The Warhammer universe is jumping into every facet of computer gaming. With THQ's Dawn of War, the popular franchise enters the world of real-time strategy. I had the opportunity to look this game over at this year's E3. When I first approached it, I thought what was playing on-screen was CGI, when in fact, they were all in-game graphics. Remembering that the game is being developed by Relic Entertainment, the people responsible for the Homeworld series and Impossible Creatures, I realized that maybe I shouldn't have been so surprised after all. This game looked hot! Even though Dawn of War uses the units from the Warhammer 40k table top game, the fact that it's an RTS gives the developers a great deal of freedom with them. The four races include Orks, Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, and the Eldar, all of whom are designed from hand-painted figurines from the table top game. Each have their strengths and weaknesses, however their style of gameplay may change as the game progresses. At the start of a game, the Orks may be played very defensively, but as they gather in number, it will be easy for them to switch to an offensive role. Super weapons include a psychic storm and calling down an orbital bombardment, which I never got tired of seeing. Each side also sports an aptly named "Big Unit," one of which is a tusk wielding creature who likes to rampage across the ruined city streets. Not only do these units look great, but they are very complex. Tanks feature multiple turrets that perform independent targeting. Even the turrets mounted on the side of the gigantic beast could target independently, and fired from its sides while the monster stomped around.

Detailed attention has been given to play balancing. Light infantry cannot defeat a tank with machine gun fire. The only way to beat an armored vehicle is to use a unit with an anti-tank weapon, or get another vehicle with enough firepower. What is also impressive was the morale system, which can easily turn the tide of conflict. Use snipers to kill key units within a group, and the other units will lose morale, becoming less effective in combat. The unit AI from this early build was amazing. Not only did the combat group automatically reassemble in formation when their comrades fell, but they put away their guns and pulled out knives when the enemy came too close. While many games usually treat units as one-trick ponies, which only specialize in one or two things, these Orks and Marines looked just as deadly in melee combat as they did from a distance. There is not yet an official release date for Dawn of War, but what I saw was enough to shake up the real-time strategy genre.