Dawn of War : Winter Assault

Winter Assault (expansion) for Dawn of War is out. I gave the game a whirl again, it's been a long time.

This is the most graphically gorgeous strategy game ever made. Spectacular is the word I would use. I love this screenshot I took : shows the Avatar of Khaine (the Eldar demonic embodiment of war) impaling a poor Imperial Guard soldier on his sword, as the Eldar Fire Dragons and Warp Spiders overrun the Imperial Base.

The game designers wanted this to be above all a game with a huge visceral impact. They took cues from movies such as, Braveheart, Lord of the Rings, movies with large scale combat scenes. It gives this game a look unlike any other : large masses of troops charge at each other firing weapons and then draw melee weapons for close combat. The projectile density in this game is very high, which gives it a far more realistic feel : most RTS games, like Warcraft, have projectiles which fire every 1.5 seconds or so. Most handheld weapons in DoW fire twice per second, and some fast firing Shuriken Weapons achieve fire rates of 10 shots per second. The air is literally alive with bullets and energy beams. And the hand to hand combat -> very cool attack and defense moves, and lots of synch kills -> fancy finishing moves that units perform on an almost dead opponent. Like this sword impalement move by the Avatar of Khaine. OMG and the persistent bodies : when units die, they leave their model behind on the ground for long periods of time, and gives the battlefield a very scarred and apocalyptic feel.

A screenshot really doesn't do this game any justice. So much of the graphical excellence comes from the very natural way the soldiers run and fight : the way a tank visibly rocks when hit by a rocket : seeing the Eldar Farseer casually bat aside some Imperial Guard soldiers and knock them flat out on the ground : watching as the Avatar punches a soldier so hard that he flies across the battlefield and slams into a cliff, his broken body tumbling back down to earth. Yes. This game has RAG DOLL PHYSICS. So overkill.

Voice acting is top notch : you can really get into the mood hearing a Fire Prism operater signing in : "this battle calls for massive firepower". The evil characters sound truly evil : like they would kill you, and then eat your children out of spite. Even the different characters within the same army are personified so well : the Tzeentech sorceror's voice is smooth, deep, seductive, dangerous, confident, and above all, dripping with power. Randomized sounds ensure that units randomly yell inspiring shouts or insults as they fight.

I guess in some sense, the DoW developers had it all laid out for them : they were drawing from the Warhammer 40k universe, which has an exceptionally strong and engaging backdrop and story. They've managed to more or less remain true to the characters and ideals from Warhammer, and produce a great game in the meantime.