Instead, it’s a game where understanding the active and passive capabilities of each unit is critical, so that you know how to use fast-moving assault troops, sneaky snipers and powerful mechs. The old ‘lasso a big group then click on your objective’ tactic doesn’t work. This isn’t a game where superior numbers always win, or where you can afford to hurl cannon fodder troops at well-defended bases. Where Dawn of War 3 differs is in demanding more attention to the nitty-gritty detail. While the series has you capturing and holding resource points, rather than actively harvesting, the general pattern of building and developing your base, recruiting units, building your army and dominating the map will be familiar to anyone who ever battled their way through a Command & Conquer, a StarCraft, or even the more recent Halo Wars 2. On the one hand, this is still your classic RTS. There are signs of tension – of an RTS wanting to be all things to all men – but nothing that impedes a great RTS experience. It also works as a bridge between the two camps of Dawn of War fans, catering for those who loved the epic battles of the original title and fans of the more intimate, Diablo-influenced flavour of its sequel.
This is a smart, modern take on the genre, bringing in ideas from the the RTS’s bastard offspring, the MOBA, but retaining the high-level strategy and scale that once made Dawn of War and its ancestors so exciting. Dawn of War 3 might not be the game to pull the RTS back to its late-1990s/early 2000s heyday, but it isn’t for want of trying.