The Emperor Protects This Classic Game
Warhammer 40,000 is going through some what of a renaissance currently. Henry Cavill showing public love for the plastic crack. Digital content being of such an absurdly high level of quality. The episode of “Secret Level” had me on the edge of my seat despite deep down knowing ‘Titus’ would make it out alive. Speaking of ‘Titus’, ‘Space Marine 2’ which fellow reviewer Ryan tackled for our humble website; which was one of my action gaming highlights of last year. Needless to say Warhammer 40,000 seems more relevant and accessible in the common zeitgeist. The timing of developers ‘Relic Entertainment’ remastering ‘Dawn Of War’ is nigh on perfect. So let’s set the clocks back 20 years and hunt some filthy xenos.
‘Dawn Of War’ is a real time strategy game. That comes from a time where developers loved getting a license for property and making a war game. Think ‘Command & Conquer’ but a known and loved paint job slapped over it. To be fair a Warhammer 40,000 paint job over a base building and army moving game is very much a match made in heaven. I even remember at the time as a teenager being incredibly excited to see a game of 40k come alive in real time on my computer, no need for rulers, dice or models just a mouse furiously clicking.
The remaster changes very little if anything from what I noticed in terms of gameplay. I found myself building my bases up with building units. Defending my base while I built an army fit for the god king emperor himself. Then descending on my enemies in gore filled battles to the death. Despite using very noob styled tactics, I’ve always been a fan of battle of attrition during a large scaled rush. I’m fully aware strategy veterans will look down on my dumb tactics but I had great time implementing them each round I played. Every engagement I found myself in had me praying I had prepared my army for the brute force assault I ordered of them. Regardless of what your tactical choice is, the core gameplay loop is virtually identical and holds up brilliantly.
Packaged as a definitive version is a master stroke in my opinion. When ever I fancied playing the originals previously the idea of installing the game and all the expansions separately always bothered me. I wanted to play one game and now I have four box arts to choose from in my steam library. Now I have one install, one game to select and all the content at my finger tips. Some may see this as a non-problem but I truly appreciate just having one application to open.
As alluded to in my previous comment, ‘Dawn Of War’ now comes loaded with its three expansions. ‘Winter Assault’, ‘Dark Crusade’ and ‘Soulstorm’ which all offer a different narrative involving differing factions. During this review I found myself gravitating back to ‘Dark Crusade’ almost every time I booted up. Maybe its bias as the Necrons, godly infused space robot skeletons are my faction of choice both in game and on the table top. Maybe its the slightly more open campaign featuring a war map giving you choice of where to attack rather than a level system.
Narratively speaking the game is very Warhammer. By that I mean its densely soaked in lore and backstory that would require previous knowledge to fully appreciate. That however is not a criticism as this is exactly what a fan of this series wants, me included. If you don’t fancy doing homework the interactions between the central characters and the various factions are still good fun while being that staple 40k grim, war never ends vibe. I mostly enjoyed the narrative moments I experienced but I can appreciate these may not be everyones cup of tea.
In terms of design this release is mostly about upscaling what we already know and love. ‘Dawn Of War’ has retained its classic models and textures for the most part while just polishing them for upscaled resolutions. The game still looks like its from the mid 2000’s and hasn’t received an insane overhaul like some remake and remasters we are seeing release currently. I actually am a fan of the decision to retain the games art direction and keep it looking how it did but just sharper than ever. Some of the loading screen and menu art however have not been upscaled and do look a bit, well, poor.
‘Dawn Of War’ is now performing better than it ever has. With 64-bit support modern hardware can throw even more resource at the game making it run buttery smooth virtually always. Supporting 4k widescreen while still pumping out the frames per second is a joy for those with high resolution monitors. The 64 bit update has also kept the games popular modding scene in mind. Thousands of creations from this games huge legacy are supported day one if the vanilla ‘Dawn Of War’ is no longer for your taste.
Controls operate as expected for a real time strategy computer game. Tried and tested, keyboard for hot keys, mouse for clicking instructions to units. Options for modernised hot keys or custom options are also available. The only real gripe I had was with the so called improved camera control. I was expecting full control with just my mouse wheel but could only get a zoom function. Upon clicking my wheel I fly the camera half way across the map. I get the original code and map design might not have had a rotating camera in mind. However advertising extra control had me hopeful, sadly I was disappointed.
While ‘Dawn Of War’ retains virtually everything that made the originals great back in the day I found myself yearning for a few modernisations. Steam workshop support or an in game mod browser would be fantastic for ease of access to the games wealth of custom content. Achievements would have been a nice inclusion for the completionists to drive them through some of the campaigns on harder difficulties. These are very minor criticisms but would have improved the overall experience considerably.
