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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War Review - PC

For thousands of years, Orks, Humans and other factions have battled across the galaxy, raging a relentless and ugly war across many battlegrounds. Millennia of technology combined for one unified purpose, that of brutal war and death.

For those that aren't familiar with the Warhammer series... It started life as a "miniature" based strategic table-top game by Games Workshop, using RPG elements mixed with hardcore Sci-Fi. Some of the more nerdy amongst us may have even dabbled at the painting of the tiny, but immensely detailed creations, or "miniatures" spawned off the series at some point. Scarred humans and creatures, hardened over centuries of tireless battles show great imagination.

One of the most popular parts of Warhammer was these very detailed characters and factions, over the top style, and grungy storyline. Mixing a unique blend of top notch sci-fi, with fantasy elements of magic, swords, and fiendish creatures; Warhammer has a strong creative universe to work with. Not surprisingly, a few games over the last 10-15 years (Space Crusade, Firewarrior, Chaos Gate) have tried to replicate the success of the table-top game with mixed successes.

Dawn of War moves more towards a standard RTS from the most recent Firewarrior FPS (PC, PS2), which is probably where it should belong considering its heritage. So how does the game stack up with such a rich heritage, and with such a strong licence?

Gameplay

Dawn of War follows the fairly standard RTS formula, and has in some ways has quite a few cues to games such as the classic Total Annihilation and Starcraft. Using your builders, you have to build your basic buildings, and from there start producing troops and weaponry to help you go forth and conquer. Thankfully you are not left with too much micromanaging of resources, and most of the game is geared towards battle and conquering the enemy territory.

Campaign mode is the main meat of the game, with a heavily involved storyline of the Space Marines taking on the Orks. Part of the fun in featuring each mission is just finding what plot twists lie ahead, and the live cut scenes that play out as you attempt to rid the planets of the vicious Ork hoardes are excellent. Some missions require a small squad to go forth and achieve objectives, whilst others require you to build a sprawling base and create a heavily armed force. Things start off a little slow in the initial missions, but the pace soon builds up as you progress further.

For most of the game you play the human marines, but you'll come across a few different races, and different clans during many of the missions. This always keeps things interesting, and each has their own style, and their own selfish reasons for battle.

Like the tabletop game, the game is heavily slanted towards capturing territory. Capture a strategic point and you are able to lay claim to it as your ... (continued next page)