Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

 PC
  • Publisher: THQ
  • Release Date: Sep 20, 2004
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 458 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 401 out of 458
  2. Mixed: 44 out of 458
  3. Negative: 13 out of 458
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  1. RobertM.
    Oct 6, 2006
    5
    I love playing the game why I only got in to Warhammer in 2 hours in game suit, brighton but I cant get it to work at home it odd.
  2. JohnD.
    Dec 5, 2006
    6
    The good: The idea of controlling strategic points for resources, without the tedium of building armies to gather them is excellent. The game includes the need for resource gathering and management, while making that process as light as possible. The game's art is impressive. The complex animations of many of the units make the user want to watch the battle just as much as command The good: The idea of controlling strategic points for resources, without the tedium of building armies to gather them is excellent. The game includes the need for resource gathering and management, while making that process as light as possible. The game's art is impressive. The complex animations of many of the units make the user want to watch the battle just as much as command it. I almost hated to leave battles to manage other armies or construct buildings in my base. The Bad: While the art is impressive, it is also resource intensive. Lesser computers will suffer in larger battles. The squad management is cumbersome and adds nothing to the feel or play of the game. Most maps have inadequate terrain for moving large numbers of infantry, which is the core of any army. The mini-map is missing key features which have been available on many titles which have come from years before. For example: the 40k mini-map colors all of your allies a single color, with no option to color them individually. The same goes for your enemies. Also, it isn't very clear which part of the minimap is being displayed. A circle or square on the map indicating this would be helpful. Individual unit upgrading is tedious, slow, and takes away from the ease of gameplay which we as gamers should come to expect. The AI is unbelievably poor. Units will regularly tolerate being fired upon without reacting in any way. The game has simply too many units, with ambiguous purposes. While there are both light, regular, and heavy infantry, it is unclear what the differences or advantages are. The same could be said for many of the vehicles. I'm all for unit versatility, but not redundancy. The distinctions between the races was rather slight, with many of the special abilities of units being the same thing with a different name.… Expand
  3. MikeD.
    Sep 18, 2004
    5
    It's a shame to see another game so wasted. WIth the way the resource system is set up, you have to be constantly expanding and fighting over the map; you can't build up resource production at all like in C&C generals. But even if you are constantly going around the map, what about building a huge army? No, you can't do that because units have an incredibly limited It's a shame to see another game so wasted. WIth the way the resource system is set up, you have to be constantly expanding and fighting over the map; you can't build up resource production at all like in C&C generals. But even if you are constantly going around the map, what about building a huge army? No, you can't do that because units have an incredibly limited supply/unit cap. Like you'll have a cap for vehicles at most of 20, but then the average vehicles uses up 2, leaving you with only 10 vehicles to use at once. One other problem is that the graphics don't use any modern shader effects from what I've seen, thus it doesn't bother to take advantage of the potential of graphics cards at newer than 3 years old, but it requires them for the raw performance. So while this game isn't as constraining as warcraft 3, it comes pretty close to it despite anything else good about it.… Expand
  4. Ade_the_Rare
    Jun 13, 2012
    6
    Nice graphics with some decent gameplay, but lacks the replayability value and variety that seperates an average game from a legendary one. It's a shame, because the franchise has so much potential and a lot of effort has gone into making the game look good. One outstanding thing is there's some decent customisation options you can do to your squads and vehicles to tailor them to the rolesNice graphics with some decent gameplay, but lacks the replayability value and variety that seperates an average game from a legendary one. It's a shame, because the franchise has so much potential and a lot of effort has gone into making the game look good. One outstanding thing is there's some decent customisation options you can do to your squads and vehicles to tailor them to the roles you want, which is a very nice touch.

    On the downside, only the Necrons have a "unique" feel to playing them compared to the other races, with all the other factions being essentially the same race with different skins. The Tao are fairly unique, but only because they lack many of the features the Imp/Marines/Chaos/Eldar/DEldar/SoB uni-race has. Maybe "unique" is the wrong word... "Special". Yeah that's the word.    … Expand
  5. GonzoDiamond
    Nov 1, 2015
    6
    Игра-то хорошая, но на фоне других стратегий в реальном времени смотрится блекло и скучно. Можно отбросить сюжетный режим в сторону, но тогда мы всё равно получим скучные локации, не самое удобное управление, страшненькую картинку и упрощённый геймплей. Такое чувство, будто Warcraft 3 просто неудачно клонировали. Так себе, под пивко на пару вечерков с друзьями.Игра-то хорошая, но на фоне других стратегий в реальном времени смотрится блекло и скучно. Можно отбросить сюжетный режим в сторону, но тогда мы всё равно получим скучные локации, не самое удобное управление, страшненькую картинку и упрощённый геймплей. Такое чувство, будто Warcraft 3 просто неудачно клонировали. Так себе, под пивко на пару вечерков с друзьями.
  6. MichMart
    Mar 5, 2014
    6
    Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a good strategy game, but you can't choose many civilizations and I miss the Imperial Army - my favourite civilization.
  7. Kotofon
    Jun 6, 2020
    7
    Добро пожаловать в мрачное, темное сорок первое тысячелетие! Здесь идет нескончаемая война за господство в галактике между человечеством и инопланетными расами. В эпической истории о заговоре и предательстве под вашим командованием находится элитный орден Кровавых Воронов. Вы служите императору и защищаете человечество от всех напастей во вселенной Warhammer 40000.Добро пожаловать в мрачное, темное сорок первое тысячелетие! Здесь идет нескончаемая война за господство в галактике между человечеством и инопланетными расами. В эпической истории о заговоре и предательстве под вашим командованием находится элитный орден Кровавых Воронов. Вы служите императору и защищаете человечество от всех напастей во вселенной Warhammer 40000.
  8. Vanco
    Jun 4, 2019
    7
    Good RTS of a tactical level. Features an interesting campaign with great voice acting.
  9. nw2010
    May 30, 2020
    7
    16 years after release I finally got round to playing this...

    The in-game graphics have held up in a surprisingly okay way, although textures are of a low quality compared with today (as to be expected). The graphics in the cut scenes is very 2004 :) The sound and voice acting are good throughout, although some of the voices are a bit over-egged (still quite enjoyable). I only    16 years after release I finally got round to playing this...

    The in-game graphics have held up in a surprisingly okay way, although textures are of a low quality compared with today (as to be expected). The graphics in the cut scenes is very 2004 :)

    The sound and voice acting are good throughout, although some of the voices are a bit over-egged (still quite enjoyable).

    I only played the single player campaign and enjoyed it, it was about the right length and there was a nice twist at the end. It took about 11 hours to complete on hard. I say it's about the right length as the missions can all be done in a very similar way - play defensive for a while, build up the strongest army you can and you're then unstoppable.

    Overall I found it fun and will play the expansion packs at some point.    … Expand
  10. Sinmaker
    May 27, 2020
    5
    a ser feita em breve jakjalkahslkdhalkshdlkahslkdahslkdakhldhsaldhaklshdlkahsdklah
  11. Thanatos909
    Jul 14, 2021
    7
    Не думал что ртска сможет заинтересовать меня, но эта игра таки смогла приятно удивить.
    Множество играбельных сторон на выбор, со своим оригинальным геймплеем, а так же замечательный лор настолько завлёк, что я разом установил все дополнения и поочерёдно прошёл их. Имея опыт прохождение всех следующих дополнений, могу сказать что первая часть немного уж плохо сохранилась, поэтому советую    Не думал что ртска сможет заинтересовать меня, но эта игра таки смогла приятно удивить.
    Множество играбельных сторон на выбор, со своим оригинальным геймплеем, а так же замечательный лор настолько завлёк, что я разом установил все дополнения и поочерёдно прошёл их. Имея опыт прохождение всех следующих дополнений, могу сказать что первая часть немного уж плохо сохранилась, поэтому советую начинать играть сразу с последнего дополнения -"Soulstorm". Кардинально игра не меняется, разница лишь в том, что последнее дополнение это та же первая часть, но на максималках. С огромным выбором сторон, интересной сюжеткой, прокачкой командира, нормальной графикой, улучшенным геймплеем и с прочими улучшениями.
    6 "запомни, кольцо выдёргивать, а гранату кидать" из 10    … Expand
  12. Naked_Snakee
    Apr 7, 2023
    7
    Just text (crutch) to save the game to the list. Such things. Maybe I'll do a review later.

Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best PC Game of 2004
14
#14 Most Discussed PC Game of 2004
11
#11 Most Shared PC Game of 2004

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 51 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 51
  3. Negative: 0 out of 51
  1. GameCritics
    75
    Everything that Dawn of War does it does exceptionally well. The only real problem is that everything it does has already been done a hundred times before.
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  2. PALGN
    85
    The best real-time strategy for a long time. If you have been searching for a real-time strategy game your search is over, whether you are a Warhammer 40,000 fan or not.
    Read full review
  3. Gaming Target
    93
    A few minor camera flaws are easily overshadowed by the visceral combat experience that Dawn of War offers.
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