Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Warhammer 40,000 . A universe of eternal war, filled with state-of-the-art technology, spaceships and deadly weapons on the one hand, and dark magic, ancient artifacts and filthy demons on the other. A universe that has witnessed countless smaller skirmishes, battles and huge wars, consuming millions of lives. A universe into which you and you enter - as the commander of an elite squad of Space Marines who call themselves Blood Ravens. You've been through so much, you've seen more, you know the smell of battle as well as your own voice. Now you land with your squad on the planet Tartarus, which must be saved from the barbarian orcs invasion. We can already see the greenskins crawl out from behind the mountains and attack Imperial Guard units. You have to help the allies ... So fight! For the Emperor!

Warhammer 40,000 was originally (and still is) a battle game. If you don't know what it is, let me write it briefly. It is a game combining collecting (you have to buy figures), putting together models (sometimes figures need to be glued together from different parts, and most of all, paint) and strategy (figures create armies that we then send into battle). The fight takes place in turns - and that's basically it when it comes to a really big shortcut. I refer all interested parties to the descriptions of the world and races that have recently been posted on the website, as well as to the official websites.

The rich world of Warhammer 40,000, where more than a dozen races have their own history, and all kinds of units (from ordinary infantry to huge vehicles), a world that has made its stories and novels, could not go unnoticed by computer game producers. Games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe were created before, now another one, called Dawn of War, has been created. You have probably already seen the evaluation - now I will try to justify it.

The first advantage is breeds. There are four in the game: Space Marines, Orcs, Eldar, and Chaos Space Marines. It is a pity that there are no Tyranids (the StarCraft Zergs were modeled on them), Tau (a young race of expansive aliens), and above all - the Dark Eldar. However, hopefully one of these races will appear in add-ons - if there are any. However, in the following paragraphs I will introduce each of the races that appear in Dawn of War.

Space Marines are representatives of the people. Trained in combat, they wreak havoc in the ranks of aliens and protect the Empire from enemy invasion. In addition to normal troops, which can be equipped with flamethrowers, assault rifles, plasma cannons or rocket launchers, we also have assault marines - infantry with jetpacks that can quickly move from one point of the map to another. However, these units are better in hand-to-hand combat than at ranged. We can add a commander to each (normal and assault) marines - such an individual raises the morale of the unit, and if our infantrymen flee the battlefield ("Squad broken!"), We can use a special skill to restore their morale. You can add a number of improvements to infantry, accuracy, durability, weapons, etc. Apart from Marines, we can also produce Servitors (they build all Space Marines buildings) and Scouts - light units that can be equipped with sniper rifles and the ability to use the invisibility field.

In the later stages of the game, we can drop (literally) a squad of Terminators (heavy infantry with miniguns) in the middle of the battlefield. Vehicles play an important role - Dreadnoughts walking machines, Rhino transports, Predator tanks, Whirlwind artillery, fast Land Speeders or powerful, extremely durable, tank-transporters loaded with deadly lasers (Land Raiders). Interestingly, there are no structures in Warhammer 40,000 (battlefield). I must admit that the gentlemen of Relic (authors of the Homeworld series) made sure that the buildings fit the world. Each race puts the structures differently - with Space Marines it looks like this: the building in "folded" form falls to the ground or is detached from the great flying transport. Then the servitors "set" the building and adjust it to work. There are several structures: apart from the main fortress, there are barracks for infantry production, a landing strip for heavier equipment, plasma generators, cannons, minefields, etc. Apart from regular units, we also have heroes who are very strong and tough, and some of them use spells .

Chaos Space Marines are the dark counterpart of the already described Chaos Space Marines. They have many counterparts - both among structures and infantry and also vehicles. However, one would be wrong to think that it is just the same race in different colors. Marines and Raptor have the ability to disguise themselves. Only commanders and vehicles can spot an invisible unit. Instead of a group of Terminators, we throw Conquerors on the battlefield, we can also build a Sacrificial Circle and the Demon Abyss. Thanks to this, we will gain access to the Possessed Marines (perfect in hand-to-hand combat) with tentacles instead of hands, and small demons, which we can also drop anywhere. Added to this is a mighty and great demon that wreaks havoc among enemies. In general, Chaos specializes in sneaky attacks. The structures in which large faces are blended in, from time to time trying to "break out" from the walls of the building make an amazing impression. These, however, while resembling the structures of Space Marines, are built thanks to the prayers of the Heretics to the dark gods of Chaos. The structure just emerges from the ground (in whole or in part), then spins around until it finally crashes back into place. We also have heroes at our disposal: a strong Chaos Lord and a Chaos Sorcerer who can cast spells. There are only three vehicles: Predator and Rhino (the equivalent of Space Marines) and Defiler - a scorpion-like unit that functions as artillery in the Chaos ranks.

Orcs are brute force, the right of the fist, masses of green bodies flooding terrified enemies. And there is something to be afraid of. War acts on the orcs as blood on mosquitoes - the more there are, the more greenskins will rush towards it. Regular infantry units can be equipped with weapons similar to those of Space Marines, but the orc groups are much more numerous. From units specializing in hand-to-hand combat, through those that are the best at a distance, to infantry combining both methods of combat. Orc heroes, equipped with heavy weapons and mechanical claws tearing enemies apart, are fearful. If you command an infantry, beware of the Slaughterhouses, which have special saws to dismember your troops! In addition to the Slaughterhouse, the orcs also have a Bojowóz (transporter), a Pancerfura tracked vehicle, a Szaber Tank (artillery) and a huge monster, a cross between an elephant and a bull, sown with laser cannons called Rożgniatacz. The plow structures are built similarly to the Marines, but while in the case of the former, the building is thrown down and only needs to be dismantled, the orcs have a pile of scrap metal and wood, which the poor Szczunoki (builders) transform into a building. Another interesting thing is "Waaagh!". It is like the overall morale of all orcs, magnified by building more Waaagh Banners! and unit production.

I left the ancient Eldars for dessert. It is a race that relies primarily on speed - almost any Eldar unit can activate the fast movement mode at the expense of accuracy. Additionally, some units can also teleport! And there would be nothing interesting about it, because the ability to teleport is common to other races, but a builder can teleport here. Then (in any place) he can build a Warp Gate, and then you can move all units from one gate (e.g. built in the base) to the newly created one. What's more - structures can also be transferred in this way! One gate next to the enemy base is enough to move all the turrets and all infantry. The second main advantage of the Eldar is the multitude of infantry with long-range weapons that are extremely effective in breaking the enemy's morale: Defenders, Guardians, Black Reapers, Warp Spiders - the latter can teleport at short distances. It's best to use Howling Banshees for melee combat. Even heavier vehicles are extremely fast and manoeuvrable. Vypers, Falcon transports, heavy Fire Prisms and walking machines - Lord of the Wraiths. In addition, there are the heroes: the Arch-Prophet - with many effective spells, the Council of Prophets - an elite unit with double energy blades, and finally - Avatar, a powerful fire demon. The Eldar use the Phantom Singers to transform rocks into structures with their songs.

Is that all? No, this is just the beginning. But I will not go into detail about all the abilities of each race and its possible applications, I just wanted to visualize how diverse the races are and how much can be done with them. You can also paint armies, units consist of five different fields, each of them can be assigned a different color. Thanks to this, we will quickly and efficiently create our own branch in your favorite tones. We can also choose our own emblem and banner!

The second huge advantage is the setting. The graphics are at a very high level, especially the unit models and their animation. We see the difference between the impatient orcs that look sideways for an enemy, and the serious Eldar standing still and silent. You can also see how the units are produced, e.g. such a tank by Space Marines. A huge spaceship arrives at the landing field, and after a while a tank comes out of it. The terrain is varied, which can be seen especially on multiplayer maps. Cities, swamps, forests, deserts, ancient ruins ... And it looks amazing when you attack the enemy base with a huge infantry squad, tanks and some robots - fire, arrows and explosions! The sounds have nothing to complain about, they are great, and the voices are in a class of their own. You can hear perfectly whether we are playing as mad Chaos, brave Marines or barbaric Orcs. The music - well, a little objection here, there could be more of it, and it's a bit too calm. This is the only (minor) defect of the luminaire.

Although Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War is RTS, there are some variations and changes here that do not deviate from the genre, and even develop it. First of all, we can only command infantry (apart from heroes and other special units) in divisions. During the battle, nothing prevents you from replenishing such a unit. Only larger units, apart from special ones, are commanded separately (e.g. tanks, mechs, etc.). However, the heroes can be added and detached from the units, the unit with the hero is much more effective, because the commander increases the morale of the entire team. That's right - morale. This is an extremely important feature. Even a strong unit that is, for example, attacked by snipers suddenly, loses morale frighteningly quickly and flees the battlefield. Needless to say, then it is much easier to finish him off. The same happens when the foot soldiers see the giant robot take turns butchered their comrades. And the raw materials? And again a curiosity. There are two - requisition and energy. We get energy by building more generators, it's best to find a slag sediment and build a larger generator on it. As for the "first" raw material, we must obtain the so-called strategic points and on them to build listening posts. Thanks to them, our commanders see that we are doing well on the battlefield and enable us to purchase additional troops and equipment. Conquering takes a while and can only be done by certain infantry units. It must be admitted that all this does not differ enough from the RTS scheme to discourage playing, and even more - it increases the gameplay so that you literally cannot tear yourself away from the game!

As for the gameplay itself, you can do it alone or with friends. Let's focus on the first mode first. The campaign is very well done, it is incredibly addictive. The plot is so interesting that we follow the course of events with bated breath. It gets worse from mission to mission, the number of orcs is more and more, and it turns out that even Chaos has its dirty fingers in it all. Missions usually involve total slaughter of the enemy, but there are others - for example, a group of invisible snipers to finish off the orc leader from afar. Unfortunately, instead of another advantage, there will be a disadvantage. There are monstrously few missions! Ie. maybe not even the missions, because there are eleven of them for Space Marines, which is quite a decent number. However, if you were expecting there will be 11 missions for Orcs, Eldars etc after that, then better forget it. There is only one campaign - I was terribly disappointed. The more that after completing the mission for Space Marines, the game hooked me so much that I wanted more ... And here nothing. Nothing but the credits.

However, this is not the end, it is multiplayer after all. And here is the fourth, huge advantage. The game is amazing, it is reminiscent of the good old days of StarCraft ... Suffice it to say that Dawn of War is as playable online as StarCraft , and it should be clear that fans of online RTS should already be collecting money. You can play over LAN or set up a server, give your buddies' IP and wait for them to join the game. I just hope the races will be more even, but for that there are patches that should be out soon. Unfortunately, taking StarCraft as an example again, Dawn of War has a terrible lack of an editor. I hope it will be released - on the web or in addition.

The Polish version of the game is prepared solidly, great appreciation for leaving the original voices and translating the orcs' dialogues and the names of their units! Added to this is an extraordinary attention to detail. Take Land Raider, a Space Marine unit, for example. It would seem that "land" here simply means "land", so why the name of the unit in the Polish version is Korsarz Landa? Well, Land does not really mean land here, but the name of the constructor - technomag Arkhan Land. Congratulations to CDP for knowing the subject!

In conclusion - buy! This game will provide you with hours of incredible entertainment, even if the world of Warhammer 40,000 is not moving you or you have not even heard of it. If you have constant access to the Internet and you like RTS, it will be a sin not to buy the Relic work. However, I am still waiting for RTS in a similar convention, but based on my beloved Warhammer Fantasy Battle ...

Piotr "Ziuziek" Deja

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