Thoughts on Dawn of War 3?

So gameplay footage is starting to appear for the new Dawn of War from Relic. I finally got a chance to sit down and watch some of it.

gameplay

I think it looks fucking terrible. The map being shown is boring and static, there is no cover system with all of the units standing out in the open, no evidence of suppression or the deeper tactical mechanics that make Relic RTS games, well, Relic RTS games. I'm fine with changes to the formula but it looks like they are just regressing to standard 90's RTS mechanics but with hero units.

Most of all, the combat just seems to lack weight, mostly due to the weak sound design, something relic usually nails. I don't like the new art style at all.

its just all wrong. Obviously much of this is due to personal preference since I love the small scale tactical stuff in Coh 1/2 and Dawn of War 2 ( I have hundreds of hours in all of these games). I guess enough people have left the studio that its just not what it used to be. Guess i'll start looking forward to the next Blackbird Interactive game instead.

What do other people think?

I would have to actually play the game to make a final judgment, but from the gameplay video I personally think it's a step back in most areas.

Apart from all the gameplay elements you mentioned which I agree with, even the graphics are too colourful. I understand they wanted to go with something that looked more like the tabletop game, but it nearly looks like a Blizzard game.

its going to be interesting to see how they merge the gameplay from 1 and 2 (which, apparently, is what they want to do). they are 2 very different games.

people have been shouting at them to get the base building back in and that can mean unit spamming like in the 90s. it could be another divisive game but i hope they deliver. i liked 1 and 2 though so im certainly willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

i like the visuals though. maybe a few tweaks here and there but i like it.

I liked the MP in DOW2 - not a fan of base building.

Idunno looks like a Blizzard game to me lol

Still too early; I'd argue that's more of a tech demo game than a full-on mission. It looked like they were just showing some random assortment of units going at it.

agreed. base building adds nothing when you are just randomly plopping down buildings. it doesn't work well with their games which are usually about micro-managing battles and maintaining a front line.

It's a flop....

It looks bland, but it does come out next year so I would hold off the negative opinions till its get closer to release.

looks like a cell phone game, removes all the tactical things I enjoyed about DoW 2 and CoH. None of the grit of DoW 1.

Passing

its a pre alpha footage . so we cant judge for now

I actually very much like the larger scale than DOW 2 and COH. Not every single one of Relic games should be the exact same.

In fact I heard people complain so much that COH 2 was too similair to COH 1... without ever playing it.

Who says the base building is just plopping down buildings ?

The gameplay footage looks great, of course I will try a demo of this before I purchase.

yea you could be right, base building might be more in-depth. Personally, I've never been someone who liked building up a big base in a RTS which is why I've always gravitated towards Relic games.

as I said, most of my reasons for not liking how this new game looks are based on personal preference. I was never one of those who complained about CoH 2 being too similar to 1 but I supposed Relic have typically changed things up quite a bit with most of their other games.

Back when CoH 2 was in development, I actually got into a super early Alpha, when the game was still under THQ. I thought it was pretty bad, but obviously ended up loving the full game, so I will wait to see how it turns out before passing it off entirely, but "large scale battles with base building" is generally not what I'm looking for in a RTS.

Yeah, and look how much COH 2 has improved over the years while it's out too. The graphics, the balance, the gameplay.... Only thing that still sucks is the pathfinding :P

But anyway, I get the concerns for this game. And not everything I saw was something I liked.

But the new gameplay elements do have me interested. If they can combine the new stuff with what made the older games great, they can still pull this off.

I think DOW2 was a bit too small scale for me, because after a while I just lost interest in it, because it was so small scale.