4 stars (Adds a bunch of new content, but not a lot of campaign.) - The Winter Assault expansion pack for Dawn of War is a great expansion to a game that was a standout real time strategy game last year.
The main complaint about the original Dawn of War, that the single player campaign only let you play Space Marines, has been answered with this expansion. The focus of the story is taken off the Space Marines and moved squarely on to the shoulders of the new faction the Imperial Guard.
While the other factions in the game receive new units and upgrades the Imperial Guard is new altogether for Winter Assault and they provide a very different style of play.
The new campaign itself is divided into two parts. In one part you start play as the Imperial Guard and switch off to play as the Eldar. In the other part you start as Chaos and switch off to play as Orks. The timelines remain the same in both parts, but the story advances from a different perspective. This is unlike games such as Warcraft III or Starcraft where the plot advances as you play each faction.
The cheat here is that you end up playing the same two maps towards the end for all the different races. The second to the last mission in each part forces you to make a choice between one of the two races you have been following up till now as to which one you will take to the end (ie you played Chaos and Orks, you choose to take one of them to the final mission, same if you played the Eldar and Imperial Guard side). The last two missions are always played on the same maps for all the races, though the goals are different for the most part. So, while you do get to play as all the different races (excluding the Space Marines, which were covered thoroughly in the first game) the differences in some ways are minimal.
While this could have dragged the game down it really doesn't, but it does make the single player play time a big shorter as the only missions that you get to play differently for each of the races are the last two. It's an innovative way to keep from having to develop a lot of content and it works for the most part, but it definitely doesn't have the scope of something like the Frozen Throne expansion for Warcraft III.
Thankfully the additions to the game in the form of units and the new Imperial Guard faction add a lot to the game overall and make multiplayer more interesting. The Imperial Guard at first seem very weak, but since they play a lot differently than any of the other factions it takes time to realize where their strengths lie. In fact the Imperial Guard have a decided advantage in that they field one basic unit for most of the game that is cheap and easy to upgrade. They also benefit from being able to use buildings as cover for their units. Then as they advance into the late game they are able to field some of the most powerful mechanized units in the game, the Lemann Russ tank and the massive Baneblade.
The other factions gain new hero units and upgrades that don't change their general strategies overall, but give them some more depth and in some ways allow them better counters against certain races.
Chaos receives the Khorne Berserker an easy to obtain unit in their tech tree that is devastating in close combat.
Space Marines receive the Chaplain unit a powerful warrior that causes surrounding friendly squads to regenerate faster.
Orks receive Mega Armored Nobs which are limited in speed, but receive upgrades that allow them to become walking tanks.
Eldar get the Fire Dragon which is fantastic against vehicles and buildings.
Overall, the expansion is lacking somewhat in single player campaign content. It would have been nice to have unique missions for each race, but as it stands the missions are well done and fun to play. The addition of the Imperial Guard changes the game dynamics a lot and the added units for the other factions gives them a nice refresh. Multiplayer is still a lot of fun whether you play against other people or against the AI. While some may find this expansion lacking I think it is a decent buy for $25 and adds enough content to make it a worthwhile purchase for a Dawn of War fan.
5 stars (A good exp pack to pick up ...) - I loved Dawn of War so I'm a bit biased! ... but this was a good expansion pack to the original game. It adds a new race that is a challenge to play. While I have not played this online w/ my friends (they have, unfortunately, not picked it up yet?!?!?), I have played the campaign which is a little cheesy - but the playability of the new Imperial guard race is great! Good game!
1 stars (Game does not work.) - I bought this game because I enjoyed the original so much. But when I installed this game, I experienced multiple errors and difficulty installing it. Once I finally got it installed, the game doesn't start.
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=73787
That is the link to the relic forums where multiple people are having the same problems.
Don't buy this game if you want to avoid wasting 3 hours of your time. |
