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Unleash the hammer of the Eldar?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: September 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ok so I was waiting with baited breath like a good Games Workshop nerd for this exspansion. Everything, and I do mean everything, I read about Winter Assault says it's chock full if Imperial guard goodness. Even the box is covered in Imperial Guard goodness. However...Once you get good and into this game you're suddenly realize you're spending just as much time playing the eldar as you are Imperial Guard. The whole game you're switching between Imp. guard, and smeldar. The end of the game is kind of un-imperial in nature, but I won't ruin it for those that haven't played it yet.

Game play is much like DOW, however there is little to no base building in this one, you get started out with a ton of req. points, and power. So taking strat. points and building generators is kinda pointless. I don't really like that part of it very much, it kinda takes some of the fun out of the game, as most of the battles, you pretty much have your army from the get go.

It's not a bad game overall, but I was expecting alot more from it.

Doesn't measure up to the original

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: September 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let me start by saying that I have enjoyed this game overall. However, it is rather disappointing in comparison to the original game. The campaign missions feel very linear and scripted, giving the player minimal choice in how to progress to victory. This is partly because, as mentioned by the first reviewer, base building has virtually been removed from the campaign. There are some play balance issues, as well, which lead to some rather absurd events, such as an eldar avatar that stands around in my base for half an hour neither attacking nor taking damage, while I figure out how to progress to the next step in the script to destroy it, and without any real fight. Overall, the game feels like the developers rushed through it, and didn't pay enough attention to things like play balance and making it challenging. I haven't played with skirmish or multiplayer much yet, but hopefully that will be better than the single player campaigns. Overall, it is not a bad game, but it could have been so much better.

There could have been a few more units.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: September 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I think they could have had a few more units to all the other races but then again the requirments would have gotten bigger. I have payed many skermishes and to be hounest the eldar got the best bosst because of the fire dragons. Though the sm chapilon is good he is only a commander and not to much for tanks defence hes for melle against infantry the relic made a big mistake giving the chaos korne beserkers they already had possesed i would think the deamon prince would be a good addition though it may be to powerful and last but not least the mega armoured nobs are my favorite out of the 4 new units just 1 can anniolate a intire possesed squad.I will talk abou the imperial guard now they do have some good infantry but bessides the orgerons its all about the tanks they have balisks which can fire earth shaker ammo at the cost of resoures they have the hellhound my persanal favorite it can burn troops with its flamer the chimara it can have infantry garrison and fire out of its sides so awsome!Oh yeah sry about the spelling not the best speller anyway they dont have a giant moster like say the orks but they do have the baneblade it said to be the most powerful unit in the game I think it is but anyway relic did great job on this game and i cant wait for the next expansion.Rock on relic!!

Winter Assault is a high quality, terrific expansion for Dawn of War!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 62 / 65
Date: September 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Introduction:
If you love computer games with ferocious combat, terrific graphics, exciting animation and some real tactical challenges, then you will love Warhammer 40,000: Winter Assault, the expansion to last year's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (DoW). Fans of the original DoW will NOT be disappointed as Winter Assault brings improved graphics and an expanded universe to your computer, along with some enhancements to the game options as well. If you are a tabletop miniatures gamer, then having nicely painted Warhammer miniatures, a game table, and a friend to share it all with is still more fun, but Winter Assault (WA) is way too cool for of a computer game and you will really enjoy the way that THQ and Relic have made the Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 (40K) universe spring to life. And that is largely the joy of DoW and WA, the developers really have made 40K spring to life! It's so good, it's like an interactive 40K movie and you get to direct much of the action. To borrow a quote from Games Workshop (GW), you will feel as if you've been dropped right into the "grim darkness of the future" where "there is only war."

Problems:
After installing Winter Assault, I had a terrible time at first getting it to run because of a "spooge error" (no, I am not joking, though the programmer who created the error message must have been a little twisted). To make matters worse, DoW no longer ran after installing WA and I'd never had a problem with it before. Some hunting on the Internet revealed that many other DoW players have had this problem in the past and that it is related to display drivers. Although a quick check in Device Manager on my PC revealed that I had the latest driver for my video card (I had downloaded that recently in order to run Lego Star Wars), a visit to the NVIDIA website revealed the presence of a new driver for all computers running Windows XP with GeForce video cards. Obtaining this driver fixed the problem, but be forewarned, the graphics in WA have been enhanced above the level of the original DoW, so you may encounter some issues with it even if DoW ran without any problems on your machine prior to installing WA. In a nutshell, be sure that all your drivers are up to date, especially if you have any trouble running WA.

The New Army, Imperial Guard:
The new "race" for the game, the Imperial Guard, is as intricate and fascinating as the other races in the game. The units are modeled with exacting detail on the miniatures produced by GW, and the voice acting and animation are as high in quality as in DoW.

The Imperial Guard units themselves are each loaded with character drawn straight from the 40K universe. The infiltrating Vindicare Assassin is a very cool customer; he's the soft-spoken, laconic hero of a killing machine from every action movie made since Clint Eastwood made the type popular. The animation when the Hellhound flamethrower tank spews huge gouts of flame at the enemy is frightening and devastating! The attention to detail on each unit, based on the original GW miniatures, is amazing as always. For example, the Basilisk self-propelled artillery unit has an animated crew on the loading platform at the rear. Ogryns (large mutated ogre-like humans that excel at close combat), fast Sentinels (think AT-ST from Star Wars), Kasrkin (elite storm troopers), Psykers (wizards), Commissars (as in the old Soviet army) and more are all here in their dark, fanatical, dogmatic 40K-style glory.

A unique feature of the IG army is that their units can hide inside their buildings for protection, which can be an important tactic for these (mostly) ordinary humans as they face the terrifying monsters, aliens and mutants of the other races. Even better, they can "tunnel" between (i.e., move quickly between while NOT exposed) their buildings.

Game Play:
As with the original DoW, I've been playing my early WA Skirmishes against the CPU on Easy difficulty and backing off the enemy so that I have lots of time to examine all the units, sound effects and wonderful animations. The developers have again created a rich playing experience with a huge variety of units, animations, voiceovers and sound effects. It will take quite a lot of zooming the camera on each unit and structure and paying attention to all the different voices and sounds before you'll feel you've seen and heard them all. WA has lots of replay value and should stay fresh and exciting for quite a while. New battle maps and campaigns refresh the DoW experience even more (see below).

New Game Options and Features:
Winter Assault has two new game setup options, persistent bodies and persistent scarring, which allow the casualties and terrain scarring that take place during game play to persist onscreen rather than automatically fade away within moments of the time they occur.

More importantly, there are many new maps on which to fight your battles and two new single-player campaigns: an Order campaign and a Disorder campaign. Single players and those who enjoy multiplayer games should both be pleased with the amount of new material.

Each existing DoW race also has a new unit added to the troops available to their roster. Chaos Space Marines get Khorne Berserkers (close combat maniacs in powered armor), Space Marines get Chaplains (a powerful commander unit with the power to inspire his troops), Eldar get Fire Dragons (a warrior "aspect" that carries powerful short range fusion guns) and the Orks get Mega-armored Nobz (extremely powerful and heavily armored elite troops).

Conclusion:
If you love RTS (real time strategy) games, Warhammer 40,000, or Dawn of War, you will really enjoy Winter Assault. It does not disappoint!

Excellent expansion for a great game (4.5 stars)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 19
Date: October 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Winter Assault is one of those expansions that adds a lot of new content to a game. Since I have already posted a review of Dawn of War at this site, I won't go into too much detail here about this game. However, overall, this is a wonderful addition to one of my favorite games ever.

The biggest change is the addition of a new race, the Imperial Guard. The Guard stresses entrenched defense as a tactic, backed up by strong vehicles and artillery. While not quite as flashy or alien as some of the other races, the Guard is a nice addition to the game. Also, the other four races each get a new unit, as well as modified tech trees which are well thought out.

The single-player campaigns in Winter Assault are very well done. They allow you to play each of the races (except the Space Marines), and each mission has multiple parts and objectives. There is also a surprise appearance of another alien race in the last mission, which adds a nice twist to the story. Additionally, there are about 20 new multiplayer maps that come with Winter Assault. The AI has been improved so that it's more aggressive, techs faster, and uses a diverse array of units. There are some minor pathfinding issues for some units, but the game is just a blast to play.

This game still looks great, and Winter Assault adds some new environments and weather effects. It's still a shame that the developer did not release modding tools with this version of the game, although I suspect that they will update the tools that can be downloaded from their website (www.dawnofwargame.com). The sound effects are also quite good, and most of the new voices are done well, along with the new music.

If you have any interest whatsoever in strategy games, then I highly recommend both the original game and this expansion. This is one of the best real-time strategy games I've played and is easily in the same league as Rise of Nations, Warcraft 3, and the Age of Empires series.

What was the point again?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: October 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

DoW is fun, no arguments. Perhaps the best RTS I've ever played. Winter Assault adds Imperial Guard which is nice. It's the execution that falls short.

Take for instance the addition of the Chaplain for the Space Marines... what is the point of it again? He's a mega-apothecary. Did we really need another healing unit for the marines? And where in the literature, game, and lore does it ever hint that chaplains have any healing capabilities? Why not put in Bikes, or Razor Backs, or have chaplains effect moral some how. Same for the guard, where are the heavy weapons crews? The medics? The variation of guardsmen (Catachan's, Iron Gruard, etc.). And what's with the unit size? Limited at 10 just like the marines? Shouldn't the guard have larger armies of weaker units?

With the addition, it feels more like lots of other RTS Games and less like Warhammer. The Tech trees are now more similar, the armies capabilities more balanced (My basic assault unit = your basic assault unit).

Other annoyances - few new voices, new scenery is a bit of a drag, IG don't seem to be not as animated as other armies. The "campaign" doesn't really allow for base building and exploration of new units.

It's still fun, but not as much fun, and certainly a lot less like Warhammer.

Very good expansion pack

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: October 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a great expansion to a great game. The addition of the Imperial Guard as the focus, when they were a small part of the original game really makes this a lot of fun. Playing a relatively weak army against the Orcs and Chaos forces you to take advantage of the abilities open to the Imperials. There are far more armored units, and every structure functions as a bunker from which your soldiers can attack. The Imperials can also move between structures to avoid enemy fire. Winter assault also allows you to play as Chaos and Orc forces in a "negative" game where your missions involve destroying the forces of order. Persistent bodies and terrain scarring push the realism a little higher. I did not have any problems with loading it, and the pack will install any patches you may have forgotten to install over time. Be prepared to neglect your family and lose sleep once this is installed.

Stinks and stinks some more.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 15
Date: October 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

What a way to ruin the vaunted memory to the first Dawn of War. I guess it's true...the sequel is never as good as the original. As far as gameplay, WA works pretty much like DOW. However, the new units S T I N K! The Imperial guard....S T I N K! The missions....well, you get the idea. The plotline is more poorly developed than in DOW. Even the voice responses (and the voices) aren't very good. In the end, I wondered why I wasted my money.
Part of its problem is that it will always be held up against Dawn of War, a game that, aside from some cheesy cut-scene graphics, was an absolute masterpiece. From its awesome intro movie to the characters to the cooooool voices, it rocked! Dawn of War even excelled at subtle nuances like varying the voice responses to your commands. WA doesn't do this AT ALL and you'll grow more annoyed by the minute every time you have to hear those whiny Imperial Guard answer your commands.
Winter Assault falls WAAAAAY way short. Quite frankly, it's a dreadful piece of software and should be avoided.

Expansion Pack?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: October 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Dawn of War was a great game. Winter Assault detracts from the gameplay in every respect besides the addition of the Imperial Guard.

I wish I hadn't purchased this game, as the existing armies had multiple unit types, upgrades, and research removed from them. more was removed in fact, then was added.

Avoid!

BORING!!!!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 17
Date: October 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

What happened to Dawn of War? I guess I expected too much when I hoped that this expansion would be better than DOW. In gaming there are only a handfull of expansions or sequels that are better than the original. This one did not make the cut. What happened to the Space Marines? They get rescued by the Imperial Guard.... That's not the way it works the Imps get rescued by the SM's when they get overrun. A SM Chaplain and his squad needing help... come on guys. Next to the force commander and librarian the chaplain is at least capable of dispatching a few aliens. If the SM's get into trouble they drop a Terminator squad in to rescue them. This game just falls well short in the storyline and could have been better planned. For all you ALIEN LOVERS out there you will probably love this game as it seems to be a showcase for Eldar power. In the graphics area Relic and THQ are right on the money and exceeded my expectations. The models are very detailed with high quality and game movement is excellent even at the higher resolutions. My other beef is with the number of missions. Six for the Order and six for Disorder. I guess you get what you pay for and I'll leave it at that. I'm sure some of the hardcore Warhammer fans will buy and play this game and most (except for the ALIEN LOVERS) will be displeased with the purchase. I would suggest getting the Daemon Hunter or Rhinoz mods where you can still slaughter ALIENS. Maybe Relic and THQ need to get with the creators of these mods to get some ideas for future expansions. Any serious SM player will probably rip WA off of their system and go back to playing the Daemon Hunters or Rhinoz mods where the real goods are being delivered. Get these guys on the Relic payroll and maybe the games will improve.

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