With Dawn of War II around the metaphorical corner, and Warhammer Online set to line EA's coffers with enough cash to make Spore [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.71399] seem like a financial success, I thought it may be time to look back on its predecessor. Given the typically "geeky" nature attributed to the tabletop version, and tabletop gaming in general, the first decent foray of Games Workshop's flagship product into the world of videogames may have gone over the heads of a lot of the casual gaming market. That's not to say it's the first ever foray of Games Workshop's products being used as videogames, but it's certainly one of the more recent, with games such as Space Hulk being tie-ins and produced in the '90's. They were, with the exception of a few, pretty stale and average, with the backstory and Warhammer 40k universe not being wholly explored.
Fast-forward ten years or so, to Dawn of War. I had a brief experience with playing the tabletop version, and a lot more experience with the model-making and painting side of it. When I saw the humble little box on a shelf in 2004, I knew I had to have it. Paying the cash, dragging it home and giving it a spin, I expected what I got out of previous Games Workshop tie-ins - distinctly average. I was surprised, however, to find an engaging RTS, impressive camera controls and decent use of the licence. Having spoken to a few friends about the game and showing them it, they were at first a bit turned off by the back-story, but it was accessible, and didn't assume too much of the player's knowledge. They too, were hooked. The gameplay was superb, using the then-new concepts of infantry morale and fear, vehicle armour and using cover. It had gorgeous graphics and ran well on almost every computer, gained multiple awards and lots of favourable ratings. A sound, thrashing success, with only the campaign seeming a bit thin on the ground, and unchallenging.
Almost exactly a year later, the first expansion pack, Winter Assault was released. As with The Sims "franchise" (though conglomerate or Democratic Republic of- are seeming more valid each day), expansions are typically where a game stumbles and faceplants into the publisher's-bank-balance-red. Once more, I was pleasantly surprised! Instead of just re-skinning a few units and throwing in a new, badly made race, I thoroughly enjoyed this pack's offering. With the addition of the Imperial Guard and some impressively canon, yet highly enjoyable units (the Space Marine Chaplain is both a powerhouse and tasty to those that know anything about the universe), Winter Assault was also recieved well by critics - though at the time, a linear campaign was seeming a little stale, despite the story and variety coming on in leaps and bounds. The choice to play as more than one race during such was also a marvellous addition. Again, a resounding success, and while not adding anything particularly new to the gameplay (the cover system felt like it could be so much more - unlike its sister game, Company of Heroes, which made full use of a cover system) it didn't bugger anything that up from the base game. And nearer the end of the campaigns, we catch a tantalising glimpse of things to come - the Necrons.
Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War: Dark Crusade is next in line, and the frst thing to be given an overhaul was the method of delivery. In some sort of attempt to make the game more accessible for new players, one can play this game without the base or the expansion - but will miss out on playing the races included in the first two online and in skirmishes. While this may have worked wonders for their cash deposits, it irked those of us who purchased the first two, having to pay almost as much for a full game. But, naturally, with such stellar performances so far, what could go wrong?
Uh-oh. He just said the words. Yes, folks those words of horror. Things could go wrong, and they did.
The new factions, the Necrons and the Tau, were well-implimented, but someone seems to have forgotten to test them against the other races. The Necrons are able to throw in an immense monolith unit with a giant laser (easily replaced in seconds), and the Tau have a virtually limitless supply of cannons-on-legs. Against each other, they're a fair fight, but otherwise, living hell. Having established a lack of balance, one can assume that this has a detrimental affect on the campaign - well, you'd be right, and not just that. Having decided to "get with the times", a campaign map (like every other RTS) is included, meaning it is played like a game of risk. However, Dawn of War isn't known for its speedy loading times, and having to build a base again, and again, and again, and having to fight the same battles repeatedly to keep territories quickly gets painfully exhausting. The multiplayer, however, remains essentially the same, with many players going as far as Kicking players of Tau and Necrons from their games. Irritating and a shame, in all. Surely, it can't get much worse than that?
GAH! HE DID IT AGAIN!
Not content with eviscerating the entire concept of a story driven campaign with the addition of choices, in Dawn of War: Soulstorm the focus is no longer on one continent - but several planets in this campaign. The entire system is so full of utter pap, (both solar and game systems) I didn't feel the need, nor have the time to actually complete the damned thing. The new races, the Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle, are a little more balanced, but feel incomplete, and with so many races the game is cluttered and hard to predict a strategy for - and the only winning strategy is, and always has been since day one, fully upgraded Space Marines, rendering every other race pointless. Since Soulstorm was developed by Iron Lore, and not Relic, you can tell that THQ simply wanted to appease the hungry fans for race-numbers, while Relic worked (rather, works) on DoW II. Truly, it's a shame.
The Dawn of War series started off well, but with the aging of the game's engine becoming more apparent with the release of Company of Heroes and other RTSs, seemingly incomplete expansion and absolutely no patch support for Soulstorm, THQ somehow managed to clutch failure from the jaws of success. Disappointing. Uninstall the last two and be happier.
Fast-forward ten years or so, to Dawn of War. I had a brief experience with playing the tabletop version, and a lot more experience with the model-making and painting side of it. When I saw the humble little box on a shelf in 2004, I knew I had to have it. Paying the cash, dragging it home and giving it a spin, I expected what I got out of previous Games Workshop tie-ins - distinctly average. I was surprised, however, to find an engaging RTS, impressive camera controls and decent use of the licence. Having spoken to a few friends about the game and showing them it, they were at first a bit turned off by the back-story, but it was accessible, and didn't assume too much of the player's knowledge. They too, were hooked. The gameplay was superb, using the then-new concepts of infantry morale and fear, vehicle armour and using cover. It had gorgeous graphics and ran well on almost every computer, gained multiple awards and lots of favourable ratings. A sound, thrashing success, with only the campaign seeming a bit thin on the ground, and unchallenging.
Almost exactly a year later, the first expansion pack, Winter Assault was released. As with The Sims "franchise" (though conglomerate or Democratic Republic of- are seeming more valid each day), expansions are typically where a game stumbles and faceplants into the publisher's-bank-balance-red. Once more, I was pleasantly surprised! Instead of just re-skinning a few units and throwing in a new, badly made race, I thoroughly enjoyed this pack's offering. With the addition of the Imperial Guard and some impressively canon, yet highly enjoyable units (the Space Marine Chaplain is both a powerhouse and tasty to those that know anything about the universe), Winter Assault was also recieved well by critics - though at the time, a linear campaign was seeming a little stale, despite the story and variety coming on in leaps and bounds. The choice to play as more than one race during such was also a marvellous addition. Again, a resounding success, and while not adding anything particularly new to the gameplay (the cover system felt like it could be so much more - unlike its sister game, Company of Heroes, which made full use of a cover system) it didn't bugger anything that up from the base game. And nearer the end of the campaigns, we catch a tantalising glimpse of things to come - the Necrons.
Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War: Dark Crusade is next in line, and the frst thing to be given an overhaul was the method of delivery. In some sort of attempt to make the game more accessible for new players, one can play this game without the base or the expansion - but will miss out on playing the races included in the first two online and in skirmishes. While this may have worked wonders for their cash deposits, it irked those of us who purchased the first two, having to pay almost as much for a full game. But, naturally, with such stellar performances so far, what could go wrong?
Uh-oh. He just said the words. Yes, folks those words of horror. Things could go wrong, and they did.
The new factions, the Necrons and the Tau, were well-implimented, but someone seems to have forgotten to test them against the other races. The Necrons are able to throw in an immense monolith unit with a giant laser (easily replaced in seconds), and the Tau have a virtually limitless supply of cannons-on-legs. Against each other, they're a fair fight, but otherwise, living hell. Having established a lack of balance, one can assume that this has a detrimental affect on the campaign - well, you'd be right, and not just that. Having decided to "get with the times", a campaign map (like every other RTS) is included, meaning it is played like a game of risk. However, Dawn of War isn't known for its speedy loading times, and having to build a base again, and again, and again, and having to fight the same battles repeatedly to keep territories quickly gets painfully exhausting. The multiplayer, however, remains essentially the same, with many players going as far as Kicking players of Tau and Necrons from their games. Irritating and a shame, in all. Surely, it can't get much worse than that?
GAH! HE DID IT AGAIN!
Not content with eviscerating the entire concept of a story driven campaign with the addition of choices, in Dawn of War: Soulstorm the focus is no longer on one continent - but several planets in this campaign. The entire system is so full of utter pap, (both solar and game systems) I didn't feel the need, nor have the time to actually complete the damned thing. The new races, the Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle, are a little more balanced, but feel incomplete, and with so many races the game is cluttered and hard to predict a strategy for - and the only winning strategy is, and always has been since day one, fully upgraded Space Marines, rendering every other race pointless. Since Soulstorm was developed by Iron Lore, and not Relic, you can tell that THQ simply wanted to appease the hungry fans for race-numbers, while Relic worked (rather, works) on DoW II. Truly, it's a shame.
The Dawn of War series started off well, but with the aging of the game's engine becoming more apparent with the release of Company of Heroes and other RTSs, seemingly incomplete expansion and absolutely no patch support for Soulstorm, THQ somehow managed to clutch failure from the jaws of success. Disappointing. Uninstall the last two and be happier.
