Dawn of War 2

[Nick]

Well, the announcement was made. The website was launched. The screenshots made me cream.

http://dawnofwar2.com/us/home

[Nappi]

Certainly looks nice.

I'm not a big fan of the sci-fi/fantasy setting, but I did like Company of Heroes a lot so I might have to check this out. Are there any major differences between CoH and Dawn of War gameplaywise?

[Thrik]

Company of Heroes and Dawn of War do play very similarly, making the former a kind of spiritual sequel. Playing Dawn of War 2 will probably be like playing the third in the spiritual series, although technically the second in the Dawn of War series. If that makes any sense.

There are some key differences, such as a greater emphasis on upgrade abilities and vehicles in Dawn of War. By and large though, they both feel like they're from the same pedigree and they both have Relic's general philosophy of encouraging field-based action rather than turtling in your base. This combined with the unusual resource/money system was the foundation of both games' success and uniqueness.

Chances are if you enjoy one you'll enjoy the other just as much — I know I did. I didn't think I'd like the Warhammer setting of Dawn of War much, but the sci-fi Warhammer is surprisingly cool when put into a game context and indeed feels like it always belonged in a game. Having a sci-fi game with such a rich backstory makes an interesting change from the shallow shit we put up with these days too.

[DanJW]

Yummy!

Oh and I really have to set the record straight. At a glance 40K may just seem like "orcs and elves in spaaaaace", but it has long since evolved beyond that. The background is really gritty and dark, and not in a "trying too hard" kind of way. It's more like space horror than space fantasy.

When you read that the only way humanity can navigate around the galaxy is by the psychic beacon on Earth, and that beacon is fueled by the consumption of millions of psychic human souls... and humanity is the good guys... well that has a certain charm

[Nappi]

I have neither positive or negative opinion towards Warhammer 40K, although I find it mildly more intriguing than some other similar franchises. It's just sci-fi in general I'm not that interested about, mostly because I feel like I had to study a whole lot of physics bending concepts before I could fully enjoy the experience.

The austerity (if that is the correct word) of the face-hammering teaser trailer really fascinated me, however. Along with this kind of approach.

[DanJW]

That motivational poster put a big smile on my face. It is now my desktop.

MWHAHAHAHAHAH

[Scrobbs]

Nappi, do you play CoH online? my main profile is norfolknclue if you want to add...

[Nappi]

Nope. For some reason online rts has never interested me. Haven't had time to play anything else either lately for that matter.

[twmac]

Okay, this is going to sound a little out of place but please hear me out.

After talking to someone about how DAwn of War works it got me to thinking about an old Bitmap brothers game called Z.

I have an original copy of it somewhere but I'm pretty certain it won't run on any current PC (it is DOS based if I remember correctly).

Does anyone know where I can download a version that would work on a current PC (legitimately would be great but, you know)? I have an aching to play it again.

Trying to keep my PC as game free as possible or else I will never get any work done but I would really like to revisit some old classics like Z.

[Ginger]

It might have been because I was a kid at the time but I remember Z be insanely challenging. Mind you I've never fully gotten into RTS, I've always liked the idea but the there is usually something in the implementation that just doesn't click with me, afraid it was the same for DoW but I reckon I'll give 2 a go. (Oh one RTS I totally adored was RTW, tried medieval TW 2 and it just didn't feel as good)

[Nappi]

twmac, maybe dosbox will help?

[ysbreker]

Z was insanely difficult.I found this wiki-entry about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(computer_game)

[DanJW]

I never really played much of Z, but I do remember it having excellent character design and being very funny.

[Thrik]

Z was insanely difficult.I found this wiki-entry about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_(computer_game)

Looks like a Windows 95 version was released, with some gameplay changes too. Be sure to read the article. ;

[Scrobbs]

Ginger, you should really give Company of Heroes a go. It is nothing like C&C really. It's very fast, frantic and incredibly invovling!

[twmac]

twmac, maybe dosbox will help?

Thanks, I'll give it a whirl as soon as I get my hands on the copy.

Z just took awhile of getting used to, it was why I liked it because you had to completely relearn how to play the RTS as the last thing you could do was sit back and wait as one was accustomed with Command and Conquer and Dune.