Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Winter Assault

E3 Preview 2005

Enter the Imperial Guard!

It’s a new race being introduced into the Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War universe, and it comes with the pending expansion Winter Assault. Relic designers are calling this expansion a “visceral experience.”

To that end, the developers have enhanced the cinematic experience, will allow for more units and more tanks on the battlefield, and are introducing a new user interface (GUI) for the Imperial guard. The other races, standard to the series, will sport the same interfaces that players have come to know.

The single-player campaign sports 12 missions, and players can side with the good or evil races in the game. This is a game that combines fantasy with military reality. There are mages and heavy artillery (and no, that does not mean oversized mages with guns). Relic is working to ensure that the multiplayer experience is as dynamic as it was in Dawn of War. Players will be able to fight it out in both jungle and urban areas.

For Winter Assault, the battlefield is stark, and laboring under the frozen touch of the season. This is a perfect setting to juxtapose the startling special effects against, and does not detract from the main star of the title – the combat. From the Khrone Berzerkers lumbering and deadly attacks, to the Space Marines Chaplain (who is somewhat range oriented but can still ‘slug’ it out with the best of them), the game is fast paced and the action is not localized – meaning you will likely have to attend to chaotic clashes all over the place during the more intense moments of the game.

Graphically this game shines. It appears to be working off the same engine behind Relic’s other pending release (Company of Heroes, slated for 2006), but the details and texturing are eye candy at its tastiest.

The peek at this title offered at THQ’s Pre-E3 event recently in San Francisco did not allow for any hands-on, but it appears that players of the original title will have little trouble picking this one up and immersing themselves in the rich world.

Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War: Winter Assault is slated to ship for the PC at the end of 2005.