Dawn of War Open Beta

Might as well give it a try, I'm "in line" at the moment.

 

Great game even though i dont really know about this "warhammer" stuff :shrugs: other then that its a solid RTS with Tons of Chaos and mayhem Everywhere

 

Yeah I've seen some of the WarHammer stuff, but never got into it.
The game is basically Starcraft meets Ground Control. You have the basic structure building of Starcraft, however resources are not gained by mining crystals or gas. Instead there are various kinds of control points which increase the rate you get resources, and some even let you build some of the best units, buildings, and upgrades.
I'm not sure if I like the way resources are gained, however it does force a player to make contact with the enemy preventing "turtleing" (*cough* C&C: Generals *cough*). One thing for sure is that the battles are quite fun to watch. Something about a robot picking up an enemy and beating the crap out of him and then throwing his lifeless body across the screen while an orbital barrage is destroying buildings and throwing units all over the place is very entertaining.

I suggest downloading it (maybe we should put the install.exe onto an ftp since you get the beta key while installing) and at least try the tutorial.

I'll give more review info once I play some MP games.

 

*note I explain RTS terms for the n00bs reading

Multi-player is alright, leaning towards not great. It has the headaches that most RTSs have of crappy teammates and "cookie cutter tactics." In one 3vs3 game I was being rushed (attacked at the start of the game) by 2 of the enemies. I asked for help from my allies; however they did nothing but sit there and build more units. I thought maybe they didn't notice my text (which flashed on the screen for 1 second), and the gigantic red blob of enemies on the mini map. So I pinged (to make a location noticeable on the mini-map via some flashing thing) my base, however the ping in this game is some tiny unnoticeable orange x that blinks and makes no sound. So my base was destroyed and I left.

One thing that still amazes me is that there is no official ladder. In Warcraft III if you want to play a ladder match you just press the button, choose your race, what type of match ( 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, FFA), which maps you want to play, and then press search. A game is hosted by blizzard and searches for other people looking for the same game type and is about the same level as you are. The outcome of the match is then put on your record. The great thing about this method is that it eliminates: cheating hosts, false records (in C&C: Generals you could just fight the computer and get all the badges and no losses), really slow loading, and the time spent looking for the type of game you want to play. This system also encourages people to play more because the people can see your level in chat rooms, and you get cool icons for certain numbers of wins.

I know it’s still in beta; however I highly doubt that there will be any large changes. Although this game has an interesting concept, it lacks a strong multi-player system both in a match and out, which for some can make or break a game. The fact is that it can't compete with a game that has been out for over 2 years. If you want an RTS go buy Warcraft III.

 

omg how did i miss this! gotta get in on it when i get home

 

wow, now that was fun. If you haven't done it yet, get the Avatar (big burning eldar god) or a Bloodthirster (bloodlusting greater demon), they are freakin awsome to watch run out solo and destroy entire squads at a time. The whole game was a huge nastalgia trip for me. They didn't have all of the unit options from the table top game but they had quite a few. It was most fun for me to just build up everything the first time and see all of the units that i played with or that my enemies destroyed me with. I guess i'll play online next and see if i like the gameplay.
I think the single player campaign will be more enjoyable then the online play for me.

 

I am really quite enjoying it. There seems to be just a sheer coolness factor to it. Like buildings dropping out of the sky, and slamming into the ground for the space marines. I managed to take out an entire ork base with a single dreadnaught earlier this evening. Meaning the destructive power of multiple dreadnaughts is pretty much off the scale. This game definitely looks like it will be worth picking up IMO.

 

See that’s one thing that I didn't like about the game, the X unit > Y unit always unless the ratio between number of Y units to X units is 5:1. Having an "ultimate" unit > all other units takes out a lot of the tactics of the game since the tactics mostly revolves around a few units. One element that made Starcraft (which this game has been compared to in a few websites) great was the massive amounts of units which and hardly had micro (micro is basically winning by clicking faster than your opponent), this let the player use many different strategies. Having one unbeatable cookie cutter strategy really kills a game (that’s what I stopped playing Warcraft III). Even if you don't care about the strategy, hero characters make the game impossible to balance (Hell blizzard has been trying to balance Warcraft III for 2 years and they basically gave up when WoW beta started).


Plus, once you start playing online you might change your mind about the game .

 

Well see that just makes the game basically a race of who can get their ultimate unit the fastest. Having Godzilla vs. Mothra every match isn't much fun because there are hardly any tactics involved. It's just both armies attacking the others ultimate, and the person that kills the enemy’s ultimate wins the game. I personally do not like the game revolving around one unit.

 

well i must agree with myth 2 being an amazingly fun/balanced game, you cant compare it with a standard RTS since you start out with your complete army so there is no building up forces and micro-managing to get recources upgrades and buildings.

 

err its asking for a cd key....

 

well i did and didn't get anything in my email

 

Then go to file-planet and register again. The e-mail is instant.