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1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 28
Date: January 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I never received this game... cancelled by Amazon... think it is still not out yet...

Ahhh, it's OK

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 38
Date: August 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game has its good and bad points, but overall it's not that impressive.

When I first tried to play it, my computer totally froze up during the opening movie. It took nearly an hour of constantly rebooting my computer to make it play, but the graphics of the movie were pretty darn good. I soon learned to hit escape as soon as the first logo popped up on the screen, and also when the movie first started. Hopefully, I'll save someone else a lot of the same frustration.

The graphics in the game were also very good, especially when you have 100 warriors blasting it out at close range. The sound effects were good, but I quickly became annoyed with the repetitious, fanatical comments from my soldiers. Frankly, in this age of holy war, having my soldiers constantly spout off about religion was slightly disturbing. And if this Emperor they kept yakking about was so great, why wasn't he down there fighting with them?

OK, maybe I'm getting a little carried away there. But this game is VERY dark, and somewhat depressing, and I never really enjoyed it that much. The game play didn't seem to involve much strategy. Build up an army, smash it against another army, rinse, lather, repeat.

If you are a Warhammer 40K fanatic then you will like this game. Otherwise, any of the Command & Conquer games--especially Generals--would be a much better bet.

good game, flawed package

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

While this is a good game, and a good expansion, there's one glaring problem. This Gold Edition DOES NOT accept any of the patches required to play the game online. Relic refuses to answer my questions sent to them about this. If you are looking to play other humans via the internet, buy the game and expansions separate.

Mixed bag

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game has so much promise, it could be the ultimate RTS title but it misses the mark. Basically you gather resources from strategic points in order to build a base that builds your Army. Then you take your Army into combat in order to destroy the other guy's base. Straight forward, "gather and gun" trigger map RTS gameplay with really nice animation.

The single player campaign isn't bad but the switch from Space Marines to Eldar forces is a little jarring. I'd prefer playing one race of my own choosing straight through the campaign.

There are three major problems with this title:

1. Skirmish play balance is waaaaaaay off. It's either ridiculously easy to win or ridiculously difficult depending on your settings. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground where you can enjoy a protracted battle, one way or the other it's over in 20 minutes.

2. Voice acting is repetitive and annoying. Somewhere around the fifth time you hear a Psyker cackle or a "Chaos, chaos is good" announcement you're going to turn off the sound.......if you haven't clawed your ears off already...........

3. There aren't enough single player maps. The few supplied with the game are good, the downloadable community map packs are better but there are only three map packs that work. Many of the download packs don't install or there's some trick to it I'm not getting.

Starcraft is much better.

Not Bad Just Nothing Special

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 4
Date: September 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was looking for a new game to waste time with when I came across this one on this site. Due to the rating most here give it, I thought it was a good bet I'd enjoy it. This was partially true but...

Pros:
* It's a good deal for a main game with one expansion pack included.
* The game's interface and clean coding make it a good game when it comes to being bug-free and easy to install.
* In the most basic of senses...blowing crap up, shooting things, etc...it succeeds.
* It can and does occupy your time.
* The Imperial Guard, while by no means the strongest, were often the most entertaining in my opinion.

Cons:
* A lack of originality. Ok, there hasn't really been an original take on an RTS (real time stategy) game since Starcraft. There are many fun games of this sort out there but the overall game mechanics and point really haven't changed. The only thing you can hope for in such current games is a unique take on the usual that makes it entertaining despite it's lack of game unoriginality. Some have succeeded admirably in this. This game has not. The campaigns are boring at best, pathetic at most. There is zero new content beyond pretty skins and different names for the same stuff. They really didn't strain themselves at all, which is highly disappointing, especially in the Warhammer series which is usually fun and irreverent. Their writers apparently took a vacation while the company was working on this product.
* A major lack of campaigns. The main game only gives you the one. The Winter Assault expansion gives you two...sort of. Two in the sense that you can play the same campaign from the "good" guys standpoint or the "bad guys" view. So other than the skirmish option, you only get two campaigns from a big titled game and one expansion. Again, they didn't bother to flex their creative muscles much.
* Graphics are a mixed bag. While you don't really expect too much eye candy from a RTS, I've seen and played other Warhammer games and the overall attempt here is a bit luke warm. Perhaps this was my vid card though.
* Many of what is taken for granted these days when it comes to RTS functions...patrol functions for your troops and many other typical things are simply missing from this game.

So overall...this game is luke warm. It provides and I gave it three stars because it IS enjoyable in parts, but for those looking for something of this type of game that really gets their blood flowing, I'd seek elsewhere. Still, the price is currently right. For those who bought these full priced when they just came out, my condolences.

Excellent PC adaptation of the tabletop classic, Warhammer 40K!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 36 / 37
Date: March 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This package contains both the "Game of the Year" edition of Dawn of War plus the Winter Assault expansion pack.

This "Game of the Year" edition of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (DoW) contains new battle maps, online features and an observer mode to enhance what was already a terrific RTS computer game. Each of the four races in the game look and behave as one would expect from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 (aka 40K) universe. The Eldar are graceful and cultured in their speech and appearance (think High Elves in space), performing marvelous acrobatic moves in combat. Orks are brutal, awkward and ramshackle in their appearance and gait, Chaos Marines and their demonic minions are dark, cruel and monstrous while regular Space Marines (enhanced humans) are very industrial and all business. The animations in combat are so good you'll want to play some skirmishes on easy difficulty so that you can take your time looking close up at the individual fighting using the fully moveable 3D camera. There are even special "sync-kill" animations when certain creatures destroy each other. For example, when the Space Marine Commander kills a gigantic Bloodthirster (huge winged demon), the animation sequence is one of the most spectacular in the game!

The skirmish option offers both single and multiplayer modes with many different battle maps from which to choose. This offers near limitless permutations, providing tons of replayability. The campaign is a wee bit linear and not overly challenging, but is loads of fun, has an entertaining story and can be completed by all players regardless of skill level. Difficulty level settings can be used in both campaign and skirmish play to make the game more or less challenging as desired.

The voice acting and music are quite good in DoW and enhance play enormously. The game is highly evocative of the dark, gothic feel of the 40K miniatures game produced by Games Workshop (GW).

Resource gathering is used as is expected in an RTS game, but it is very simple and does not occupy an enormous amount of game time. The emphasis of DoW is all on the action and combat! Resources are gathered by capturing strategic points and critical locations on the battle map. Capture more territory and more resources will be available to you to complete your research and build your army.

Note that the expansion pack for this game, Winter Assault, provides players with even more maps and options, as well as a new fully playable army, The Imperial Guard. The Winter Assault campaign can be played from either of two points of view, "order" or "chaos," and involves a war against CPU controlled Necrons! Skirmish mode, as in the original Dawn of War, adds a lot of replayability value to the game, with many different battle maps and play combinations. Play any of five armies, play with allies or play free-for-all, and that's not counting multiplayer mode!

Between trying to hear all the fun voice acting, see all the great animations, and actually playing the game, Dawn of War Gold Edition will keep you busy and enthralled for many hours. "Let the galaxy burn!"

A game with tremendous potential and graphics, but gameplay was lacking and repetitive.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: January 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am a big fan of RTS games, and have played the Starcraft series and Warcraft series all my life. I also enjoyed the LOTR Battle for Middle Earth series, which I finally got tired of. I was very enthusiastic about the Dawn of War series because it had gotten such great reviews. After playing this game for a couple of weeks, here is my personal review of the Gold Edition, including Winter Assault.

My first impression is that the opening movie sequence, as well as the graphics and details of the game is fantastic! I don't have a supercomputer by any means, but my modest Dell with stock graphic card and half a gig of RAM was able to run the game beautifully. The movement of the characters was flawless, the 3D rotation of the terrain was impeccable, and the way the battle sequences took place was awesome. Characters don't just hit each other until one of them explode in blood, but they shoot, slash, stun, throw, stomp each other like no other game I've ever played. Each unit can also be customized with different weapons and strategies, which I think is a great idea.

Now after playing the campaign for a while (the Space Marines, which was the only campaign in the original), I realized that each mission got repetitive and boring quite quickly, despite the graphics. You build up, you attack, and then you recover, and repeat. Now no one ever praised Starcraft (at least not me) for its superior 3D graphic manipulations, but each mission was different and unique. Upon playing the Winter Assault expansion (2 campaigns), I realized another issue, which is that each of the races, despite having different units, heroes, and buildings, played annoyingly similar to each other, with superficial differences, but not like the differences between the Zerg and the Protoss, or the Night Elves and the Undead (Warcraft ROC). Maybe I'm not appreciating those details that I think are superficial.

Resource gathering is similar to LOTR where you occupy strategic points and then the resource gathers for itself. For me, I think the whole building up of peons to go gather wood or gold or minerals or gas is kind of cool. You also command squads of units instead of individual units, which I kind of liked from LOTR. Having hero units on the field also was something that Dawn focused on, but they never really stand out on their own, or made a difference the way that it did in ROC. Also, despite being in the future and obvious references to planetary travel, there is lacking an aerial portion of this game, which would have made things really interesting. It would have been nice to seem some epic space battles with space battleships and cruisers.

Don't get me wrong, the game has a lot of nice touches, such as having cover in certain terrain (like craters) and negative terrain affecting troops (such as rivers). The problem I think is that it tries to be like LOTR, but doesn't have the fun of building, defending, and storming castles. It tries to be like Starcraft without the diversity in race tech-trees and involving storylines. It tries to be like ROC without the attention to Heroes and the powers they can use to change the tides of battle. I almost feel that if the other games paid attention to the details that Dawn of War has, they would be better games themselves.

4 stars for quality, but only 3 for fun.

The first good Warhammer 40K computer game EVER

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I love this game.

Do any of you out there remember the terrible and utter failures that Games Workshop computer games used to be? Remember Space hulk for playstation? Remember Epic 40k for Windows 95? Remember Fire Warrior for PS2? Remember Rise of the Horned Rat for Playstation?

If you do, you have my condolences.

This game, however, is not only a good Warhammer 40K game. Its a good game PERIOD. Loads of fun, and if you're a Warhammer 40K nut like myself, utterly faithful to the source material.

Its an old school RTS down to the roots; this hearkens back to Starcraft and the original Command and Conquer (and since Starcraft was a brutal ripoff of Warhammer 40K to begin with, its nice to see Games Workshop step back in the arena, if only to see what a REAL GW game should be like).

A few areas of game play could be better rounded; the learning curve is pretty steep for new players I've found, since instead of mining resources, you get 'requisition points' for holding and defending strategic nodes on the map. Players who like playing defensively will have a definite advantage while an aggressive player of Starcraft is gonna get pummelled before they learn thes ropes. There are also some serious balancing issues; the Imperial Guard are WAY too powerful and the eldar still dont stand a chance in the hot place where the guy with the pitchfork hangs out against certain other armies... But the intuitive control and insanely cool fighting animations(which are actually more than a silly chopping motions! The battles play out as actual BATTLES; there are times where the enemy will nab a strategic point from you because you're too engrossed in watching your tiny digital army duking it out with the bad guys)help round out the game to a nice, healthy digital shine of quality. And listening to a chaos marine squad scream "Do YOU hear the voices TOO!?" never gets old.

If you enjoy an old school RTS, they dont get much better than this... Subtly challenging gameplay and fantastic environment. Highly recommended.

Warhammer 40k RTS - Great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love RTS games, and few recent entries have captured my interest. I have a friend who is into w40k (the tabletop game), so I decided to give this a try. It's awesome, and if you add the last expansion as well, it is a lot of game, both fun in single and multiplayer.

Worth it for any gamer

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For only 20$, this package is a must have. The main reason you will want to purchase this is if you plan to play multiplayer with Dark Crusade. With this, you will have 5 races in addition to the 2 from the second expansion. The campaign for the original Dawn of War is very short and moderately fun but introduces you to everything as well as the story. Winter's Assault is a big leap in the single player department and provides the Imperial Guard for online use.

If you like RTS then this is a very unique and exciting experience. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good game of RTS.

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