adventure

I was fortunately very lucky to participate in the beta for this game. At first, I was very skeptical about it. The previous WarHammer PC games were terrible. Just plainly terrible. But I must say that after playing this game, I am in awe. We have finally made a WarHammer 40k PC game that is worth its price tag! The graphics are amazing on both my machines (both 3.0 P4, 1 gig RAM, one with a nVidia geForce 4 Ti4200 and one with an ATi Radeon 9800, both running 1280x960 pumping about 40-50 fps), and the gameplay is spectacular.

The one thing that really got me, however, were the models: they're amazing. In fact, they're beyond amazing. They look so much like the table-top pieces it is not even funny. The game does have just about every aspect of the 40k game world in it, so everybody from the novice to the hardcore players will be satisfied.

All in all, this game is definately worth buying...I know I've already reserved my copy!

I was lucky enough to be picked to be one of the beta testers for this incredible game and I can tell you that this is a "Must Have" title for me. The first and most noticible thing for me is that the combat animations for the units are not what most people are used to in RTS game with one a few frames of unit animation making the units fight the same way. When your units are in combat they fight with different moves instead of attacking the same way. The Marines will shoot with their bolters while at range but when an enemy gets too close they'll whip out their combat knives and leap into the fray. The Eldar Banshees slash with their swords, do backflips, and all sorts of other maneuvers. Another plus is that when you create a unit you get a unit of multiple troops (normally 3 or 4 except for special units). This is great for those who hate getting rewarded with only one troop per purchase like in other RTS games. I will warn everyone that it is a VERY bloody game... the Eldar Avatar will impale enemies on his sword before slinging them away and the Bloodthirster will crush his enemies to pieces in his hand. There are only two resources in this game... requisition and energy. You get energy from building reactors but you get requisition by taking and holding strategic points. If you put a listening post on the strategic point you get more requisition. By upgrading your listening posts you get even more. The individual squads are customizable too. You can create a hero (sergant for the Marines) for each squad and you can also buy heavy weapons for each squad to better let them deal with buildings, infantry, or vehicles. A nice bonus feature is that you can create a custom paint scheme for your units for when you play online so that your units have a very specific look. With the palate of colors available you can make sure that your troops look like nobody elses.
So far I've only played the beta but I'd buy it as is. I absolutely can not wait for the official release.

Even if you're unfamiliar with Games Workshop, miniatures games in general or the Warhammer 40,000 universe (sometimes simply and affectionately called "40K") this game should knock your socks off. The graphics are stupendous and the action during the battles is absolutely visceral and spectacular. PC Gamer magazine has given this game three highly favorable preview reviews so far this year and the 17-minute video shown at E3 and at Games Workshop's Games Day has amazed all who gazed upon it. When I watched the video at Games Day in May 2004 people actually responded audibly to the scene of the Bloodthirster (huge winged demon) taking possession of a Chaos Space Marine and then cheered at the spectacular scene of the Space Marine Captain leaping upon the Bloodthirster's shoulders and taking him down with his huge power hammer.

The game designers are so good that each of the "races" in Dawn of War have their own "feel" based on the Games Workshop mythology of the tabletop game, and not just in combat either. Even the gait of the soldiers is different from race to race: the Orks lope brutishly, the Eldar run in a graceful disciplined way and the Space Marines and Chaos Marines fall somewhere in between, marching in a forceful and orderly manner. It's the same in combat where the Orks thump and pound, the Eldar perform amazingly graceful and lethal martial arts moves and the Marines are powerful and straightforward. Even the fighting machines of each race follow this careful design and are amazing to see; Eldar Wraithlords, Space Marine Dreadnoughts, Land Raiders, Rhinos, Chaos Defilers, they are all here and behave in a manner consistent with the other troops in their army. Even if you're unfamiliar with 40K, you're in for a treat. Dawn of War promises to be one of the best RTS computer games ever regardless of whether or not you are into the Games Workshop tabletop miniatures hobby. Dawn of War stands on its own as an amazing and exciting science fiction/fantasy battle game like no other before it. If you are familiar with 40K, be prepared to see the 40K universe spring to life before your eyes like never before.

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