|
It is the 41st millennium and mankind finds itself in a state
of perpetual war. Having spread themselves across the known
galaxy mankind sought to explore and to bring enlightenment,
but there are forces which stand to challenge the might of
the Human Empire. Orks and Eldar attack and following almost
complete decimation the humans fight back under the watchful
eye of their emperor. Genetically enhanced space marines are
raised to protect the Imperium, billions of citizens die and
worlds are made sterile. Yet still the marines' fight, with
a religious fervour to protect their god emperor and the worlds
he controls. It is a time of blood, it is a time of death,
and it is the Dawn of War...
Warhammer
has a long and noble history, starting as a table top game
played with small painted models, it still remains a popular
pastime for many, but for anyone new to Warhammer the
best way to get into it is to buy a computer game. The reason
I say this is that as much fun as the tabletop version is
it is very expensive if you are starting from scratch. There
are still elements in Dawn of War which hearkens back
to its model roots, the most obvious is the Army Painter,
where you can have hours of fun making up your own customised
banners and uniforms.
Installing the game went like a dream, I have a fairly stuffed
machine and was expecting the game to balk at something; however
it pleasantly surprised me by installing without a single
problem. Entering the CD key is a bit of a pain but then they
all are these days. So it's in and you crank it up, the first
thing you get is a really quite impressive testosterone poisoned
intro CGI, which should get you into the mood for the chaos
to follow.
Okay, so first up, you need to create a player profile, here
is where you can customise your units, but we don't want to
do that at the moment, that's something for a long dull evening,
what we want is to kill something. Now I'm not really one
for reading manuals as big as the bible. If a game is good
it should be fairly intuitive. So, from the main menu, we
can play 'Skirmish' a straight forward little one on one killing.
Well I could play the multiplayer game but not even I'm that
mad to go head to head with seasoned players at the moment.
Last option is the single player campaign. Well that sounds
long and involved so I headed straight for the Skirmish.
Okay, so it's a RTS games, so we're looking at resources,
building and killing. The Skirmished showed that the game
can be played straight away for anyone used to the genre,
but after a couple of defeats I decided to make use of the
training program before launching into the single player campaign
proper. You play a new commander sent to secure a planet against
the powers of chaos, but very soon you discover that things
are not quite what they seem.
For
a single player campaign the storyline is very engrossing.
Yes it's another "Oh my god it's three in the morning already"
game. The graphics and cut scenes are beautiful and add a
great deal of depth, as does the superb music score (though
I'm not sure my neighbours would agree).
This
little puppy will have you playing for hours on end and that's
before you launch into the online option. Game play is fast,
furious and pleasingly gory. Due to the design of the game
there is more than adequate possibilities for repeated game
play.
Now,
if that wasn't enough to wet your whistle, the good people
at THQ have also included the Winter Assault expansion
pack for even more fun. The main addition to the game is the
inclusion of the Imperial Guard as well as new Ork and Eldar
units to play with - enough to keep you up into the eye bleeding
small hours of the morning. If you're into the card game you
also get a free card, what more could a good Warhammer
fan want?
This
is a good value set. If you have never played a RTS you could
do a lot worse than start here, and if you're a Warhammer
fan, or just a fan of good games buy it.
Charles
Packer
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal!
Click on the logo of the desired store below.
|
|
|
£29.99
(Amazon.co.uk)
|
| |
|
|
|
£24.99
(Blahdvd.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£28.89
(Thehut.com) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
