RTS Games: Atmosphere

So I've rehooked myself on the strategy game Dawn of War II lately, and am enjoying it a lot when I get time to grab a match.

Relic Games seem to have a great knack for making very immersive, exciting strategy games. In the days of old, playing Command and Conquer, real time strategy games were fun, but not really all that visceral.

That changed with Dawn of War, an RTS from Relic based on the Warhammer 40k world. I've never been a tabletop gamer myself (and in fact, the game was my introduction to the whole W40k thing), but Relic managed to bring the subject matter to intense life.

In DoW, your units were no longer generic pixellated tanks that just muttered "K." when you clicked a button.

Space Marines screamed "For the Emperor!" as they ploughed knife-first into crowds of Chaos Cultists. The Imperial Guard Assassin droned "One shot...is all I need..." in hushed monotone as he slaughtered enemies from afar.

Chaos, by contrast, had you leading an army of reckless psychotics. Chaos Marines burst out laughing at random intervals, muttered "Yeeeeessss!" and started twitching even when just standing around.

The Chaos tank driver was my personal favourite. His gravelly yell of "After a thousand battles, one only sees DEATH!" was a pleasure to behold.

The arrogant Eldar gloated smugly as they vapourised thuggish Orks, and Orks provided a really great comedic boost.

Firing a machinegun isn't all that funny, but a big, stupid muscly green thing firing a poorly made machinegun and shouting "Don't touch da teef! I want da teef!" tends to raise a smile.

One huge leap forward was that units could enter melee, and would actually fight each other in hand to hand combat rather than just stand there as in  many other previous strategy games. 

Then there was Company of Heroes after DoW, a WWII RTS game that balanced humour with grim violence delicately and respectfully. CoH added situational dialogue and music along with sound effects that raised the bar for RTS immersion.

Music at the start of the game would be quiet with an ominous tinge as you began to mobilise your troops. Soldiers would chat casually as you moved them around the map.

Then you'd run into an enemy MG42 team hiding in a house, and suddenly the music became a frenzied orchestra. The guns roar, bullets whizz and thud and your men hurl profanities as they lie down in a ditch. You move back to base to send out more guys, and can hear the first squad screaming for help through the radio. Intense to say the least.

Dawn of War II takes the best intense bits of CoH and the great factions of DoW, and splices them together to create a game that is grin-inducing fun even when you're getting completely hammered - a quality that is as rare in games as it is welcome.