Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III

Unquestionably, there's a buzz around the release of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III. Not only is it based on a wildly popular miniature wargame franchise. But this particular series of video games has also brought some of the most exciting real-time strategy combat in the market. It's been 6-years in the making since its predecessor, so we're dying to play.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III seeks to upgrade its experience by taking a step out of the norm, adding in MOBA components for gameplay. At the same time, you could see that working among the theme syncing it with RTS mechanics may concern long-time fans of the franchise. It could hinder what made the game series great in the first place.

Rebirth and Retribution

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III carried a lot of weight on its shoulders when first announced. Expectations are high for this installment in nearly every sense of the phrase. Players want to see the engaging storyline, the immersive combat, and the outstanding visuals carried over from the previous games and enhanced.

Does Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III succeed in that front? Well, you can't say that it doesn't. The character models and environments look stunning. The story taps into the wealth of lore, and getting stuck into colossal scale battles couldn't be more fun. The nuances of gameplay throw the verdict of the great game into question.

Given the popularity of MOBAs, there was a design decision to twist ultimate objectives into destroying power cores rather than dominating the battlefield. It detracts from the immersion factor because it feels so gimmicky. Rather than tell your story through sweeping enemy bases, you're forced into this one way of winning your fights. That's not helped because the 'elites' feel ridiculously overpowered.

But it is hard to say that Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III isn't enjoyable because of that. It still is a good RTS game on the surface and could quickly draw in any new players as much as fans. It's just those long-term players who might find an issue with the experimental parts of the game that stray from the roots of what made them so famous.

Hold Your Hammer High

We can't sugarcoat the fact that Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III will disappoint many fans because of the design direction it took. What really should have been a modern upgrade on the previous installments decided to jump on a genre trend and turn it into a MOBA. That fact will probably have players returning to Starcraft 2 - Wings Of Liberty for their sci-fi RTS fix.

Round-Up - Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Combat is still exciting and entertaining
• Level and campaign design is immersive
• Polished gameplay, albeit different from other installments

Cons:

• Elites are overpowered
• Franchise fans will not like it's stray away from traditional RTS