Though it dosen't break new ground in the RTS genre, it dose give us one h#ll of a game!
This is based on the table-top game of the same name (war-hammer 40k) but you don't need to know the game to enjoy DOW (though a little bit of prior knowledge about the each faction's backstory/motives is helpful).
Gameplay: This is a standard RTS, biuld a base, get resources, build units, level the enemy. the one place this game differs (and the only thing new this game has to offer) is the resource gathering. instead of biulding units to gatther things (like minerals, ore, tiberium, ect.) you capture these things called strategic points, the more you capture, the more resources you get, but watch out, the enamy can steal strategic points from you. You collect the other resource (power) by biulding (what else?) power plants. The game also features an interesting squad system, whitch is not seen in many RTS games. basiaclly instead of building single units, you build a small squad of them, whitch you can then upgrade with commanders, more men, and more powerful weapons. The actual gameplay is your standard, click to do everything RTS style. The AI in this game can range from pathetiacly easy to insanely hard, and the hardest level of dificulty will make even the most seasoned RTS veterans cry. There are 4 races to play as and each has a disitinct personality and units, but they don't play increabaly diffrently.
Story: There is a story mode, but it's short, linear, and you can only play as one of the 4 races, the story is fairly interesting and the voice actors do a good job, but there's not much to keep you playing, it's more like a long tutorial than an actual story mode, also it gets real hard, real fast and some missions can take almost hours to complete and it can get tedious after a while.
Graphics: I can't really complain here, the game is 5 years old, But it dose still look pretty good, also for some reason you can zoom WAY in to the point where you can only see one of two units, what's the point of this? I don't know. Also this game is bloody, not like INSANELY bloody, but enough to earn it an M rating, (with close combat units yeilding some messy results) and i think this is the first RTS to do that (though starcraft came close) also you can customize your army's color, i never really saw the point of it, but it's fun (though you can only play as your painted army in multiplayer mode).
Multiplayer: truthfully I TRIED to do multiplayer, but no one plays this game anymore, (as the sequal has long since been out) sorry!
So overall this is a great game for anyone who loves RTS games, go pick it up as soon as possible!