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The sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War impresses. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Winter Assault improves on what made the so good in the first place, the excellent offense. The addition of new units to the old factions, a new single-player campaign, and a new playable faction add a lot to the game. There are a few tweaks here and there that make the game stronger as well.
The game’s single player portion focuses on four of the factions in the game. While Dawn of War focused on the space marines, you’ll play as the four remaining factions in Winter Assault. This includes the new imperial guard faction. You’ll take two groups through five missions each, all of which are pretty considerable. The first group is called “order” and includes the imperial guard and the eldar factions. The other group is the side of disorder and includes the remaining two factions, the orks and chaos. By the end of the campaign though, you’ll find out that your two factions don’t always get along and for the final mission you’ll play as the faction you like best. The story is told through scripted events that sometimes feel a bit too scripted but nonetheless progress the story well. The single player lasts about 12 hours, which is pretty good for a multiplayer oriented game.
Like Dawn of War, the game doesn’t require you to tediously acquire resources to use. Dawn of War focused mainly on the offense, you took one of the four factions—the space marines, the chaos, the eldar, or the orks—and attacked often and early. Winter Assault introduces a new faction—the Imperial Guard—and these generally focus on building a strong defense, researching more technologically complex skills and attacking slowly but strongly. The Imperial Guard appeared in a few missions of the original game but are fully playable here. Unique abilities include being able to quickly move infantry troops, the ability of garrisoning troops in vehicles and buildings, and being able to call vehicles a bit later in the game. The new faction adds some good balance to the game and is pretty friendly to beginners, allowing the franchise to reach more than hardcore real time strategy fans.
The game’s multiplayer was positively affected by the changes. The game was already fast paced, but since units and builders are more quickly build in this version, you’ll notice a lot more variety in the battlefield. This eliminates a bit of the cheap rush offensives, since players will be surprised if they build an army of low level units only to find a decent-sized squad of higher level units waiting for them at the opponent’s base. Overall, multiplayer is definitely enjoyable.
The game’s visuals are top-notch. The insane battles that made the game so popular in the first place are perfectly recreated here. You’ll see a number of units onscreen at the same time, and they’ll actually remain there when they die which is an appreciated change from the original game. The new units are very detailed, though they lack the color and fantasy elements of the other units. Some new particle effects like the falling snow make the game a bit prettier overall.
The game’s audio is quite stunning. The voice acting is a bit too dramatic for my taste but fits pretty well within the game’s atmosphere. The sound effects are appropriate and quite fitting, but nothing out of the ordinary. The soundtrack is the sound’s highlight since the score manages to make an impact on you instead of just falling into the background.
Winter Assault probably won’t covert you if you didn’t enjoy the original game. The expansion pack isn’t perfect but it offers enough new stuff to make it a worthwhile purchase if you already picked up the original game. If you passed on Dawn of War because of its complexity, the new, easier to use faction may change your mind. -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Oct 22, 2005
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