Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Dark Crusade
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Dark Crusade Review
Claim in the name of the Emperor… Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War is back battle brothers, in an all new bloody war for the planet Kronus…
Some key points that this game offers:
-
New Races have been introduced.
-
New multiplayer maps.
-
Massive single player campaign.
-
Single player campaign can be played with seven different races.
Gameplay & Controls:
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Dark Crusade is the sequel to Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War and its Expansion pack Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault.
– Real player with 1011.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy RTS Games.
Alright, Dawn of War Dark Crusade, where to begin? This game is by far the best Dawn of War game to date, including Dawn of War 2 and its expansions. If you’re an RTS fan, there is little here not to like. (Also, you don’t need to own the original Dawn of War OR Winter Assault to enjoy this game)
The gameplay is simple and very fun, you start out with a base and a builder unit, you proceed to make buildings filling various roles such as research, unit creation, and defense. You proceed to make a base and units to defend yourself, and you eventually attack the enemy. You have two resources, power and requisition, power is used for vehicles, upgrades and research, requisition is used for everything. Requisition is easy to get, just capture points across the map and fortify them with listening posts. Power requires you to create power generators, but bases have a limited amount.
– Real player with 320.9 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Soulstorm
It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor of Mankind has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods and master of a million worlds by the might of His inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the vast Imperium of Man for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so that He may never truly die.
Yet even in His deathless state, the Emperor continues His eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor’s will. Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat to humanity from aliens, heretics, mutants – and far, far worse.
– Real player with 541.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy RTS Games.
Do you know when you truly love a game?
When almost 12 years after it’s launch, the giddy excitement of running home from work to play it never actually wore off.
Don’t let my playtime fool you, I owned the boxed versions of these games loooong before they were in my Steam account and have invested literally THOUSANDS of hours into this game. I was always kind of interested in 40K, having roomates who played the tabletop when I was younger and reading the odd comic here and there, but THIS was the game that turned me into a 40K fanboy and opened me up to the whole universe.
– Real player with 484.1 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® - Game of the Year Edition
–-{Graphics/Art Style}—
☐ It’s the Matrix
☐ Beautiful
☑ Meh
☐ Paint.exe
☐ It looks like that one Rambo game everyone forgot about
—{Gameplay}—
☐ Fantastic
☑ Good
☐ Meh
☐ Having just the base controls doesn’t count as gameplay
☐ Staring at walls is better
—{Audio}—
☐ Audiophile’s wet dream
☐ Good
☑ SIIIINDRI!
☐ Early 1990’s TV static sounds better
☐ Crickets
—{Music}—
☑ Mick Gordon’s music or equivalent
☐ Good
☐ Meh
☐ It’s not winning any awards
☐ Nickelback level of quality
—{PC Requirements}—
– Real player with 65.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Strategy RTS Games.
“Beware the Alien, the Mutant, the Heretic”
‘Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War’ is, simply put, one of the best Real-Time Strategy games on the market - A blood-soaked odyssey through the Warhammer 40k Universe - filled with Imperial Space Marines, Ork Hordes, Eldar and The Forces of Chaos.
Campaign: Released in 2004 by Relic Entertainment, ‘Dawn of War’s’ brutal opening cinematic sets the stage for what awaits within - a savage battlefield across the Imperial Planet of Tartarus where the local population have been suddenly beset by Ork Hordes. As Commander of the Space Marines (The Emperor’s Personal Guard), you begin a quest to push back the Orks and determine why they are on the planet. A deep and engaging story-fueled campaign takes you from cities to lost ruins, from mountains lairs to the planets icy tundras, leading a tech heavy force of Space Marines, Mech Walkers, Artillery Tanks, Predator Tanks and Terminator Assault Squads, to unearth the cause of this strange heresy plaguing the planet.
– Real player with 54.2 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus
One of those few small indie 40k gems that really gets everything right. Gameplay is unique and fun, the mood and lore is 100% on point and the audio is some of the best that’s ever been. Really hoping for more games in this series, I’d love to see a greater variety of factions to fight and more intrigue in the future.
– Real player with 90.7 hrs in game
Not normally a fan of turn-based games. This, however, is an exception. It is so compelling in it’s atmosphere, sound design, and gameplay. The graphics are serviceable, but the art direction is immaculate; very true to the setting.
The story is not too notable, but the characters, and their interaction are well written. My only gripe is the difficulty for any of the default settings get pretty easy pretty quickly even on max difficulty. But, the difficulty is actually very customizable, from your starting resources, to perma-death, and weapon selection; so make it as difficult as you want.
– Real player with 63.2 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® II Chaos Rising
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising Review
He, who stands with me, shall be my brother! Let us go forth and purge these traitorous scums from the sight of the Imperium my brothers…
Some key points that this game offers:
-
Continuation of the Original Story line form Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War II
-
New Powerful Librarian Unit.
-
New Multiplayer Races.
-
New Units for all Races.
-
New Hero’s for The Last Stand.
Gameplay & Controls:
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising continues the story from where the original left off. Our recruiting worlds still recovering from the brutal invasion by the Tyranids, and now out of nowhere the impossible has happened…
– Real player with 1030.7 hrs in game
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War 2 Chaos Rising is the standalone expansion to Dawn of War 2 and it shows in quite a lot of ways that THQ is not only capable of taking criticism, they can take that criticism and turn it into game fixes and improvements.
Perhaps most notably and most importantly, the single-player campaign. No longer will you be fighting the same battles on the same maps over and over again. Now every single map is a unique entity, properly designed filled with story and gameplay triggers. Although this does mean the campaign is a good deal shorter than in Dawn of War 2 the trade-off is well worth it. Instead of getting only a couple of good missions and a ton of generic ones you now only get good quality missions. This also makes the storyline more condensed as you no longer have 5 generic missions in between every revelation and it keeps your interest up much more efficiently.
– Real player with 323.6 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector
A nicely animated, turn-based tactics game between the Primaris-heavy Blood Angels and whichever Hive Fleet.
On the hardest difficulty setting it is reasonably challenging, particularly during the first half of the campaign…
Until you get to the final mission. I got wiped on my first run, which looked pretty bleak, only to discover that hitting the Defeat splash screen for the last mission got me the Steam achievement for completing the campaign.
So I won? You can win too. Wait for a sale unless you affirmatively want to support old school games with Warhammer 40K skins.
– Real player with 76.0 hrs in game
Best Warhammer 40,000 game released since the release of Dawn of War II. Highly recommended for turn based strategy fans or 40k fans (or both :)).
– Real player with 59.6 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution
DAWN OF WAR II RETRIBUTION
Dawn of War II Retribution is the second expansion and third edition of the Relic Entertainment RTS Dawn of War II (2009), following its predecessor Chaos Rising (2010). It takes the setting of the 41st millenium and lets the player experience it from a tactical combat perspective, controlling resources to build a better, more refined army than your opponent in order to claim victory.
The game consists of three main elements as well as side features. These are as follows:
– Real player with 1883.8 hrs in game
Honestly, this review is based almost entirely on the Last Stand, which is a multiplayer mode within the game.
The single player campaign was fun and allows you to play through with multiple races, but for me lacks the near infinite replay value of the previous DoW titles. The multiplayer I’ve never played, except Last Stand, so I cannot comment on that.
So… almost 700hrs on Steam, plus many more on GFWL before DoW2-Last Stand came to Steam… Is the Last Stand that good? By the Throne, yes!
– Real player with 870.8 hrs in game
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® – Winter Assault
Warhammer® 40,000: Dawn of War® – Winter Assault Review
The War is not over yet soldier…
Some key points that this game offers:
-
Two Single Player Campaigns, Order (Good) & Chaos (Evil).
-
Full expansion pack to the original Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War game.
-
New units, tactics and strategies allows for a fresh experience in Warhammer warfare.
-
New and Improved multiplayer mode.
-
New multiplayer maps.
Gameplay & Controls:
The controls haven’t changed much; the game is still played the same way as the original, all the fun commands, tactics and keyboard shortcuts.
– Real player with 1005.3 hrs in game
I didn’t really get to play this game long enough to use the Imperial Guard in a combat scenario, but all I can say just playing their tutorial, the Imperial Guard is the Military Faction I’ve always wanted to be. What stopped me from keeping this game was that I’ve been told about “Warhammer 40,000:
! Dawn of War Soulstorm so I took a look at it & I found out that there’s
! more races to fight in the other one. That’s really the only reason why I refunded this keep this game.
– Real player with 69.5 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
Currently on sale: Don’t hesitate to buy, it’s worth it.
This game is excellent, looks good even a decade later, and plays very well. The story is good and keeps you interested and invested, the voice acting is very well done, the graphics are great, and sound effects + ambience + music all give it a wonderful mood. Good replay value. I’ve played through it several times since I got it when it was new.
In story mode, you control personalized special units that all stay with you through the entire game. You gain new abilities and find new armor, perks, special items and weapons as you go along, and the options for unit and squad customization are great and varied. You’ll be spending an enjoyable amount of time between missions distributing gear and choosing what skills to level up on your units (and will probably find great appreciation for Cyrus' squad over time).
– Real player with 653.6 hrs in game
Seeing what’s happening with DoW 3 (I’d call it ‘necromancy’) I decided to write a few words about something, that often appeared in the discussions, and that’s the difference between DoW 1 and DoW 2, which - as some people say - ruins the game.
I’ve played DoW 1 a lot (non-steam versions) back when they came out, and I think they are amazing games, especially Soulstorm (all the races!), and I was quite used to their mechanics.
When I played DoW 2 for the first time, I was quite… suprised. Game mechanics took a bit of an overhaul, so I had to get used to it, but when I did it gave me a lot of fun.
– Real player with 110.8 hrs in game
Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach
“Sons of Fenris! Now is the hour of blood! Now is the time to fight! By the end of this day, every warrior among you will have a new verse to add to your sagas! In the name of Russ and the Allfather, kill them all!"
— Ragnar Blackmane, Wolf Lord of “The Blackmanes” Great Company
INTRODUCTION
The Space Wolves, known in their own dialect of Juvjk as the Vlka Fenryka or “Wolves of Fenris,” in the 41st Millenium are derived from the VI Legion, once led by their Primarch, the taciturn Leman Russ…believed to return at The End of Times. The name “Space Wolves” is found to be offensive at times for the Sky Warriors of Fenris, and they will express that displeasure quite openly.
– Real player with 748.9 hrs in game
Most people have said most of the things about Sanctus Reach.
#1 - I recommend it (on sale for DLC) 8/10
#2 - Tactical side of the game is excellent; 9/10
#3 - Very easy to tell what units have acted, and not, what units are which, etc. 8/10
#4 - I enjoyed the graphics 6/10
#5 - Troop upgrades feel rewarding / OP 8/10
Downsides
#1 - tutorial; If you have never played Warhammer (and this isn’t an exact port of the rules) it can be difficult to know, what you’re doing. The tutorial is very bare bones, there is some youtube tutorial support, but it’s more about options, and not strategy i.e. how to synergize, what troops are strong and weak against, tips/tricks/chokepoints etc.
– Real player with 255.5 hrs in game