Dawn of War III – It’s WAAAAGH Time

Many years have passed since the release of Warhammer Dawn of War II (6 years actually) and Relic has finally released Dawn of War III! The last time I played DoW was back in 2004 when the original one came out and I must say that Dawn of War III has improved a lot on this classic. With normal RTS games, you would normally play each races campaign individually but in Dawn of War III, you play each mission of the races right after each other (Space Marines, Orks and then Eldar). This for me is a breath of fresh air in regards to single player missions for RTS, this gives you a perspective for each race that you normally won’t get.

The tutorial section of Dawn of War III really gets you going in the game (especially when you haven’t played DoW recently). The control scheme for the game is very close to your normal RTS games, I say very close because the guys at Relic has decided to include a MOBA type play style in between your normal macro and micro gameplay. To me, it feels like they have tried very hard (and got it right) to balance all this. It might put off veteran RTS players and maybe devotees of the franchise, but in the long run might get more players. Where you see this MOBA feature really kick in is with your multiplayer games. It makes the multiplayer bit more exciting for me, as you call your champion in just at the right time and they can help you turn around the match just like that…or in my case lose (but that again is also Telkom’s fault).

What they also introduced into Dawn of War III is larger-scale units for each race, for the Space Marines you get the Imperial-Knights, the Elder gets the Wraithknight’s and the Ork’s has their Nauts. With the additions of the Champion selection, you also get Doctrines. With Doctrines, you get to add extra features to your units in the game. This can range from larger attack area for a specific unit or even better healing from your buildings. The doctrines that you select also gets pulled into your multiplayer games (a feature that I wished Starcraft 2 had!). The pre-rendered CGI videos are glorious eye candy and I can watch them over and over.

Overall I must say I am really impressed with Dawn of War III and would really recommend it to any and all RTS fans and also to Warhammer fans. The sound design is epic and same goes for the graphics. With added features like doctrines, MOBA type champions and the Army painter, it is really worthwhile to get. This is your local mad scientist signing out….I’m off to see an Ork the terrible Ork of WAAAAAGH!

Additional Information

Reviewed on: PC
Available on: PC
Genre: RTS
Age Rating: 13
Publisher/Developer: Sega/Relic Entertainment
Estimated RRP: R555
Release Date: 27 April 2017

Likes

• Love that you play each race campaign after each other, instead of doing one race at a time
• The soundtrack is epic! Love the hard rock tune that plays when you trigger the WAAAAGH tower
• The Army painter feature makes you want to get some Warhammer figures and paint them!

Dislikes

• Had a slight delay with the matchmaking, but I chalk that up to SA connectivity
• Otherwise there is nothing to dislike