More Articles on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault
Dawn of War - Winter AssaultDawn of War: Winter Assault - Eldar Fire DragonDawn of War: Winter Assault - Hands OnDawn of War: Winter Assault - Mega Armoured NobzDawn of War: Winter Assault - MultiplayerLatest Mini Previews
Tom Clancy's EndWar - Ears OnMidnight Club: LA - MultiplayerFar Cry 2 - MultiplayerGears of War 2 - Hands OnNeed For Speed UndercoverUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter AssaultWrite your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
Dawn of War: Winter Assault - Hands On Mini Preview
Chris Leyton
12/09/2005
TVG gets close and personal with the Imperial Guards and checks out some of the improvements in store...
We recently got our hands on a preview build to Relic Entertainmentās expansion to the popular RTS, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Those whoāve been following TVGās UK Exclusive coverage will no doubt know that the pack introduces many new features, most notably in the form of an entirely new race.
The Imperial Guard presents a significantly different challenge to those featured previously, placing a greater emphasis on defence then the more aggressive-minded races such as the Orcs and Space Marines. Naturally this goes against the grain of Dawn of War, however the Imperial Guard have a number of tricks up their sleeves when it comes to the battlefield.
Suffering from Morale issues, the low-level infantry can access the Commissar Unit which in turn makes them immune to moral damage; even better is the ability to carry out an execution with a shot in the back to inspire your troops and ensure none of them looses their heads on the battlefield.
The Imperial Guard feature a number of upgrades to take advantage of different weapons such as the āDisruptorā and gain control of powerful tanks and advanced armour. The General of the Imperial Guard can make use of a special technique dubbed the āStrafing Runā, which allows him to call in air-strikes on specific titles and a variety of augmentations such as the melee boosting Psyker Priest.
One big advantage is the ability to use tunnels, which are automatically created whenever a new building is constructed. This particular feature opens up an entirely new strategy to the world of Dawn of War, setting up the scope for surprise ambushes and gaining strategic areas without the enemy even noticing.
Opening up the latter stages of research introduces the ability to command a handful of vehicles, including the Hellhound Flamethrower Tank, a Sentinel Walker, the Baneblade Tank and the Basilisk Artillery Cannon ā“ providing the longest ranged weapon in the entire game. In addition they can also create Ogryns, blood-thirsty ogreās that even up the stakes on the front-lines.
The entire tech-tree has undergone an overhaul resulting in lower costs and build-times, which places the emphasis on researching high-level units; combined with the unit restriction, this urges playerās to look towards the high-level instead of amassing vast hordes of low-level units.
One welcoming addition is what Relic are dubbing as āpersistent decalsā, which essentially makes the battlefield a persistent world as corpses heap up and explosions scar the field forever. Combined with the frantic pace and all-new weather effects, Winter Assault is proving to be a good looking game and one that has its own distinctive sense of style.
Thereās no doubt at this stage that the Imperial Guard helps to rectify many of criticisms of Dawn of War, presenting a more cautious based faction for those that think the original was a little too aggressive and ensuring that even the veterans will have a different strategy to go up against.
That said Winter Assault still thankfully maintains the brutality and carnage of Dawn of War, so fans of the original and real-time-strategy alike should have a must-have title when Winter Assault ships later in the month.
Anonymous
Date Added:Sun 17th Aug 2008 15:14
Anonymous
Date Added:Tue 5th Aug 2008 09:52
Anonymous
Date Added:Mon 30th Jun 2008 21:00
Anonymous
Date Added:Sat 26th Apr 2008 08:00
Anonymous
Date Added:Tue 15th Apr 2008 10:52
Anonymous
Date Added:Thu 20th Mar 2008 06:01
Anonymous
Date Added:Tue 12th Feb 2008 15:37
from building to building...help
Anonymous
Date Added:Sun 13th Jan 2008 17:23
And yes, this is pissing everyone off.
Lingo
Anonymous
Date Added:Wed 26th Dec 2007 03:23
Warhammer40000 Dawn of War & Winter Assault
Date Added:Mon 24th Dec 2007 04:44