Dawn of War - Winter Assault Review

When is an expansion pack not an expansion pack; on one hand Dawn of War: Winter Assault requires the original to run, on the other hand it introduces such a wide selection of new content and tactics, makes heavy improvements to the single-player campaign and comes across as a significant leap ahead for the series.

Dawn of War: Winter Assault is the first expansion to THQ/Relic Entertainmentâ??s popular RTS, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Those whoâ??ve been following TVGâ??s coverage of the title will no doubt know that one of the most significant introductions comes in the form of a new playable race known as the Imperial Guard.

The Imperial Guard throws up a nice variation on the typical DoW strategy, placing emphasis on defence and sheer numbers. With the exception of the Ogryn squads and the Command Squad (more on these later), the Imperial Guard lack the ability to fight hand-to-hand, and will become quick fodder for the Ork or Chaos Space Marines. Thankfully the Imperial Guard has more then a number of tricks up its sleeves to counter this, most notably their expertise in ranged combat and stealth infiltration methods.

The Imperial Guardâ??s basic unit, the Guardsmen Squad, are prone to moral damage and as such are more reliant on this then any other race. Once broken their morale can be a significant weakness, suffering accuracy penalties more so than any other race. To combat this, a large number of Leader units can be employed, bringing morale bonuses to the squads that theyâ??re attached to. Attached to a squad the Commissar provides immunity to any morale damage; Priests are fanatical religious devotees with a nasty rip-saw to match, they inspire a reckless disregard for safety adding morale and hit-points, along with temporarily invulnerability and increasing the damage rating of the squad; finally the Psykers are capable of utilising terrible psychic powers to obliterate the minds of their opponents. Leaders have a number of bloodthirsty abilities to inspire morale, from performing an execution on your own unit to a Priests Righteous Fury.

Although the standard Imperial Guard infantry lacks the power to fight hand-to-hand, the Ogryn more then make up for such deficiencies. Giant mutant like creatures, the Ogryns carry Ripper guns which are simple yet effective (a good description for the Ogryn).

The Imperial Guard can also form a Command Squad around the Imperial General; youâ??re free to custom match the various leaders around this squad to suit your needs, whilst research increases the number of leaders that you can bind to this squad. Used tactically these squads can be the difference between a win or loss on the battlefield, with their customisation providing an effective new dynamic in the Dawn of War universe.

Taking into account the tactics listed above, the Imperial Guard provides plenty of opportunities to match the other races to be found in the world of Warhammer, they just require a significantly different strategy to anything you may have mastered in Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War â?“ rushing in with these guys right at the start wonâ??t get you anywhere!

One other notable difference between the Imperial guard and other races comes from the ability to hole them inside the vast majority of buildings, essentially turning them into turrets. The other neat aspect from this is the ability to utilise the tunnels connecting the various buildings, providing a safe and effective means to getting around the battlemap and launching surprise attacks.

The Imperial Guard also places importance on vehicles, from unit transporters such as the Chimera and Hellhound to the deadly Baneblade, the most powerful unit in the game, capable of destroying entire armies.

Introducing a new race and a handful of new units for the existing ones would be typical faire for the traditional expansion pack, however Relic have also been at work with the Single-Player campaign enhancing it beyond all belief. Firstly players are presented the choice of choosing between the Order and Disorder campaigns, siding with the Imperial Guard and Orks respectively. The story centres around a lost Imperial Guard weapon known as the Titan; a weapon of unbelievable power that the Imperial Guard want back and the Orks donâ??t exactly know exists â?“ just of yet.

Immediately the cut-scenes and presentation are dramatically enhanced from Dawn of War, sporting an increased cinematic style and therefore helping to suck the player in right from the onset. More importantly the missions and their various objectives present much more variety then before; for example the Orkâ??s first mission is to reunite the various warring clans by invading each encampment and taking control, thus the enforced Ork race can provide a fight against the Imperial Guard instead of against each other.

There are still some criticisms; personally I find the camera view still a problem, not panning high enough to be able to get a sufficient view of the large battlefields. Taking control of mass armies (youâ??ll do this a lot with the Imperial Guard) also highlights some of the pathfinding issues that the game still suffers from; often half of your army will arrive at the destination to fight whilst the other half are trying to work out how to get there.

Dawn of War: Winter Assault is an absolutely essential purchase for fans of the original, expanding upon the foundations laid by its predecessor and enforcing its position on top of the RTS genre. Fans of Warhammer and RTS alike should check it out immediately if you missed Dawn of War the first time around, the game still maintains the move away from traditional RTS concepts that made the original so popular, placing the emphasis on the battles instead of tiresome resource collection and other such trite operationsâ?¦