Home Gaming E3 2016: Dawn of War III – epic battles look simply gorgeous

E3 2016: Dawn of War III – epic battles look simply gorgeous

3 min read
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Dawn of War III (6)

I have absolutely zero experience with the Dawn of War series. There, I said it!

Can you blame me though? Warhammer 40K, the tabletop franchise the RTS is based off, has been around for almost three decades now. Thinking about all the lore that exists makes my head spin!

After having seen Dawn of War III in action at E3 however, I think I’m ready to take the plunge into the world if 40K. It’s futuristic, brutal, and oh so beautifully chaotic – even in its pre-alpha state. That, and the game itself looks like a lot of fun to play.

Dawn of War III (1)

The preview kicked off with the player controlling a Space Marine leader called Gabriel Angelos, who I’m told is a returning character. He finds himself all alone on a frozen planet. Despite warnings from an ally, Lady Solaria, to hold back, he barges off into battle.

And damn, is he capable of taking and dishing out tons of damage. Being a hero unit, Angelos is well armoured, and has good few abilities up his sleeves. He wields a war hammer (ha!) that has several uses. He can flip it up into the air for example, and bring it crashing down again to do a huge whackload of AOE damage to nearby enemies.

His next move is similar, except it has environmental applications, such as allowing him to leap across chasms or map obstacles. In the demo for example, enemies shot at him from atop a hill. Gabriel leapt up and brought his hammer down with a smash, making short work of them.

Dawn of War III (2)

After killing literally dozens of enemies, Gabriel is then joined by his ally, Lady Solaria. She pilots a huge suit of armour, that somehow proves to be even more of a killing tool than the hammer I just saw in action.

Ok I say somehow, but it really isn’t surprising. Solaria is huge – she towers over Gabriel as if he’s a small puppy! We are told that the she is one of the game’s super units – the biggest that’s ever been produced.

If I thought I’d seen enough Eldar blood to last me a life time, I was wrong. Lady Solaria turns even more of them into mincemeat with her dual gatling gun ability. As if that wasn’t destructive enough, she’s also capable of firing off several rockets for some delicious AOE goodness.

Dawn of War III (5)

With the two hero units on offense, the Elder army really don’t stand a chance. Soon though, they bolster their ranks, and Gabriel and Solaria are no longer strong enough to take them all on alone.

We are briefly shown some of the base building mechanics, and before I know it, I’m witnessing battles of epic proportions. Gabriel swung his hammer, Solaris fired off all of her huge weapons, and the smaller forces took part in their own wild skirmishes – all on the same screen.

This right here is where  I think fell in love with the game. I’m not the biggest RTS fan, but I do enjoy the likes of StarCraft for example. How I’ve never played a Dawn of War title before is beyond me. The chaos that took place on that screen looked really, really enticing, and gorgeous too I might add.

Dawn of War III (3)

How Dawn of War III compares to previous games in the franchise, I can’t say. What I can say though is that it’s looking mighty excellent thus far.

I mean, if it appeals to me – somebody who’s never dabbled with 40K before – how then, will fans feel about it? I’m pretty sure they’ll love what they see when the game launches in 2017.

Last Updated: June 24, 2016

14 Comments

  1. Holy shit I can’t wait for this game to come out!!!!

    Reply

  2. Sageville

    June 24, 2016 at 10:10

    Looks like remastered Helldivers….

    Reply

  3. Ottokie

    June 24, 2016 at 10:23

    This reminds me that I should try and finish Starcraft sometime before diving into another RTS 😛

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Maximum Effort

      June 24, 2016 at 10:23

      Lel, I’ve only played WoL

      Reply

  4. Alien Emperor Trevor

    June 24, 2016 at 10:33

    Oh, so you’ve played Starcraft – aka Warhammer 40k-lite.

    Reply

  5. miaau

    June 24, 2016 at 11:13

    play Dawn of War 1. It is awesome.

    This looks more like Dawn of War 1, I hope. That is awesome. AND Gabriel…

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      June 24, 2016 at 11:24

      DoW 1s opening cinematic alone, is worth the download.

      Reply

      • miaau

        June 24, 2016 at 11:27

        Totally. It is awesome. The 4 expansions get very samey, with poor stories BUT extra races to play as.

        But the first one…. Cool, if obvious, story. Is fun, you feel engaged with the characters. Gabriel…..

        Reply

        • Matthew Holliday

          June 24, 2016 at 11:30

          first one is great, story driven etc, got an A+ at the time, not sure how well its aged
          I still open up Dark Crusade every now and then to play a bit, though, solid game, aged well, less story, but, honor guard etc, good stuff

          Reply

          • miaau

            June 24, 2016 at 11:34

            I played them ALL again December 2012. Was super fun.

          • Matthew Holliday

            June 24, 2016 at 11:38

            I could never get into Winter Assault

            I tried so hard, but the puny Imperial Guard are only worth the effort on the table top game, all this DoW talk has me itching to throw my money at some of the models again

          • miaau

            June 24, 2016 at 11:59

            Winter Assault was ok, it had a story, the others, just fight, fight, I did not like.

            Imperial Guard where ok, once you learn they are not space marines! I had to learn that and then grew to love the plucky bastards.

      • miaau

        June 24, 2016 at 11:28

        BUT: Star Wars Broodwars has the best opening Cinematic of all time.

        “Where is the air support?” AWESOMEEEEEEEEE

        Reply

  6. Matthew Holliday

    June 24, 2016 at 11:31

    Dawn of War: Dark Crusade is R35 on steam atm.
    Do yourself a favour.

    Reply

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