I just finished Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II and I wanted to drop a line on the blog to say that this game kicks ass. Except that you cannot play Tyranids (the all time best and winner race) in the single player campaign, this game is really a good surprise.
Relic really had balls to remove nearly all aspects of resources management creating a game which resonate for me more like a tactics game than a RTS. It reminds me of the old tactic games we got from Bungie (Myth) and Warhammer: Shadow of the Corned Rat from Mindscape / SSI on PC in the 90’s and I was truly surprised (in the good way) to see that Relic took the same approach for this game.
On the bright side we have a very intuitive and nervous micro management system available for unique characters and squads sprinkled with RPG elements (experience, items), one of my favorite meal (“give me that Power Armor you Eldar bitch!”). The RPGs elements introduced in the game are really basic, there is really nothing new but there are small strategic choices to do which add a lot to the whole (for example there is a level cap which prevents you from getting all the unit’s attributes, frustrating but only to make this more interesting).
Through combinations, items and weapons available are bringing interesting choices to the table. Should I choose the rocket launcher or the heavy bolters for Avitus?
The cover feature (being able to shoot behind walls or from a turret) is a nice addition to the Warhammer video game series because as far as I can remember it is the first game in the series which does that and it works quite well (until a certain point in the game, see below). Having different strategies to suppress enemies or to dislodge an enemy from a turret is another good gameplay mechanic (using the sniper, throwing a grenade, planting a bomb or brute force amongst many others).
On the bad side, the flanking feature is a bit awkward, the champion can rush (charge) in the melee without destroying its own squads while a rocket or a grenade will blow everything in range. It isn’t very consistent. While charging is very empowering for the player some buildings sometimes feel like they have been made with cardboards. After a few levels and if you play with the Dreadnought you will quickly notice that truly nothing can stop you. This makes the cover feature completely obsolete for most enemies and with it the game looses a lot of its tactical interest.
Also attacking from the back with a charge doesn’t seem to have an impact on the enemies’ morale. In the board game if you are currently running an upfront assault, charging the opponent from the back with another squad should make them flee very easily (morale related parameters). This simply doesn’t work here (however morale seems to be taken into account as Orks and Eldars are fleeing quite often under various circumstances).
Last stain on the picture? Missions. They are a bit repetitive using only three types of environment and nearly always the same “defeat the boss” / “hold the position” mission scenarios. This type of game is really made for different types of missions. such as “hold the fortress”, “escort this vehicle” or “rescue this squad”. From what I’ve seen the team had all the required tools to make such variations unfortunately such missions are really too rare. Also it is a bit of pity that “Tyranid invasion” factor, another underused element in the game, hasn’t been pushed a little bit more to create a very systemic “tower defense” type of gameplay which would have given the game some additional replay ability in single player campaign.
Overall the mix of all ingredients creates a very nervous game where most missions can be finished in less than 7 minutes. In more traditional RTS we could call this a rush strategy. But here the game promotes this way of mass fighting and rewards it at the end of the mission. I guess this is something the designers wanted players to do. I actually enjoyed the approach which corresponds more to my type of strategy game (I played a lot of Warcraft III in multiplayer where game sessions were not lasting much longer than that).
Last words? This game is good but I want more!
