Image source: http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/03/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-iii-announced-with-a-rain-of-corpses/
For the last 7 years, my favourite game has undoubtedly been the 2009 real-time-strategy game release Dawn of War II, a highly ordained sequel to the massively popular 2004 RTS Dawn of War and both based off of the in-depth and much-loved Warhammer 40,000 franchise. I used to play DoW 2 daily and still partake in it regularly, it truly is a wonderful experience for someone who grew up loving the shit out of the Warhammer 40,000 universe and while I loved the original 2004 game I tend to prefer the 2009 sequel for its more company-level tactical-based combat with more precise actions that came out of THQ and Relic Entertainment's previous works on the 2006 World War 2-set RTS Company of Heroes. This doesn't mean that the original 2004 game is bad at all, its really just down to personal taste and preference.
Regardless, this has been one of my favourite franchises in video games over the years and aside from the Dawn of War games, the peeps at Warhammer 40,000's Games Workshop have ok'd the making of some other great titles like the 3rd-person shooter Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (2011) or the late 1990s Space Hulk games. Therefore, I was a bit perplexed when the only significant releases after the last Dawn of War 2 expansion pack Retribution (2011) were crappy lane-defence games produced by third-rate driving game developers. So Imagine my joy and nostalgic inner-fanboy going mental with convulsions when I saw and heard about the recent release for a cinematic announcement trailer for Dawn of War 3.
YouTube link for the cinematic trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN8geCTlZOo
Now there are some problems with this trailer which I feel should only be right to go through before getting into why I'm so excited by this recent announcement. First and most apparent is the fact that a cinematic trailer only really gives you some idea about the story of a game and never really reveals anything about the gameplay and thus there really isn't too much to know about the game in this trailer aside from what races from the Warhammer 40,000 universe will be in the game when it comes out. I know this comes without saying as many have stated before about cinematic trailers, really I think one could make a solid argument from this point that cinematic trailers are pointless. However, it does make for an interesting marketing tactic that will undoubtedly raise up buzz for the upcoming release and increase clicks on gaming websites like Gamespot or Joystick. Therefore, it makes reasonable practical sense to release a cinematic trailer but I do feel a bit irritated by the fact that there is little to really know about the game from the simple fact that we haven't seen much of either the story or gameplay in Dawn of War 3 judging from this cinematic trailer.
The second major concern I have about this trailer is more of a subjective and personal one but I do think it is worth taking up to some extent. One thing that has defined the best RTS titles over the years is an abundance of several and varied armies and/or races to play with throughout the game. This in particular has been something prevalent with the previous two Dawn of War games with the original game having 8 races to pick from after its third and final expansion pack Soulstorm (2008) marking it out as a highly diverse and varied title with many gameplay styles. Therefore, I was a bit pissed off that judging from what I've seen in the cinematic trailer for Dawn of War 3, only 3 races at first seem to be the eldar, orks and Imperial space marines and that unlike the first two games, the first iteration of this one will not start off with at least four races. I suppose this game has been one in the making for a long time but I would hope that they would at least stick true to the inherent variety of the franchise up to this point. It also galls me that an RTS in this day and age would include such a small start to its content but to be fair, the cinematic trailer really doesn't reveal too much about the gameplay which could end up covering up for all this and ensure that this becomes a moot point.
The only other real major concerns I have around the trailer have come out of official statements made by Relic and Game Workshop in the wake of the trailer as more and more information has filtered out. For one, despite the fact that the companies have not revealed the release date of Dawn of War 3 there is a possibility that it may be revealed in the next several months but I am hoping the date will be sometime before late 2017. Look, I can be patient but I really do not want to be kept long for this. Is this down to fanboyism? Yeah, probably but I really can't help it. The last main concern I have is that the single-player campaign is apparently going to be an interwoven story in a gameplay sense with each race generally playing through the same campaign. Now if they do what was done in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade (2006, yeah, 2006 was a great year for RTS titles) and have all the races in the game play through the campaign but play with their own specific narratives then I won't really mind but considering the sheer focus on story that was so prevalent in DoW2 it does strike me with a bit of concern that such a centralised story may not come into play as much as it has done in the previous games. I could be getting overly-worried about this and like I said above, the gameplay could easily make up for this in an abundance of enjoyment and good design but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
So what is there good about this? Everything else. No really. Much like a Sainsbury's sausage, onion gravy and mash potato ready meal served with some beans and peas and a can of Stella Artois after coming home from an 8 hour shift as a kitchen porter (something I have experience of believe me), I'm more than willing to accept the nourishment and good points of this trailer over any of the misgivings I have about it. Do these misgivings play into my opinions about the upcoming release? Of course and they never will stop doing so until I actually play the game but I really can't deny my own nostalgic joy about the announcement of DoW3's upcoming release. Sure I am being bias about this but I really can't help it too much. At the very least I can tell you I am just giving my honest opinion on this trailer and the issues surrounding it and that's all I can really do in this situation. Sorry if I am not objective enough for your liking here as I may have been with my last trailer reaction but its just the way your uncle Ted operates. At the very least I can say that this title is going to get my support, as bias as that support may be.
So as always, I hope you lovelies have had as much fun and informative nourishment from this blog as much as I have had researching, editing and writing it and until next time I wish you all best wishes and remember to have fun, stay safe, don't do anything I wouldn't do and I'll be seeing you all on the battlefield!
