Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Relic entertainment

THQ

September 20, 2004 September 24, 2004

genre

Real time strategy game

Game mode

Single player , multiplayer

control

Mouse , keyboard

system advantages
preconditions

CPU : 1.4 GHz
RAM : 256 MB
HDD : 2 GB
Graphics : 3D map with T&L, 32 MB;

CD-ROMs , download

English , German

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (sometimes just called Dawn of War ) is a real-time strategy game from Relic Entertainment, set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and released by THQ for Windows in September 2004 .

action

The human empire spans large parts of the galaxy, but is threatened and attacked by many enemies. The backbone of the empire is the Imperial Army , which is supported by warrior orders, the Space Marines, in their eternal struggle. The enemies of the empire are the Chaos Space Marines, the Orcs and the Eldar. In the expansions, the Dark Eldar, the Tau, the Necrons and the Adeptus Sororitas are added. The base game tells the story of an orcs raid on an imperial planet. The player is sent to this planet as commander of the Blood Ravens, an order of the Space Marines, in order to regain control and support the overwhelmed Imperial Army. However, in the course of the game, other warring parties intervene in the action.

Gameplay

The player sees the 3D game from a rotatable and zoomable, isometric perspective . It is controlled by mouse and keyboard. You can choose your own color combinations for each faction (or you can create your own color schemes in the “Army Designer”) to adapt their appearance. A typical primary goal of the game is, as is usual in real-time strategy games, to achieve victory over one or more opponents through superior strategy and tactics . The player builds a base with his faction, in which faction-dependent infantry and vehicle units are built and improvements are researched.

Two resources are used: requirement points and energy points. The former are obtained at checkpoints that have to be taken beforehand. Energy is generated by generators. There are infantry and vehicle limits that can be expanded until they reach 20 each. For some factions, these limits are increased by building, but for most by research.

The following table lists the races that are included in Dawn of War and also goes into the whereabouts of the races in the successor Dawn of War II .

people	Dawn of War	Winter Assault	Dark Crusade	Soulstorm	Dawn of War 2	Chaos Rising	Retribution
Adeptus Sororitas				✔
Chaos Space Marines	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔	✔
Dark Eldar				✔
Eldar	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Imperial Army		✔	✔	✔			✔
Necrons			✔	✔
Orcs	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Space Marines	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Starry dew			✔	✔
Tyranids					✔	✔	✔

In addition, several modifications have been developed by players that expand Dawn of War by some races such as the Demon Hunters or the Tyranids .

reception

Due to the settlement of the game in the well-known Warhammer 40,000 universe, it quickly achieved a high level of awareness and was therefore covered in detail by the specialist press. Dawn of War received mostly positive reviews ( Metacritic : 86%). Negative points of criticism were poor pathfinding, especially of the larger units, and AI that was no longer up to date . Despite these mistakes, which also do not affect the atmosphere and game mechanics in any way, the game has meanwhile become a discipline of the WCG .

“Wow, there has seldom been such a huge crash on the screen during base flattening! Dawn of War does not redefine the genre, but constantly presents action-packed mass battles and is not stingy with elaborate effects. "

- Daniel Matschijewsky : Test report Gamestar 11/2004

"Massive carnage, rapid conquests, great art design - only a little more tactical depth and credible physics are missing."

- Jörg Luibl : Test report 4Players

"Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is the first game in a long, long time that has even come close to doing the franchise justice. The fact that it hits the nail on the head isn't necessarily surprising; it's just been such a long wait that it's almost emotional. Everything from the drab and blasted landscapes to the perfectly realized models and varied animations make a perfect host for this ultra-violent future to inhabit. "

“Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is the first game in a long, long time that finally does justice to the franchise. The fact that it hits the nail on the head is not necessarily surprising; the waiting time was just so long that it is almost touching. Everything from the bleak and desolate landscapes to the perfectly realized models and varied animations makes it the perfect work to be drawn into this ultra-violent future. "

- Dan Adams : test report IGN

Extensions and Collections

Dawn of War: Winter Assault

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault

Relic entertainment

THQ

September 23, 2005 September 30, 2005

system advantages
preconditions

different from the main game:

CPU: 1.8 GHz
HDD: add. 2.5 GB

2 CD-ROMs , download

The expansion Dawn of War: Winter Assault , released in September 2005 , contains two additional campaigns and makes the Imperial Army a playable faction. In these two campaigns, all factions are played alternately and what is happening is experienced from different perspectives. The Space Marines are excluded from this, they do occur but are not playable. Compared to the later expansion and game systems of Dawn of War, however, the Imperial Army is still the most unlimited in this version and probably offers the greatest fun for fans of the Imperial Army. In the subsequent versions, such as Dark Crusade or Soulstorm, unit limits were set for most units in such a way that basically the individual design and weighting of an army is not or hardly possible.

Gold Edition

The Gold Edition contains the main game Dawn of War and the first expansion Winter Assault , whereby Winter Assault contains an "exclusive" Dark Millennium "collector card from Sabertooth Games".

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade

Relic entertainment

THQ

October 10, 2006 October 27, 2006

system advantages
preconditions

different from the main game:

CPU: 1.8 GHz
HDD: add. 2.5 GB

1 DVD-ROM , download

The second expansion, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade , available since October 27, 2006, includes two new playable races: The Tau and the Necrons. For the first time it is possible to fight a single player campaign with each of the seven races. Another new feature is that there is no predefined campaign history. The campaign, which has the conquest of the embattled planet Kronus as its theme, takes place on a large strategy map in which a large number of provinces are drawn. Each people has a main province (also called a “fortress”) on the map, which is the base. The goal of all factions is to drive the other factions off the planet. This is done by capturing the opposing main provinces. In addition, there are six special provinces on the map that give the occupier a certain bonus such as increased limits or increased starting resources. The conquest of these provinces is also carried out in a special way, as certain goals must be fulfilled in each case, which go beyond the usual destruction of the enemy buildings.

Like Winter Assault , this expansion contains new units for the existing races. This gives the Space Marines access to the elite hand-to-hand combatants of a secret warrior order, the "Gray Knights". The orcs receive "posaz", heavily armored warriors with enormous firepower. The eldar can now use "Harlequins of the Laughing God", extremely agile hand-to-hand combatants. The Chaos Space Marines receive the "Demon Prince," an upgrade from the commander that makes him a huge, almost unstoppable beast. Finally, the Imperial Army receives “heavy weapons teams”, special soldiers who carry heavy artillery and are able to set up fortified machine-gun positions.

The system requirements of this extension are slightly higher than those of the main program. This is due on the one hand to an improvement in the engine and on the other hand to the fact that the scenarios are sometimes more extensive.

A special feature of this extension is that the extension can be played independently of the main program. However, it allows online games only with the two new races. In order to be able to play the other five races in multiplayer mode, one must enter the product codes of the other two games.

Dawn of War: Anthology

Anthology appeared at the same time as Dark Crusade . It is a collection and contains the main program Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War in the "Game of the Year Edition", as well as the two expansions Winter Assault and Dark Crusade .

Dawn of War: Soulstorm

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm

Iron Lore

THQ

March 4, 2008 March 7, 2008