Relic Entertainment has a big reputation to live up to. After making the award-winning 3D strategy game Homeworld in 1999, followed later by the highly imaginative Impossible Creatures, they came out with Homeworld 2 not too long ago. Relic continues their fiery streak with their latest title: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Using the Game Workshop's Wahammer 40k license, Dawn of War uses units that are scanned in from models used in the tabletop game. While they can use the units to tell their story, the game doesn't have to follow Warhammer rules.

With the distinct Warhammer style on its side, Dawn of War has stunning graphics. The graphics are almost cinematic in quality, and there is even an option to hide the toolbars and gain a full view of the battlefield. From the first moment you order a building and see it crash down into the ground from orbit, you realize you're in for something special. For Orks, a plane drops a huge ball of junk into the ground and the little workers turn it into a usable building.

The four factions are clearly dissimilar in look and gameplay. There are Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks and the Eldar. One doesn't have to be a Warhammer fan to understand what's going on or appreciate the game. However, recognizing all the different units from the tabletop game might impress those people who are diehard fans. The game even comes with a unit painter so that players can customize the look of their units and further capture the feel of the tabletop game.

The Space Marines are standard imperialists who utterly revere their emperor and work to keep the peace against chaos and aliens. They are a blend of technology and a strict religious and military hierarchy. The Chaos Marines are a twisted, evil version of the Space Marines and specialize in using arcane rituals. The Orks revel in destroying everything they see by overwhelming their enemies with superior numbers. The mysterious Eldar are an alien race who use their technology to focus more on stealth and long-range tactics. Each is a very formidable force, and all will need a little practice before they can be utilized well.

Units appear in squads, and the game centers around upgrading these squads through adding more troops to increase their number, enhancing their attributes, and enabling assigning heavy weapons to them. Players will have to make a decision about what kind of heavy weapons they want to assign, because each squad can only carry a limited number, and each has different strengths and ranges. Squads can be further enhanced by assigning a hero to lead them, giving them a significant morale boost. Morale plays a crucial role in gameplay. Snipers can be used to strategically take out a few members of a squad, drastically turning the tide of battle. Additionally, cover can be used to reduce incoming damage. Dawn of War makes having a few well-used squads just as formidable as a huge army.

Having a large army is necessary to defeat things like the Ork superweapon: The Squiggoth, which is a gigantic beast with mounted turrets that can each track independent targets. However, it is practically impossible to go overboard with numbers since a unit cap keeps everything in check. The only exception to this rule is with the Orks, who must rely on using huge armies to crush their enemies. The Ork unit cap is the highest of all the factions, making for immense squads, but they are kept in check by requiring support to be built to maintain the army.

As far as action, there is plenty to go around. Warhammer 40k is a bloody, violent universe, and Dawn of War really captures all of it. The game is all about aggression and doing as much fighting as possible. The superweapons are absolutely devastating, and require a hero to initiate. The morale system and easily overwhelmed defensive structures make playing defensive games very difficult. Advanced technologies like deep striking allow units to be dropped behind enemy lines from orbit. There were times when we had all our forces engaged on a distant base when an army was dropped by an old base held by defensive structures. The base was destroyed, and we recovered, but a hard lesson was learned: In a universe where there's nothing but war, nothing is safe.

Unfortunately, for all its merits, Dawn of War does have some minor nuisances. The most prevalent are found in unit AI. Sometimes they won't step aside to let other squads through, causing jams in narrow areas. Occasionally, parts of a squad will get stuck, trying to walk through a cliff side or a wall, and you'll be left wondering where the rest your army is. Every once in a while, some Space Marine Squads can become a bit too overzealous. After losing over half their numbers, leaving only two units left in the squad, we ordered them to retreat and recover. They did, only to jump right back into the fray, despite the fact that they should have been demoralized enough to want to retreat. Maybe it's just that hard to overcome a Space Marine's loyalty to the Emperor.

The campaign has a fantastic storyline, but it focuses only on the Space Marines. You command the Blood Ravens who come to the planet Tartarus to repel an Ork invasion. Before you know it, the other factions become involved and the battles and stakes quickly escalate. The character voices are great, and the story is well-written, but it is pretty short and linear. The drawback is that the only way to get any play time with the other factions is through skirmish and multiplayer mode. This can be rather significant considering how diverse the four factions are in both feel and strategy. However, that's okay, since the majority of time will be spent in skirmish and multiplayer modes. The instant player match-up ability built into the game gets you into the action fast, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to perfect using every faction.

Dawn of War is a fantastic game and well worth picking up. People who love action and real-time strategy owe it to themselves to check it out.

Our Final ScoreExcellent

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