Preview: Hands-on8th August 2004Relic, famous for its creation of such vaunted titles as Homeworld and Impossible Creatures, is set to raise the bar for real time strategy games again with Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. Based on the popular tabletop strategy game, Warhammer 40k by Games Workshop, Dawn of War will deliver several things few other RTS' can: true innovation, incredible graphical fidelity, and the orgiastic high that accompanies the wild, white-knuckle carnage of combat. The concept of Dawn of War seems simple, with four playable races all vying for control of our galaxy (and hopefully multiplayer balance as well): the space marines, the orcs, the elder (space elves), and chaos (evil humans). Although we were only able to play Dawn of War in its beta stages, the graphics, sound, and gameplay showed an astounding amount of thought, polish, and attention to detail. The quality of Dawn of War's graphics will probably be the first thing any gamer notices. Crisp and clear, this game looks incredibly good, even on the mid-level graphics setting. It is easily head and shoulders above any other in the genre in this respect. Everything from piles of rubble alongside ruined buildings to individual soldiers shows incredible amounts of detail. The artwork and maps ooze with a dark, gothic style, giving the entire game a sci-fi / film noir appeal. Veterans of the Warhammer universe will recognize many of the motifs, since Relic has been working in close collaboration with Games Workshop. Even the character animations are detailed and a distinct pleasure to watch. Once, I spent a few minutes just moving one of my tanks, watching it bounce around as its engine shook the hull. Unfortunately, all too often my valiant Space Marines die in a massed close combat as I stare in awe at soldiers punching, stabbing, and kicking each other in the face. Different units and different races look, shoot, and fight with their own unique style. The eldar fight with graceful martial arts, space marines brandish wicked swords, and the orcs mangle opponents with enormous cleavers. Larger units pick up small infantrymen and crush them, waving their bodies high in the air, spewing blood over everything. Even when not in combat, soldiers reload, pray, and fidget anxiously. Kudos to the animators, for the different combat animations for the different races gives each one more character and believability. No longer does each side merely look different. Now they act differently as well. However, Dawn of War's gameplay will be what drawn in gamers and redefines the real time strategy genre. Dawn of War implements a simple morale system. While not as complex as Close Combat's, it still makes the battle infinitely more interesting. All of your soldiers start out ready for a brawl, but getting sniped, blown up or overrun can make even the most stalwart soldier run. Sergeants and expensive characters can add some resolve to your fighters, but nothing helps morale more than watching the enemy being chewed into dog food. Placing your units in cover will make them feel much safer, and less likely to run. Cover also brings the obvious benefit of protection from enemy fire, although your units will move more slowly in cover as they duck and keep their heads down. Relic has done away with your standard resource harvesting, opting instead to use "strategy points" which are gained though controlling specific points on the battlefield. This shifts the focus of games more to winning the fight on the field, rather than slaying wood chopping peasants or rushing every gold mine. It also makes the multiplayer aspect much more violent, since your economy is now directly tied into your ability to hold and take ground. You will still need to build power plants, but due to this new resourcing method, the main focus of Dawn of War is army building instead of base building. Also of note is the new damage model. Looking to bring down some heavy armor? Bring some heavy weapons, because gone are the days when massed 9mm gunfire can kill tanks. Realistically, small arms fire will do pitiful amounts of damage to heavy armor, but weapons like missiles and huge laser cannons will do the trick. Heavy weapons will now do realistic amounts of damage to infantry. Rockets and tank shells send bodies flying in all directions, disrupting formations and causing general carnage. While it sounds like this damage model will lead to nothing but armor-dominated battlefields, Dawn of War's new squadron customization and prohibitively high armor costs keep the field balanced. Instead of creating one unit at a time, you buy entire squads, which can be reinforced, armed, and led as you choose. Flamethrowers, sniper rifles, plasma rifles, and missile launchers added to your regular squads can make for a balanced, battle-ready force capable of taking on all comers. Some weapons will do relatively little damage, but terribly demoralize the enemy. Sniper rifles are perfect examples of this. Although only one or two of the enemy will fall, isolated squads may bolt for cover when they come under the accurate fire of your sharpshooters. Reminiscent of Starcraft and the Lord of the Rings, the soundtrack is especially dark, baroque and moody, meshing well with the artwork. This combination of dovetailing art and music makes for a brooding, slightly disturbing atmosphere that adds to the already impressive character of the game. Nothing helps to get the blood pumping for an already serious firefight like a gothic chorus in the minor key. Aside from the music, the audio of the beta was left unfortunately lacking. Some races (most notably the eldar) did not seem to have complete audio libraries for their units. Hopefully this will be rectified by Dawn of War's release. Otherwise, an incredible game stands to be ruined because it lacks a few .wav files. Besides a few neglected units, the sound effects are quite good. While they are nothing to send a true audiophile into rapture, they will make your speakers rumble, shake, and rattle with the gunfire and explosions. Nothing incredibly special, but still well done. Dawn of War's multiplayer holds all the usual fare for social gamers, with a few excellent additions. The addition of optional "take and hold" mission objectives allows commanders to starve out other players by holding a majority of strategic points for a certain period of time. However, the best addition to the multiplayer is the new custom army builder. Dawn of War allows you to design an army, complete with trim, eye color, badges, banners, and a name of their own. Ambitious commanders can even import their own designs to adorn their men's uniforms. Personally, I stole an idea from my friend's tabletop Space Marine army and created the Highlanders, smartly outfitted in a dark green uniform with blood red trim and blue shoulder pads. Even if you lose, you will feel good knowing that your men were much more stylish than the Eldar who wore all black. For those of you unfamiliar with the Warhammer 40k universe, the story revolves around the Empire of Mankind, 40,000 years in the future. Humanity fights for their near-dead Emperor with fanatical zeal against orcs, elder, and chaos. Chaos is probably the most difficult concept for people new to Warhammer 40k to understand. In short, the elder somehow opened up an interdimentional tear in between our world and a realm known only as chaos. Out of this tear poured daemons, the warping power of this nether-realm itself, and the gods of chaos. These gods seek to conquer the galaxy, and almost succeeded when half of humanity's forces turned traitor. The massive battle for control of the galaxy still rages, and that is where Dawn of War begins. For the Warhammer 40k fans and purists who know I just horribly butchered what is a great and very, very long story, I apologize. However, know that Relic will not take any such shortcuts, because all materials will be run by Games Workshop for approval. In fact, Games Workshop plans to make everything in this game official GW Warhammer 40k lore. Any avid RTS player should look into Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War. Relic has pulled out all the stops by bringing in fresh ideas and new gameplay concepts. Dawn of War may be the standard by which strategy games are judged in the next few years. |
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