Dawn of War
From Lexicanum
Dawn of War is a series of RTS (Real Time Strategy) games in the Warhammer 40000 universe. As of 2008 there are four games: the original Dawn of War which was followed by Winter Assault, and afterwards by Dark Crusade and Soulstorm. Dawn of War II was released on February 19, 2009 in North America.
Contents |
Gameplay
Dawn of War is not a computer adaptation of the table-top game. Instead, it adheres to the design conventions of the Real-Time Strategy genre of computer games, as interpreted by its developers, Relic Entertainment (of Homeworld and Impossible Creatures fame). "DoW" is an unconventional RTS in that it eschews resource management in favour of increased focus on the battles themselves. Instead of harvesting gold or lumber, as in earlier, more traditional RTS games, funds (for units, buildings, upgrades and research) are acquired through the capture of Strategic Points, Critical Locations, and Relics, and through the construction of Power Plants. Each of these various things produces resources constantly at a set amount, decreasing the workload of the player by eliminating the need for "harvesting units." A game can be won several ways (depending on Victory Conditions that are set pre-game), but in most matches of "DoW," the game is won by either destroying the enemy's Headquarters building, capturing 75% or more of the Strategic Points and holding them for a period of time, or capturing 75% of the Critical Locations and holding them for a period of time. By making the resource generators a victory objective, the gameplay of "DoW" becomes more streamlined and fast-paced than an ordinary RTS. Management of units in "DoW" requires more micro-management than in most RTS games, as players must constantly monitor squads in order to maintain optimal troop counts, assign leaders, issue upgraded weaponry, and use special abilities (such as the Jet Packs on Assault Space Marines).
Dawn of War
The single player campaign follows a battle on a planet known as Tartarus where a force of Space Marines of the Blood Ravens Chapter has landed in an attempt to assist the Imperial Guard in holding back an Ork invasion. Captain Gabriel Angelos leads the operation, marshalling his Brothers and the Guard to fight back the Orks and give the local populace enough time to be evacuated. Complications develop when a number of Chaos items are located, leading Angelos to believe that the invasion of Tartarus may consist of more than meets the eye. As the Ork assault worsens, the operation is complicated further by the arrival of the mysterious Inquisitor Toth, who brings news that a warp storm is coming and that the remaining Space Marines must flee before it engulfs Tartarus. Determined to find and eradicate the presence of Chaos, Angelos ignores the order and presses on with Inquisitor Toth in tow. He is soon surprised by another presence on Tartarus, however: The enigmatic and deadly Eldar. After fighting them off, Angelos uncovers the full extent of the invasion of Chaos on the planet--they have been using the Orks to distract the Marines, buying themselves enough time to uncover a long-buried artefact of mighty Daemonic power. The conflict becomes a race against time for Angelos and his Space Marines to stop the forces of Chaos from using the artefact before the warp storm traps all of the warring parties on the planet together.
Winter Assault
In September of 2005, "DOW"'s first expansion, Winter Assault was released. This expansion introduced the Imperial Guard as a full faction (it had had a cameo appearance in the original game, but was not a fully playable race), and made adjustments to the existing factions, such as balance changes and the addition of new units (one for each faction).
Its campaign follows an Imperial General and his regiment as they trek across a wintry battlefield of a planet, in search of a lost Titan war machine that has fallen into the hands of Chaos. It features six missions for a combination of Imperial Guard and Eldar, and six missions for a combination of Orks and Chaos. The Space Marines are not playable, though they make an appearance.
Dark Crusade
In January 2006 a second expansion, Dark Crusade, was launched.
In October-November 2006, the expansion was released worldwide. Acting as both a stand alone game with only the two new races available for multiplay, or as an expansion to the previous games activating all seven races in multiplay. It replaced the standard storytelling scenarios of the first two expansions in favour of a strategic map, an honour guard, and hero upgrades. Numerous unit limit changes were made in the expansion to promote more diverse armies, more numerical similarity to the table top game and prevent the monotonous tank rush and elite unit spamming.
This expansion added two more factions:
The existing factions are given additional units:
- Eldar - Harlequins
- Space Marines - Grey Knights
- Ork - Flash Gitz
- Chaos - Daemon Prince
- Imperial Guard - Heavy Weapons Teams
Soulstorm
The third expansion was launched in 2008. Whereas the campaign of Dark Crusade was conquering a single planet, Soulstorm's campaign is the conquest of several planets and moons, basically a single star system, Kaurava. While there were four planets and several moons to capture, the total number of sectors to actually take was not much greater than that of Dark Crusade, where a sector took up about the size of a country, in Soulstorm they're about the same size as continents.
Two more factions were introduced:
- the Sisters of Battle
- the Dark Eldar
There was also the addition of air units. These units did not actually fly, but hovered a certain distance off the ground, granting them the ability to pass over impassable terrain and immunity from melee attacks. Air units serve a variety of purposes - some are designed for anti-infantry roles, while others are configured to take out vehicles or enemy aircraft.
Reception
Dawn of War was a critical and commercial success, and still boasts a large multiplayer and modding community. Its first expansion, Winter Assault, was also largely considered a success, though some players felt that it did not address unit balancing issues and introduced even more balancing problems.
Most criticisms of "DOW" involved its campaign: Many believed its missions to be repetitive in nature, and some felt that it was quite short at only eleven missions. This did not prove to be a major blow against the game's reputation, however, as its multiplayer mode (both against humans and a robust skirmish AI) was its focus and its biggest strength.
For most who still play it, game's true depth is realised in its online multiplayer. Players select their race to play from the four available, and fight skirmish battles from 1v1 through to 4v4 across a selection of maps. The game was heralded as the greatest Sci-Fi RTS to date and has been selected for inclusion in the 2005 World Cyber Games championship.
Tyranids
The Tyranids were to be included in the game, but the creators thought that the biologic nature of this race doesn't match with the futuristic nature of the other species in the game. Another important factor in this decision was the game's graphics engine and the resource gathering method.
