One of the best expansions I have ever played
User Rating: 8.9 | Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault PC
Winter Assault is a major improvement on Dawn of War. The new race, the Imperial Guard, are a nice change of pace from the usual horrible monsters and genetically engineered freaks. Alot of the fun of playing the Imperial Guard comes from knowing your commanding normal men against the horrors of the universe. The Guard are promoted as being a defensive race that is capable of "turtling,". This is completely false as no race can turtle since the game is based around capturing points. The Guard do have stronger structures that can be garrisoned but if you find yourself in the position of defending then you have most likely all ready lost the match. The Guard in general are a weak race but with many attachable units, I think it is nine, and the many vehicles they are still a force to be reckoned with. The new additions to the other races are all good choices to fill in needs that weren't met in the original. For example, Eldar didn't have any tier 2 anti-armour units. Now they have Fire Dragons. The only race that didn't need any new units was Space Marines. Also their new unit the Chaplain is the worst addition.
The graphics haven't been changed much but thats a good thing since they were so good in DoW. The sound is amazing. All the soldiers screaming their great war cries while charging into battle is great. The explosions sound powerful and destructive. All the weapons sound like you would think. The campaign is short but still fun. The way the missions are structured and how the campaign progresses is very interesting and a little open ended. The real game lies in the multiplayer and the skirmish modes, which add hours and hours of replay value. The A.I. isn't very difficult but there is a mod called Steel Legion that can easily be found online. It is free to download and greatly increases the difficulty of the computer. !!WARNING!! This mod will delete all of your saved games. If you own Dawn of War then getting this expansion is a no brainer but if you don't have the original then you can buy both in a combo pack for cheap.
