hated). Having beaten WC1, WC2, WC2 expansion pack, WC3, WC3 expansion pack, it's very easy to see similarities in the methods the game uses. Controll points have replaced gold mines, but the standard unit upgrade paths seemed the same as any other RTS I've played from the demo.

Infact, the only RTS I've ever played that didn't seem to fall completely into that category was Rise of Nations..

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

Chaos Marines all the way Baby! Summon that BloodThirster VS that Avatar of War and Orc Horde !

[Krimson Klaw]

I loved all of the warcraft rts. I was all for this game too until I payed it. Most boring game I have ever played.

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

Was it that bad Krim?

Pros/Cons?

What did it?

[Sartori]

My response is to someone using the word `clone'. Not everyone sees the absolute irony tho (especially Bliz fanboys), but I can live with that. I thought they did a great job without putting in the uh, pardon me but - fucking BORING resource management aspect of every other RTS a la Ground Control 2. To each his own

[Fairweather Pure]

Once I saw the opening video for the demo, my first thought was "Holy shit, someone finally got it right".

This is a great game. All I have played is the space marines in the demo, but that's all it takes to show the strategic depth of this game. I was worried it would be all flash and no bang. I put my worries aside within the first 20 minutes exploring the build and upgrade paths of the space marines. The capturing and holding of control points is a great change of pace and forces players into a very offensive role. The progression is very natural and I never found myself regretting not being able to build up more base defenses. Instead I found myself wanting to pound out more troops/vehicles to protect far off control points and quickly grab lightly defended enemy flags. The game is extremely confrontational. Much more so than any other RTS I have ever played. I spent 95% of my time fighting simply because I have to.

For those with the demo, go to skirmish, make a FFA game, and make the enemy AI normal. That will keep you busy for several hours and be a decent challange. I can only imagine what the harder AIs are like.

The downsides are fairly obvious. The actual game will ship with a 12 mission single player campaign that you can only play as marines. That's pretty fucking gimp IMO. It has also never been revealed if an editor will or will not be included at launch. It will be a crying shame if one is not. Also, while playing, I build 2 turents in my base and was unable to move my dreadnoughts between them to get out and attack the enemy. Even more annoying is that I could not sell/destroy/remove those turrents at all, so my large units and vehicles were completely trapped in my base. Of course, those useless units also counted against me vehicle cap and it went from mildly annoying to actually costing me a highly contested game.

Overall, I think the game will have enough skirmish and multiplayer maps to make up for the scant campaign. I also look forward to even more beautiful graphics and intricate gameplay with the 3 other races (go eldar!). The graphics are fan-fucking-tastic.

The demo gets a 9 out of 10 for me, despite its flaws. I am an RTS freak and have also been involved with Warhammer 40k for over 15 years. GW finally got smart and gave thier licence to a company that knows wtf they're doing. Relic was the best possible choice for a 40k RTS, and they prove it.

I will own the game tomarrow and I'll post a better review once I have played it a couple of days.

"And they shall know no fear."

[Fairweather Pure]

No Map editor included. The rest of the game is as good as I would've hoped. All I want now is an expansion pack with more playable races. Imperial Guard! Tyranids! Necrons! Tau! I want me all

[Dregor Thule]

Very nice game. The graphics are just great, they captured the feel of Warhammer 40,000 EXTREMELY well. Watching a Dreadnaught throw back all the orcs milling around it in one big sweep is satisfying as hell. I think this game could become one of the new multi-player staples if word of mouth is good enough.

First of all, it's not a Warcraft clone. It's more Rise of Nations than WC. Your buildings generate your resources based on energy from slag heaps, plasma generators, etc, and you get requisition points from stuff like capturing strategic points. Hell, I have fun watching stuff get built.. drop pods being sent from orbit to your buildings delivering a fresh squad of marines is sweet

I haven't played it much, just 3 or 4 missions, so still coming to grips with things. The enemy AI seems a little dumb, could use some work. Was watching my brother play and there was a Squiggoth (big honking lizard with turrets built on its back) just sort of standing there doing nothing instead of charging into battle as his marines pelted it.

Still, very fun game. Probably fix that AI in the first patch that comes out for it.

[Sartori]

Lots to say about this.

I love Games Workshop, but I don't actually play 40k tabletop (I do have a half-painted Eldar army though). I have played lots of Mordheim though, and even that little skirmish game gives you a huge appreciation for the flavor and depth that GW puts into their game worlds.

I haven't played through the single player at all yet. Instead, I've played a couple dozen multiplayer games on a LAN with my friends, and it has been just about one of the most chaotic, bloody, intense RTSes I've ever experienced. More than anything else it reminds me of Ground Control 2, but faster paced (and lacking the sight range/firing range indicators, unfortunately). The AI is actually pretty brutal on Hard. On standard it's a push-over. There doesn't seem to be a happy medium which would be nice.

Though I do very much enjoy Blizzard's games (and plan to play WoW), I couldn't call this a clone of any Blizzard game without circling back to the fact that Games Workshop is a blatant inspiration design-wise for anything Blizzard. I don't have a problem with this, but I also don't have a problem calling people out on either side of the fence that are gonna make an issue out of it. The graphics style in DoW is similar to Warcraft 3, which bears a strange resemblance to lots of GW artwork I've seen. The single player cutscenes are in the same vein as Warcraft 3, but not done quite as good. Like other people have said, Relic didn't create campaigns for all 4 races, or even a simple map editor. That makes me sad, but I still dig this game - especially multiplayer. I like making badges & banners for my armies, too!

If you don't like resource management much, but like the tactical aspects of RTSes then I would recommend this game. I'd also recommend Ground Control 2

[Fairweather Pure]

Single player campaign was short and simple. Skirmish mode and LAN parties have been hard as fuck Truely an excellent game.

[Rivera Bladestrike]

I downloaded the full version, and I gotta say its a fun game, but I think its life, like many other RTS games is probably short. There is a lack of units on each team and a lack of upgrading like many great RTSs do (Rise of Nations).

Its fun for the first few days I guess... Great graphics and great engine without a doubt, just will the lasting appeal be there?

[Fairweather Pure]

The 4 sides are drastically different. I think Chaos gets my vote for favorite, but it changes all the time just like my favorite StarCraft race

Saving the replays and watching them in realtime while zooming in and rotating to a squad's eye view is pretty awsome.

They need to release the editor ASAP to give the game legs. I've already played all the skirmish modes to death

[Hesten]

I downloaded the demo, and i must say that this are the first RTS game i had fun with since C&C Tiberian Sun (ok, played WC3, but only first campaign, got boring).
No big resource management, and constant hardcore action. I totally underestimated the computer in the single player demo version, and was VERY close to being completely squached by that giant war boar thingy they had, i thought that 2 fully equipped Space Marine quads supported by a few mech warriors and 2 Whirlwinds was plenty


Due to a bad foot forcing me to stay indoors so i cant buy it yet, im gonna
download it, and buy it as soon as i can

[Fairweather Pure]

Five years later...

I installed the entire series and it's still awesome.

Dawn of War - Space Marines, Eldar, Orks, Chaos

Winter Assualt - Imperial Guard, adds a new unit for every race

Dark Crusade - Necrons and Tau, adds a new unit for every race

Soulstorm - Sisters of Battle and Dark Eldar, adds a flyer to every race

In total, you have 9 playable races that are drastically different from each other. You run the gambit of every known playstyle for the given armies. I am currently loving the Imperial Guard due to thier turtle ablities and impressive array of tanks. I also love playing the Tau due to the 2 different paths that you can take your army down. Necrons are fun because I feel they are simplified compared to any other army in the game. Finally, I always enjoy going back and playing as Space Marines as well.

The entire series has 2 traditional (although short) campaigns in the original and first expansion. Dark Crusade and Soulstorm change things up and go into a "risk" style campaign where you gear your general up with wargear as you progress and capture territories for special abilities. You eventually have to assualt each race's stronghold.

I cannot say enough good things about this game. It is my favorite RTS game of all time, barely inching out StarCraft.

I'm currently playing through this entire series again. I want to learn and play the other 5 races. Just for fun, I may be fleshing out the different races in this game later.

[Aabidano]

The Hello Kitty 40k expansion looks good too!

[Sartori]

I would totally play that froggy/chaos army