WarHammer 40,000: Dawn of War
Introduction
The game would definately appeal to Warcraft fans, cause there is kinda a similarity in the gameplay and with teams such as orcs and the humans. Seems like Deja vu you would say, but then the setting is done in the year 40000. Well, dont ask me why they would take such a year but then me thinks maybe they weren't satisfied with the year 4000 AD or somethin..
Nway, since it is the year 40000, the units are a lot kewl. And this makes the game fresh and a lot different from those other stategy games out there. The four races that are available are Space Marines(humans ofcourse), the Eldar, the orks (Seems like they get in by popular demand) and the chaos space marines.
Gaming
Load the game up and you would be greeted with a superb bloody intro . Then you are greeted with the graphics. Well, with AOE III nearly out , this aint the best graphics engine out there, but i would still rate it as very good. The graphics cant be mentioned as being as colorful or as beautiful as warcaft but has a more serious note to it. Also it is lacking in Pixel shader effects that make units and terrain real look good as seen in Ground Control II and the famed AOE III. But what makes it tick is the great unit animations.
Things like building the base is so ainmated that you stay glued to the screen watching your buildings take shape. also the explosions are so beautiful as buildings and units get destroyed that they are a treat to watch.
Now comes the standard stuff, build a base, establish a resource flow, create the units and then get them in action. The difference here, is there is no resource like gold or wood but requistion points got by capturing and holding strategic points and power from generators. Other then strategic points, the maps could hold other key points like Relic, which on capturing yields access to the power units. For the humans, they unlocked the dreaded terminator squads which are superb units built for destruction.
Combat is quite easy (at least the single player as of now) and consists of creating squads of marines that can be increased in number by reinforcing them and they behave as a single unit. Squads are also upgraded with various kinds of equipment, in the same fashion that they get replacements. So once you get some rocket launchers or plasma guns in your squad you ready to kick some serious ork butt!! There are also other units like tanks, healers but what takes the piece of cake are the robots called Dreadnoughts. Dreadnoughts impale their enemies and then spin them around on their mechanical arms, resulting in a bloody shower for all nearby. A truly bloody sight i say..
The new thing here in combat is the existence of morale in the squads. This is a blue bar above the squads that show the present morale of the squad. Taking hits from hard hitting enemies or fire equipped ones decreases their morale to the extent of rendering them usesless in battle. Attaching them with a leader like the force commander results in a better squad more resistent to the urge to flee from battle.
The sound is quite good and could be given a 8/10 with a mediocre voice acting with shades of excellence. But its the dialogues that pulled me in. Hearing the Force Commander utter sayings like "Knowledge is power. Hide it well." or “beware the mutant, the alien, the heretic†when selecting them are superb i say, a reminiscence of Warcraft.
I would like to point out that the missions are all distinct and none seem boring. It reminds me a lot of the warcraft single player campaign where each game is quite distinct from the other and the story tempts you to keep on playing the next mission as u unravel it. (i got to say that the warcraft story is the best i have come across in a RTS
game..) Well, WArhammer 40k doesnt come quite to that level i admit, and the story is also not near that level, but it's the units and the varied missions that keep you rooted to the game as you keep on it.
On the bad side, i could say, the mission are quite easy and you could complete them easily with the force of numbers on your side. Else , easier get a couple of em robots and the baddies ahem, aliens are history. Another bad thing is there are only 10 missions in the single player campaign and that too only as the marines. Well, then u may contend yourself with the skirmish gamemode where you are able to take any of the 4 races.
Conclusion
The game is compared with Warcraft here coz it does resemble warcraft a lot and that again says a lot for it as any game that gets compared to it and comes of well in some if not all aspects is still a great game. Warhammer is one strategy game that may not appeal to die hard RTS fans, yet it is very fun to play and the multiplayer I assume would be much fun.
Graphics : Scores a 7/10. Good, considering it is a last year game. Runs smooth even on a medium machine. Explosions and blasts are beautifully exhibited.
Gameplay : Scores a 7/10. Again, good, but the single player missions are too easy and get over quick.
Sound : Scores a 8/10. Get the latest patches including the 1.4 patch which is a massive 187 mb and you get much better music(sounds a bit like engima though)
Multiplayer : Have not tried it, but assuming it is somethin like warcraft as has heroes. So not rating it here.
Screenshots :
Check here for more screenshots
Test Machine
AthlonXP 2600+, 512 MB RAM, 6600GT, Creative Live! 5.1, Creative Inspire 5.1.
Graphics settings : 1024x768, Max graphics, 2xAA, 8xAF.
Hope you guys like the review..
ALiaS
Introduction
The game would definately appeal to Warcraft fans, cause there is kinda a similarity in the gameplay and with teams such as orcs and the humans. Seems like Deja vu you would say, but then the setting is done in the year 40000. Well, dont ask me why they would take such a year but then me thinks maybe they weren't satisfied with the year 4000 AD or somethin..
Nway, since it is the year 40000, the units are a lot kewl. And this makes the game fresh and a lot different from those other stategy games out there. The four races that are available are Space Marines(humans ofcourse), the Eldar, the orks (Seems like they get in by popular demand) and the chaos space marines.
Gaming
Load the game up and you would be greeted with a superb bloody intro . Then you are greeted with the graphics. Well, with AOE III nearly out , this aint the best graphics engine out there, but i would still rate it as very good. The graphics cant be mentioned as being as colorful or as beautiful as warcaft but has a more serious note to it. Also it is lacking in Pixel shader effects that make units and terrain real look good as seen in Ground Control II and the famed AOE III. But what makes it tick is the great unit animations.
Things like building the base is so ainmated that you stay glued to the screen watching your buildings take shape. also the explosions are so beautiful as buildings and units get destroyed that they are a treat to watch.
Now comes the standard stuff, build a base, establish a resource flow, create the units and then get them in action. The difference here, is there is no resource like gold or wood but requistion points got by capturing and holding strategic points and power from generators. Other then strategic points, the maps could hold other key points like Relic, which on capturing yields access to the power units. For the humans, they unlocked the dreaded terminator squads which are superb units built for destruction.
Combat is quite easy (at least the single player as of now) and consists of creating squads of marines that can be increased in number by reinforcing them and they behave as a single unit. Squads are also upgraded with various kinds of equipment, in the same fashion that they get replacements. So once you get some rocket launchers or plasma guns in your squad you ready to kick some serious ork butt!! There are also other units like tanks, healers but what takes the piece of cake are the robots called Dreadnoughts. Dreadnoughts impale their enemies and then spin them around on their mechanical arms, resulting in a bloody shower for all nearby. A truly bloody sight i say..
The new thing here in combat is the existence of morale in the squads. This is a blue bar above the squads that show the present morale of the squad. Taking hits from hard hitting enemies or fire equipped ones decreases their morale to the extent of rendering them usesless in battle. Attaching them with a leader like the force commander results in a better squad more resistent to the urge to flee from battle.
The sound is quite good and could be given a 8/10 with a mediocre voice acting with shades of excellence. But its the dialogues that pulled me in. Hearing the Force Commander utter sayings like "Knowledge is power. Hide it well." or “beware the mutant, the alien, the heretic†when selecting them are superb i say, a reminiscence of Warcraft.
I would like to point out that the missions are all distinct and none seem boring. It reminds me a lot of the warcraft single player campaign where each game is quite distinct from the other and the story tempts you to keep on playing the next mission as u unravel it. (i got to say that the warcraft story is the best i have come across in a RTS
game..) Well, WArhammer 40k doesnt come quite to that level i admit, and the story is also not near that level, but it's the units and the varied missions that keep you rooted to the game as you keep on it.
On the bad side, i could say, the mission are quite easy and you could complete them easily with the force of numbers on your side. Else , easier get a couple of em robots and the baddies ahem, aliens are history. Another bad thing is there are only 10 missions in the single player campaign and that too only as the marines. Well, then u may contend yourself with the skirmish gamemode where you are able to take any of the 4 races.
Conclusion
The game is compared with Warcraft here coz it does resemble warcraft a lot and that again says a lot for it as any game that gets compared to it and comes of well in some if not all aspects is still a great game. Warhammer is one strategy game that may not appeal to die hard RTS fans, yet it is very fun to play and the multiplayer I assume would be much fun.
Graphics : Scores a 7/10. Good, considering it is a last year game. Runs smooth even on a medium machine. Explosions and blasts are beautifully exhibited.
Gameplay : Scores a 7/10. Again, good, but the single player missions are too easy and get over quick.
Sound : Scores a 8/10. Get the latest patches including the 1.4 patch which is a massive 187 mb and you get much better music(sounds a bit like engima though)
Multiplayer : Have not tried it, but assuming it is somethin like warcraft as has heroes. So not rating it here.
Screenshots :
Check here for more screenshots
Test Machine
AthlonXP 2600+, 512 MB RAM, 6600GT, Creative Live! 5.1, Creative Inspire 5.1.
Graphics settings : 1024x768, Max graphics, 2xAA, 8xAF.
Hope you guys like the review..
ALiaS
