There is great joy to be had in watching big things smash into each other.
It’s a fact. A prima facie truth, which Relic Entertainment’s long awaited Warhammer 40,000 strategy sequel understands more than any other in its genre. Within minutes of my first multiplayer game in Dawn of War 3 – a feisty one-on-one against an old friend and fellow DoW veteran – I had their whole army, plus one of the most enormous units in the series’ history, suspended in mid air and torn apart at the seams with one colossal beam of energy; a last-gasp trap I’d laid in one final, desperate defence. Quite the spectacle, even if my friend did have to ‘suddenly leave’ soon after.
Dawn of War 3Publisher: SegaDeveloper: Relic EntertainmentPlatform: Reviewed on PCAvailability: Out now on PC
Dawn of War 3’s delivery of these joyous moments, mind, is somewhat inconsistent. It often stumbles, from baffling swings in the competency of its AI opponents to curious missteps in presenting crucial information on units, resources, and interactions. Anyone versed in real-time strategy will likely lament the rigid nature of its online component, and if you’ve even poked a nose into the 40,000 community, you’ll have a good idea of what they think about front-flipping Terminator armour.
These are inevitable byproducts of developer Relic’s audacious gamble on merging previously disparate games and genres into one. And it is a gamble, because like so many things, you need to risk a little to gain a lot – and, when it does all come together, Dawn of War 3 is exceptional. Like its own brilliantly realised race of Orks prove, clumsy execution matters not if your Morkanaut lands a hard enough punch.
The appetite for revolution in Dawn of War games is omnipresent. Previous incarnations of the series’ fanatical 40,000 universe have operated on entirely opposite ends of the spectrum. The first Dawn of War – and its superb expansions Winter Assault, Dark Crusade, and Soulstorm – took the more traditional RTS route of grand scale and total freedom for the player, through a range of modes on big, open, widely varying maps. Dawn of War 2 flipped it all on its head for small, squad-based micromanagement, running role-play elements of unit improvement, and a deeper dive into the tactical mechanics of cover, suppression, and active abilities.