DEMO: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

[TechZ]

THQ has released the promised playable demo (334MB) for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, allowing you to try out this just gold 3D real-time strategy game by Relic Entertainment. The demo contains a stunning intro-movie, a single player mission, two skirmish maps that you can play as Space Marines, and a tutorial. The demo can also be downloaded from GameSpotDLX,3DGamers, FileRush, GH.

[Damned Angel]

I've been playing the open beta for a few weeks now. If anyone likes RTS games, you are gonna LOVE this game.

[Damned Angel]

Just picked up my copy. I can't wait to get home tonight.

some of the great features;

Strategic points- Capture them to increase resources, no need for a supply line.

Cover - squads hiding in the bushes receve less damage from enemy fire. Squads hunkered down in craters receve even less damage.

Elevation - squads on high ground recieve damage bonuses when firing on troops below them (hide your snipers on the high ground)

Squad based - no more making 1 unit at a time and orginizing them into squads. When you create a unit, you create a squad of units and can reinforce them with more squad mates, a sargent and equip members of the squad with various heavy weapons.

Grenades and missiles - area effect weapons actually affect the area, any troops caught in the blast radius are tossed off their feet, can not return fire and take damage.

[TechZ]

I went nuts over the demos, just have to wait a bit for the full game and have some serious fun, the audio is too good!

[Damned Angel]

hot damn this game gets good in the later levels. Its got a nice flowing story line and huge maps. The AI ain't stupid either. If you are kicking someone's arse, they will usually back off and wait for reinforcements to arrive. It gets pretty hairy when you have to defend half of a city and have to hold several points of entry with a limited supply of troops and armor.

Not sure how many single player levels there are, but I'm going to be starting level # 12 tonight once I get home.

One thing I am loving is the ability to change the difficulty level for every mission. Say you are getting mopped up on the hardest difficulty setting, restart the level and change it.

Only thing bad I have to say about the game is that they made it a lot easier to kill the more powerful units like the avatar for the eldar and the bloodthirster for chaos. I was able to dispatch both with only 3-4 squads of 9 marines each, with heavy weapons. In the open beta, the same odds would have wiped out those marines plus another squad or two with the the avatar or bloodthirster being near, but not quite dead.

[TechZ]

I've got the game and getting rid of the demo this instant, gonna play it after the prelims though.


Cant wait for the mods!

[jaeger]

hot damn this game gets good in the later levels. Its got a nice flowing story line and huge maps. The AI ain't stupid either. If you are kicking someone's arse, they will usually back off and wait for reinforcements to arrive. It gets pretty hairy when you have to defend half of a city and have to hold several points of entry with a limited supply of troops and armor.

Not sure how many single player levels there are, but I'm going to be starting level # 12 tonight once I get home.

One thing I am loving is the ability to change the difficulty level for every mission. Say you are getting mopped up on the hardest difficulty setting, restart the level and change it.

Only thing bad I have to say about the game is that they made it a lot easier to kill the more powerful units like the avatar for the eldar and the bloodthirster for chaos. I was able to dispatch both with only 3-4 squads of 9 marines each, with heavy weapons. In the open beta, the same odds would have wiped out those marines plus another squad or two with the the avatar or bloodthirster being near, but not quite dead.

I actually like this balance. Those units still kick much ***, they just can't be used unsupported. Haven't got around to multiplay yet, are they included?

I'm loving the Dreadknoughts. Grab, squeeze, spin, crush throw. Oh, yeah, like watching a rottweiler go after a pack of chihuahuas.

[Damned Angel]

everything is in multiplayer except for guard. Oh, and I lied, it was actually the 11th mission I was starting.

[jaeger]

Just beat it. Way too short. Hopefully the tools will be released soon so we can get some community created stuff to play with.

[Damned Angel]

agreed that it is wayyy to short. I got lucky on the last mission and baited the deamon prince with a land raider by accident. Didn't notice it chasing down a squad until the deamon prince was beating the crap out of it. Just switched on machine spirit and had it high tail it back to my bast. Supprisingly the deamon prince followed it all the way back on his own and got owned by the overwhelming might of my other 3 land raiders and 4 squads of terminators.

[jaeger]

agreed that it is wayyy to short. I got lucky on the last mission and baited the deamon prince with a land raider by accident. Didn't notice it chasing down a squad until the deamon prince was beating the crap out of it. Just switched on machine spirit and had it high tail it back to my bast. Supprisingly the deamon prince followed it all the way back on his own and got owned by the overwhelming might of my other 3 land raiders and 4 squads of terminators.

I used 10 dreadknoughts with fire support from a couple squads of marines.