Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

For years, Relic Studios has been struggling with the calculus of what makes a good RTS. Homeworld has the gameplay, Impossible Creatures has the imagination, and they both have the technology. But neither has that elusive synergy that causes everything to click into place and makes you an addict. Playing a good RTS is like chain-smoking: You��re looking forward to the next game before you��ve even finished the last one.

Other RTSes Can��t Touch This!

So it��s pretty gratifying and maybe even a little scary that Relic has finally worked it all out. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is one of the most compelling RTS titles since the genre began, a shot of pure-grade real-time strategy adrenaline straight into the veins��an absolutely dizzying rush. It��s not particularly innovative, but it is tightly designed, brimming with personality and visual flair, and flexible enough to let you wring a few hundred games out of it before you can say you��ve tried everything.

The basic model is similar to WarCraft III��s ��a focus on fewer units, each with specific roles and special abilities; a minimal economic subgame; and four sides, each with distinct gameplay mechanics. But there are a few twists: Resources are earned��and games are won��by simply holding locations on the map. You do a lot of the building directly from the units themselves, which are controlled as squads rather than ragtag drag-selected mobs. You can complement squads with leaders and heavy weapons, and you replenish them wherever they are, instead of herding in a string of reinforcements that roll out from a barracks. Even more so than WarCraft III, Dawn of War knows you��d rather click on your units instead of a bunch of buildings. It obliges you early and often.

Roll up your sleeves and plunge your arms elbow-deep into the smoke, dirt, and guts, because the battles are interactive and tactical. Morale plays a huge factor, and it��s done in a way that doesn��t shut you out of the game. When a squad gets freaked out by heavy losses, snipers, or flamethrowers, you don��t lose control of them. Instead, red circles pulse under their feet, indicating that their attacks aren��t doing any good. Unless you need meat shields to soak up damage, you��ll want to move them away to let them recover. This is one of the many examples of Dawn of War striking a careful balance between micromanagement and tactics.

Please, Warhammer! Don��t Hurt 'Em!

In addition, nearly every unit can be ordered to hang back and fire guns or charge into melee. A lot of the learning curve involves knowing when to do this and with whom. It��s also up to you to throw grenades, plant antivehicle bombs, put your troops behind cover and out of exposed areas, stop them so they can set up their heavy guns, and fire turbo boosters to rush them across the map. Make no mistake, this isn��t a game like Kohan or Rise of Nations, where the A.I. will play for you. You call the shots, and your troops live or die based on what you do.

There��s a sort of loose infantry/archer/ cavalry balance going on, with guns trumping melee fighters, who trump guys with jetpacks, who trump guns. Things get shaken up quite a bit when you mix in badass leaders, mental powers, orbital drops, and teleportation. Then in the mid- to late game, vehicles come along...and all bets are off. Every game tends to have a spectacular ��Oh, crap!�� moment when the first vehicle rolls out��or stomps out, since many of them are giant robots��and starts chewing up infantry. Suddenly, the rules have changed��and they will again when the end-game ��berpower for each race comes into play.

Funky Headhunters

The icing on the cake is the Warhammer license, which wrenches fantasy clich��s from their medieval roots and violently flings them into grungy sci-fi. The tone here is darkly humorous��character types include raucous Cockney orks, devout space marines, fanatic chaos marines, and spaced-out elven eldar. Their distinct visual styles are just as dramatic as the gameplay differences; Dawn of War��s artwork is top-notch, rendered with an awe-inspiring graphics engine and brought alive by some of the most vivid animation this side of the latest first-person shooters. The mangling, the explosion-flung bodies, the fried brains, the clanking metal, and the smashed tanks all manage to bring you closer to the action, if not visually, then at least viscerally. Most RTS games are played from the aloof perspective of a god or general, but Dawn of War pulls you down into the breathing and sweating and cussing and bleeding. It feels antsy, maybe a little pissed off, daring you to get in there and swing a chain sword or let loose with a flamethrower. You��ll get Dawn of War for the animation and the graphics, for the gratifying thump of metal on flesh. But like the most enduring games, you��ll ultimately stay for the gameplay.

Verdict

Get it for the graphics, stay for the gameplay.

PUBLISHER: THQ DEVELOPER: Relic Studios GENRE: RTS ESRB RATING: M REQUIRED: Pentium III 1.4GHz, 256MB RAM, 1.8GB install, 32MB videocard RECOMMENDED: Pentium 4 2.2GHz, 512MB RAM, 64MB videocard MULTIPLAYER: Internet, LAN (2-8 players)

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Computer Gaming World.