Reviewed by: BobiRoka
Developer: Relic
Publisher: THQ

Despite their collective stupidity, the Ork masses had managed to overwhelm my base of operations. Having lost my two forward strategic points to the east and west I had no choice but to pull my scattered ranks back and hope the stationary defences would hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive. A single space marine squad was all I had left, tooled up with plasma rifles and heavy bolters. Bringing them back had given my forces a chance to recollect themselves in the midst of the almighty carnage and so once again they were ready to rejoin the fray, focusing their combined firepower on the fearsome Ork leader. The enemy was demolishing my Plasma Generators and Listening Post defences by this point - soon there would be nothing between the enemy and certain victory. But then the dropship arrived, delivering the almighty Dreadnaught in the nick of time. I sent it straight towards the massing Ork Horde and the air was painted red, criss-crossed by tracer fire and drenched in the screams of the flagging Ork threat. With their leader dispatched, the remaining Orks fled in the hope of fighting another day…

It’s hard to believe it’s taken so long for a game bearing the Warhammer 40,000 mark to deserve the association. I mean, what was ‘Fire Warrior’ all about exactly? The expansive tabletop battles typical of this high-futuristic-fantasy game can obviously only truly be done justice via the medium of Real-time Strategy. With years of content to draw from and Relic’s proven track record in the RTS department (Homeworld, Homeworld 2), there’s only one way this could ever turn out…

Rather than painstakingly recreate the official Warhammer rule set, Relic have stuck to their guns and served up a land based equivalent of their deep space dynamic. To be more specific, the emphasis here is on the frontlines, with resource management cunningly woven directly into territorial advancement via the implementation of ‘Strategic points’.

DoW forces an immediate emphasis on exploration and expansion, by populating each map with these ‘strategic points’. The more you capture, the faster your requisition rate replenishes and it’s with this resource that the majority of your forces are built. A second resource – Power - also comes into play as you construct buildings, vehicles and start tooling up on the big guns, but this is handled simply by ordering your builder units to make the specific energy-producing structures back at base. More powerful generators can be placed at specific points on most maps – another reason to get those troops out in the wild.

And the ‘wild’ is where it’s at, as tightly focused assault groups begin scouting for those precious ‘strategic points’, capping them, reinforcing them and then moving on. At the risk of sounding like a game guide, this really is an incredibly useful approach to playing DoW. However, rushing is still a valid tactic and the interface effortlessly facilitates a more offensive playing style. To use the archetypal Space Marine example; an infantry unit is first spawned as a group of four men. Resources allowing, it’s possible to double their numbers via a dedicated control panel on the interface. Later on - when your tech is more advanced – you can call a sergeant to their ranks, gaining a powerful ‘Rally’ ability, which resets the unit’s morale (more about this later). You can also configure your squad’s weapon loadout: heavy bolters and flamethrowers for infantry vs. infantry skirmishes; or full rocket launcher array for demolitions. More to the point though, is the fact that all this can be done at any time, anywhere. You’ll find yourself replenishing your squad as you race them into the fray or when they come under fire whilst ‘capturing a flag’. Call it micro-management if you like, but it’s a damn sight easier than setting rally points (not that can’t do that as well). Attach a Hero Unit to a squad and chances are they’ll still be around when you start laying waste to the enemy base – so long as you handle your infantry units carefully; bring them back when they rout, tailor their weapons loadout, and otherwise keep them well maintained and tooled to the max.

Various forms of cover, both negative and positive, also need to be considered if you want to maximise your advantage, but it’s that crucial element of ‘morale’ that can often lose or win a battle. The four races – Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Eldar and Orks – each have their own ways of gaining and using morale, but when it comes to ‘losing it’ the effect is much the same. A routed mob is rendered ‘combat ineffective’, but their movement speed is increased – ideal for getting the HELL OUTTA THERE! This is usually the best option, giving a broken unit the chance to reinforce before you charge them back into the slaughter pit…

Ninety Orks might not sound like much in these days of ‘Total War’, but add to that your own equivalent infantry, support dreadnaughts and artillery and a screen full of units soon turns into several screens-worth of epic carnage, often on multiple fronts as you branch out for requisition in one direction, whilst an already captured point comes under fire in other. The battles are orchestrated with Relic’s patented attention to aesthetic flare. No vapour trails here though, just blood, and buckets of it. Infantry are thrown into the air by an Ork Squiggoth’s brutal stampede attack, Chaos Bloodthirsters bite the head’s off over-zealous sergeants and any infantry unit foolish enough to go near a Dreadnaught’s deadly melee arm are in for an unpleasant spin. Gore splatters all over the steaming battlefield, but you can’t help grinning in the midst of it all.

The campaign missions do a good job of introducing the various dynamics of Warhammer warfare, even if the lengthy cut scenes begin to grate after a while. A dedicated tutorial mission is included to really point out the basics, but everything is so well signposted that anyone with a modest amount of experience with RTSs should be able to plunge straight into skirmish mode. The basics remain the same no matter which race you play, but their individual curiosities, compounded by the lack of proper story led campaigns for races other than the Space Marines makes Skirmish mode a much bigger draw. Not that the included campaign isn’t worth a go. The mechanics seem perfectly well suited to the various set-piece encounters throughout the main single player component, if only there was some decent AI opposition to provide a fair fight. By implementing the steps I described earlier, on Standard difficulty, I only had to replay one mission - and that was because I didn’t properly read the briefing. Put simply, DoW can’t really match Warcraft 3 in terms of single player offerings, but that’s not really where the spirit of Warhammer 40,000 is…

Joining a multiplayer game via the in-game browser was easy, just select the busiest chatroom and hit quick-launch, choose your game requirements (player race, win conditions etc) and you’re away. To stand a fair chance of winning online you have to know the armies inside and out, but thankfully the trial and error process of discovering each army offline is an enjoyable process. The Ork’s reliance on sheer weight of numbers to access the higher echelons of their tech tree requires a unique approach to the otherwise constrained game mechanics. The Eldar’s fleet of foot and evasive abilities offer a stealthier alternative to the wanton carnage, while the Chaos Marine’s take on the default Space Marine strategy is to twist it to a crueller dimension; by means of berserk modes, possession of enemy forces and the driving of builder units to their deaths.

Since this review is being written ‘post Rome: Total War’, I ought to angle these last few words to those discerning RTS fans who might feel torn between both games. I haven’t played ‘Rome: Total war’ yet, but from what I know, both games come from RTS pedigree. If Rome is an all-consuming large-scale single player game however, Dawn of War might be considered the ultimate drop in/drop out, ‘lets play chess’ kind of deal. It’s got the Warhammer content, which is sure to draw any Games Workshop veterans even if it isn’t a completely accurate depiction of the tabletop game. I think it captures the Warhammer spirit though - Hell, there’s even a ‘paint army’ option with official ‘Citadel’ hue presets for those hobbyists who believe there’s a relationship between futuristic warfare and painting armour (seriously, what is going on here?). For those of us that just need an RTS videogame fix once in a while though, Warhammer 40,000 is about as engaging and intelligent as they come.

Buy 'Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War' from GAME!

Minimum Spec	Reviewed on
2.2ghz P4 or equivalent 512mb RAM Nvidia Geforce 3/ATI Radeon 8500 (64mb) Note: This is the Recommended spec	2.53ghz P4 1gb RAM ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (128mb)