at dawn of wars release, probably the best rts out there. very long review
Graphics: the game feeds off its dawn of war engine with some upgrades and improvements and its one of the best graphic engines ive ever seen. it works on pretty much every computer i can think of except and the graphics just look excellent. you got awesome modeling that looks pretty much like the real units you buy and paint, you got an in game paint system so you can paint your units the way you want to which i have never seen before in a game, you got some really neat textures that arent that detailed but when you see the big picture it looks amazing. you got a lot of graphic options to choose from and some really impact performance like the texture detail and the resolution of course but in the end the game has a perfect mixture of performance and visual quality. but one thing that makes this graphic engine look really good is how the games textures are really bad, yes the textures look bad when you go up close. but thats a good thing. when you zoom out the game looks like starcraft 2. ok maybe not starcraft 2 but it looks very good. its just beautiful and when you zoom in you can see there arent many textures at all. i dont know how they manage to make it look so good but still with no performance impact and with these bad textures. you got some neat shadows that follow every character and alot of the characters have animations when they stay still, which adds to the games feel. one thing thats a little bit sad though is that tiberium wars came out the same year, and they totally smashed this game in the graphics department. im not gonna compare the two though because they are both my favorite games. the best thing about the graphics though in my opinion is the gore and the corpses that dont disappear. when you play starcraft, C&C, age of empire or any rts the character usually just dies or explodes in blood and disappears. here the characters execute eachother. they run up to each other and engage in melee combat. they cut each other with swords and impale and smash each other and it looks truly like a battlefield when it happens. it gives the game so much more life and the feeling when you got two big armies rushing towards each other, it is unforgettable. all the corpses on the battlefield stay there, they never disappear and the blood usually stays too. it looks awesome when you have fought a battle for several hours and there is just corpses lying everywhere. it feels like a real battlefield and ive never seen anything like it, in any other strategy game the corpses just disappear and its boring. you want to see the destruction you have caused. for example, one time i was playing against 4 very hard players and i was alone. the enemies could only come up on one hill, and they just kept coming and eventually the corpses were laying on each other after several hours of gameplay. and those sorts of moments are the wow! moments every gamer is looking for. the game has good anti-aliasing overall and good water and shadows. its really a good graphic engine and a lot of work has been put into the unit models, which you can see clearly when you play the game.
Conclusion:
in 2004, probably one of the best graphic engines in any game but by 2007 it still feels like its going strong. not as strong as then but its definitely still an awesome graphic engine. good models, good shadows and persistent corpses. all those things are still not good in other rts games but here they nail it superbly. Audio:
the music can be good sometimes. there are a couple of good soundtracks, but usually it isnt that good. the voice acting is superb though, especially on the space marine units. thats what takes the cake really, the voice acting. when your marines are rushing into battles with their swords high up in the air, screaming at their enemies the game feels real. you get so immersed you might as well glue your face to the screen. every unit really feels realistic when they talk to you and it really adds to the game. in the heat of battle you can hear them screaming and shouting: "For the emperor!!" and it really is awesome. if you watch the opening cutscene from the first game you will know what im talking about. one thing i think they should have done is make the music more aware. sometimes when im in the middle of a battle the music doesnt fit in properly and sometimes it does. it doesnt affect the game that much but it could have been done better. but the audio department is still one of the strongest in dawn of war. the voice acting is just to well done. the sound effects on the other hand are awesome to. i mean seriously the guns sound like real guns. when i hear the space marine machinegun i just go crazy and start screaming at the screen. the guns really sound that good. the sound effects are definitely the best sound effects ive ever heard in a strategy game up until dawn of war 2. Conclusion:
awesome voice acting brings a Wow! feeling to the game. the soundtrack feels a bit mediocre but it works usually and it isnt really a bad thing at all. i just think they could have put more work into it. the sound effects are perfect and all in all, the audio is superb just like the graphics. could have been better though.
Story: this is where the game is shallow. this is the only bad thing about this game. but it doesnt affect it at all though. i dont see people caring about the story at all. the gameplay is so good that you dont really give a **** about the story. and im not saying thats a good thing, im just trying to say that the game is so good that the story really doesnt matter that much. unlike the campaign in the first game and in winter assault, where you had a fixed amount of missions with cutscenes associated with each one this game has a free campaign, with very few cutscenes that actually matter to the story. ill explain. the story is about the 7 races, tau, necrons, space marines, chaos, imperial guard, eldar and the orks. they find some random planet that is valuable in someway and every race lands on it. except for necrons who were already on the planet. they decide to fight each other over the planet. you then get to choose your race. yeah you get to choose any race you want to for the campaign. you then one cutscene in the beginning of the game and one in the end. thats it, 2 cutscenes per race. the story is shallow but it works and the game doesnt try to **** you over by coming up with some super complicated story that you dont care about anyway. in the end its a good thing because it allows for the gameplay to expand to new levels which i will explain later. anyway the story really doesnt matter to the game and its very basic. everyone of the races has their reason for taking over the planet and in the end it adds up. Conclusion: shallow but simple. this game proves that you dont need a good story to make an awesome game. as long as the story works along with the gameplay, its all good.
Gameplay:
now comes the thing that i love about this game. the gameplay, its one of the most innovative and creative ways i have ever seen of playing a strategy game. im gonna start with the actual races and their unique gameplay ways. every race is unique. i mean sure, not that unique but they are never the same.
Space marines: these guys are the usual race everyone chooses. they are classic space marines in every way. and no they do not copy starcrafts terrans, its the other way around. they have a basic unit cap and the usual tanks and big infantry units. they were also the protagonists in the first game.
Chaos:
these guys are just nasty. they are like the evil counter part to the space marines. they have horns and demons and they look very cool. they play alot like the space marines though, but usually they have big super demons instead of big tanks or walkers. These were the antagonists in the first game.
Tau:
these guys are kinda of the good guys. they just want to stop the war and they look a little bit like the protoss. they have buildings that build robotic units that are good at ranged combat and special beast buildings that build only beasts that are masters of melee combat. its a cool twist to the building system and the tau are usually pretty hard to play with, in my opinion any way.
Eldar:
this race is all girls. no guys except for the super unit. these are very fast and secretive and they rely upon a very zerg aproach. they can pop out of nowhere, smash your base and get out of there before you even have a chance to react. they are not so good at frontal encounters though and they are very unique.
Necrons:
these guys are bad ass. their units can revive themselves when they die and they have only one kind of resource. these guys are very overpowered and they are usually unfair to use in multiplayer. they are also robotic so the corpses can be gathered up and create new units for free. very cool but very overpowered race.
Imperial Guard: these guys kinda suck. honestly. their infantry have very low morale and as soon they get into battle they just get slaughtered, but their tanks are awesome though. Orks:
these guys are just crazy. they have an extra resource called waagh! which is needed for building units and their unit cap lies over a hundred. their strength lies in numbers. they got bad ranged weapons but their melee weapons are awesome. to build units you need to first get resources. there are two types of resources in this game. the first is requisition and the other one is power, classic. the orks have a third called waaagh! and the necrons only have the power resource. to get requisition you need to capture outposts that are scattered all over the map. to get more resources out of them you need to build outposts on them, to ensure that the outpost stays safe and to get more money. these outposts can be upgraded with turrets and in the end its a pretty good system. the more you upgrade an outpost, the more requisition you get. the awesome thing though is that these outposts are scattered all over the map. so basically you need to get out there and start fighting immediately to get your resources. there is no waiting around like in starcraft. you dont have time to build the perfect army. you have to build instantly and go get resources. it makes the game feel really good and you have to improvise alot. the second resource power is pretty self explanatory. you just build power plants. these power plants can also be upgraded to give you more power. there is a limit to how many you can build though. there is special power outposts where you can build better power plants to get more power. there is usually only a couple of these on each map though. to build the strongest units in the game you need a special kind of outpost called a relic. there is usually two of these on each map and they take longer time to capture. but when you have them, you can build some very strong super units. you can build turrets in the game but there is actually a limit to how many turrets you can build. it gives the game a strategic value and you have to place them carefully so they gain a better shooting position. you can also place mines all over the place which are invisible to the enemy and its awesome to lay traps next to requisition outposts and then let your enemy approach them and get blown up. the game has the usual buildings. a research building, an infantry building and a vehicle building. but all the races have some extra buildings. for example space marines have one building that can build units that come in drop pods where ever you want them to drop. there is also a building that has hero upgrades. yes, there are several heroes you can purchase in skirmish and they can be upgraded with various abilities to help you win the battle. you can also attach the heroes to other unit groups to boost their morale. the infantry units are built in groups. the groups can get reinforcements and they can also get various unique weapons. its really cool to make some groups have 5 machine guns while the other has only flamethrowers. it makes them unique. when a unit in a group dies you can just reinforce the group and a buy a new soldier. the vehicles though are standalone and thats because they are so powerful. if you buy a walker and pit him against 60 orks he will beat the **** out of them because he is made of metal and they have tiny machine guns. its cool and to win a battle you have to be able to counter everything. you cant build a medic, soldier combination and hope to win. you have to be equipped for every situation and it gives the game a big strategy value. it really feels like you have to pick the right units for the right situation. the game has a pop cap. its fairly small for all the races except the orks. and i mean small. maximum of maybe 6 infantry groups and 5-7 vehicles. the game forces you to choose the right units. the unit cap can be upgraded in the command center but the maximum is still maybe 27 for infantry and 27 for vehicle. and every unit takes up different amounts of the unit cap. for example the land raider, a big super tank, takes out 5 in the vehicle cap i think. there are no air units in the game and thats why there is only one type of turret you can build. the turret can be upgraded to a rocket turret though which makes it strong against vehicles. the really cool thing about the gameplay though is how the units attack. in most strategy games the units just stand still at maximum distance and shoot or go up to your face and start smashing with their swords like in warcraft. but here there is a combination. almost all infantry units have 2 kinds of damage: ranged and melee. they usually have a machine gun and a sword. when they engage in battle they first run towards their target with their guns blazing and then when they get close they draw their swords and start cutting eachother. it looks realistic to the core and when they also scream and shout and execute eachother the game just becomes like a dream. the executions also look really good and there is gore and blood spraying everywhere and the animations look superb. it makes the units feel powerful. you can actually customize the units attitude alot. you can make them not rush their targets but rather just fight at ranged or the other way around. you can make them stand their ground or always rush after their target. the difficulty of the game is insane. this game features a very shallow tutorial and no guidelines in game. you are on your own. when you start this game be ready to think for yourself. this game forces you to come up with your own strategies and all units are available right from the start. it makes the game hard but when you get good at it and beat the game, its like you are on top of the world. the skirmish difficulties are very well made. you have 7 i think and they are all very wellmade. you have very easy, easy, normal, hard, very hard and insane. anything over normal is really hard. insane is truly insane and easy is easy. they are perfectly designed and if you think you are a good player, then try insane, i dare ya. the campaign is unique. as i said you get to choose one race then you see a cutscene. after that you get to a planet map where you can see every sector of the map. the goal is to take over every sector on the map. the game works like a turnbased RTS. you get to choose where to move your army and then attack and then if you win or lose the other factions get to do the same. you can actually make the battle fight itself and when it does you usually lose because its all about how many units you have available. for every sector you take over you get to purchase one upgrade for your hero. these upgrades make a huge difference later in the game and they look really cool. the goal of the game is to wipe out every other race of the map. the other races have their homebases somewhere and when you have wiped out their homebase they disappear from the map. every sector has a perk, something special like units or upgrades that you can get once you are there. for example if you take over a sector you can get a special veteran unit. this unit can be purchased for money and then this unit can accompany you on the next mission. you can also buy a forward base for the money to establish an early foothold in the sector when you are going to attack. for example if you are going to attack a home base you usually need barracks and power plants quick. with the forward base system you can build that before you start the mission. it balances the odds and makes the game unique. if you lose when you attack you just lose. it doesnt matter and there is no game over screen unless your home base is destroyed. a campaign play through can take a while and its usually pretty hard when you get to some home bases. you can also fortify your home base and your sectors with defenses which make it hard for the enemy to take over them. if you have taken over a sector with two bases for example, the bases will still be there when you are suppose to defend that sector. so it is very important to build up a strong base when attacking so when you are going to defend you can defend easily. some sectors are really really hard to crack like the eldar home base and it takes hours to complete some missions. it makes the game feel too hard sometimes but its nothing serious. the game has a morale system for infantry units. if for example a group of space marines take alot of fire at the same time their morale goes down and they cant fight properly. you can attach a commander to their group to boost morale and imperial guard commanders can even shoot one of their own units to boost morale. its a cool system and you have to be careful when sending certain solitary units against many. the game has a very good camera angle and its easily changeable. you can zoom in really far and when you do you can really see the work thq has put into the unit models.
Conclusion:
the best gameplay in an rts ive ever seen before the sequel. the mixture of Turn based and RTS in the campaign coupled with the difficulty and the unique gameplay style makes this game superb in the gameplay department. Multiplayer:
the multiplayer in this game is awesome. you automatically download updates when you connect to their servers, you can play lan and multiplayer online. you can create your own server or play on someone elses server. the game is usually fair to noobs. the campaign is identical to multiplayer so if you have played alot of campaign and skirmish you will notice that the game is identical in multiplayer. its got a chat system which works really well and there is pretty much no serious lag except if you live on the other side of the world. the multiplayer is done with skill and it works very well. its a simple and straight forward system that every rts should have. one thing that is bad is that you need the previous games to play with the old races. if you dont have winter assault and dawn of war you can only play with tau and necrons in multiplayer. its a bad thing and they should tell you that on the cover of the game. its good though that you can get the game in a bundle with all three.
Conclusion:
Multiplayer is perfectly designed to work with everyone and it really is awesome to be able to just go online, play a game and go do something else. its simple and straight forward, just as it should be.
To wrap it up:
This game is one of the finest that exist. it is so good that you could play this for 10 years and you wouldnt get tired of it. it truly is that good. this game has everything you could wish for in a rts. the game just pushes so many boundaries in the rts genre and the gameplay features that exist in this game are copied to many other rts games. if you want to play one of the best games on the pc, buy this. you wont regret it.