The Warhammer Universe is an immense collection of different races, machines and brutal skills of elimination. The understanding of the amount of lore behind the different races is beyond the reach of many people. Trying to create a game with that amount of lore seems unthinkable… but not for Relic Entertainment. The guys who brought you the Company of Heroes – series and the Dawn of War franchise. It’s been a while since the last Dawn of War game, so they returned to the fray and launched Dawn of War 3. Will the game climb its way to the top throughout the ranks of RTS gaming or will it fall into the depths of games which never see the light ever again…?
Dawn of War 3 is set in an era where a huge galactic civilization, known as the imperium of men, is being attacked by reckless mutants and where the motto “ Purge the Unclean” inspires the troops to form a counter-attack towards these green skins. With the help of their godly emperor and elite force “Space Marines”, they cleanse the galaxy from all heretics. While brutal green skins are more in for “plundering” and the Eldar are still fighting off every outlander to restore its once-accomplished glory. Eventually, these races are going head-to-head on the planet Acheron, trying to become the last race standing and get their hands on the Spear of Khaine which is an ancient powerful weapon that can destroy the many.
The game offers players a bloody campaign set in the Warhammer universe that includes about 17 missions. In this campaign, the leading folk of the different races such as the Space Marine Master Gabriel Angelos, the green skin’s warboss Gorgutz ‘Ead’Unter and the Eldar Farseer Macha are at the center of this over the top power spectacle. The campaign is well thought out but misses a touch of creativity. Even though the game won’t win any award for its creativity, it does play out very interestingly. An RTS set in the Warhammer lore, gory battles along with some laughable commands of the green skins Warboss and a good focus on each race’s strategy is A-okay in my book. The voice acting in this game is truly pleasant to listen to.
Dawn of War 3 is a Warhammer skinned Company of Heroes kind of game but with a MOBA twist.
The gameplay isn’t the same as any other RTS game. It’s an RTS game set to the standards of Relic Entertainment: you start off with a base and minimal resources. It’s your job to capture as many resource nodes as you can and maintain them for as long as you can, killing the enemy along the way. Capturing resource nodes and destroying the enemy can be achieved by producing specialized troops. You often don’t build one unit, just like in an “Age of Empire” kind of game. In this game, one unit is considered as a small troop of the same infantry units. Each troop has its own defenses and abilities. As you can see, the game’s drive is all about aggressive gameplay and it wants to stimulate rushed gameplay towards covering ground and harassing the enemy. Attacking the enemy constantly increases your winning percentage tremendously. From the moment you start playing, wether it’s the campaign or a multiplayer match, the game feels more like a “multiplayer” based attack and defends kind of game than any other RTS on the current market.
Dawn of War 3 is actually a Warhammer skinned Company of Heroes but with a MOBA twist. Each multiplayer game is set-up in a way that any MOBA player can understand. Each player has a Power Core that’s protected by a shielded turret. Once you kill the shield generator, the turret is next and you’ll end the game by destroying the enemy’s power core. It’s a MOBA perspective but with some RTS elements like gathering resources, discovering boosts and building your base.
Each army has its own collection of different troops with different skills or abilities. This gives the player a certain freedom of trying out different strategies which can lead to a blessed victory or a great downfall. It was very interesting to experiment with all of these different abilities to figure out some successful tactics along the way. Each troop can counter other troops, but it’s all about timing and placement. It’s amazing to see that the developers stayed true to the mechanics of the original races. For example: Eldar are creatures with psychic abilities and this has been well implemented within the game. Eldar can teleport buildings to discovered areas and if two buildings are matched up against each other, it opens a doorway to transport units. One of the Eldar’s elite units is Ronahn and Ronahn can shoot revealing projectiles on the enemy’s territory. With some well-placed shots of this sharpshooter, the standard Eldar troops can transport themselves behind enemy lines and flank them. Of course, with some guidance from the player. Nothing happens automatically. This is just one of the different strategies or tactics a player can come up with. the player is truly free to experiment with the abilities of different troops and figure out the best way to achieve victory.
Attacking the enemy constantly increases your winning percentage tremendously.
To help you get there, the game also offers some doctrines which give your troops a special bonus or skill. This can help with creating a strategy that suits your liking. Give yourself some time to figure out the best strategy and make it worth your while.
To make the game even more micro-managing. Each race offers some Elite units alongside your typical standard troops. These units can only be produced if you gathered enough points which can be collected if you maintain certain parts of the battlefield. These Elite units have more hit points than any other standard unit and they come with some amazing abilities. It’s often a “hold-your-breath” kind of moment when your troops are being wiped off the map because of these godlike creatures with amazing abilities. There’s no doubt that these Elites can carry a player towards victory but don’t be discouraged because the tide of war can easily be changed with the right counter at the right moment. All of these Elite units can be frightening but they’re still very keen on the eyes thanks to their colorful scheme pattern and well thought details, which takes us back to our tabletop armies from the good old days.
Dawn of War 3 is an excellent RTS game that’ll keep you busy for a couple of months. Veterans will definitely love Relic Entertainment for what they’ve done with the game but there will be players that won’t be totally convinced of what the game can offer. For example, the Warhammer lore is so big that it could take you weeks to begin to understand the feuds that these races have with each other… If you’re not a Warhammer fan, you’ll like this RTS game for its mechanics but Warhammer players will get a lot more out of it because they know what each unit can do and what they’re good against. Playing this type of RTS game is hard, especially when you want to be good at it. Yes, there are tutorials and the campaign preps for the multiplayer matches but you’ll have to play consistently to achieve greatness. This is not a bad thing, but it’s hard when you don’t have the time.
I really love the game for what it has to offer but some things shouldn’t have changed in my opinion. One of the reasons, I adored this game was the animation. The animations aren’t bad but the brutal executions from previous Dawn of War games have been removed to run the game more smoothly which is a decision I can understand but these executions were a feature that made the game stand out from the competition. Also, the Last Stand mode from DOW2 has been removed as well. I don’t know if it’ll come back but it would be amazing to see this co-op mode back again. The covering system hasn’t been improved, it feels like these covers don’t do much of a good job when it comes to “defending your units”. Hopefully, this will improve in the near future but other than these comments, I really enjoyed Dawn of War 3.
Conclusion:
Relic Entertainment did a great job in bringing the franchise back. The graphics look amazing, especially when there’s a battle going on. Even though the whole battlefield “ view” is scaled to a minimum, the real feel of battle is present. The game has a lot to offer for its price: a polished game set in the Warhammer universe (closely bounded to the lore), an a-okay campaign, customization options, a full depth strategic perspective and multiplayer game modes. Hopefully, we’ll see some more updates in the near future: different races, new modes, new units, … Although Dawn of War 3 isn’t your standard base building RTS game, it’s definitely an excellent game that should be offered a place within your collection of 2017.
9/10
