Dragon Age: Origins and Dawn of War II are two of my favorite games of all time, but unfortunately, it turns out the release dates for the expansions Chaos Rising and Awakening are a mere five days apart. Personally, I haven't decided if I'm getting one or the other (or both) yet, but here's the rundown.
Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising comes out in less than 6 days, on March 11th, with a $29.99 price tag, bringing Chaos Space Marines into the mix. Unfortunately, the single player campaign is still Blood Ravens only and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of content outside of new missions. Fortunately, the expansion does upgrade the existing armies with the introduction of the Space Marine Librarian, Ork Weirdboy, Eldar Wraithguard, and Tyranid Genestealer Brood and Tyrant Guard. Normally when I play DoWII, I go Eldar, so this news is kind of meh, and on top of that, I'm not really as big on Chaos Space Marines as I am Chaos Daemons or Dark Eldar, and no one's even heard a word about poor Necrons.For pre-ordering Chaos Rising on Steam or through Gamestop, you get Saints Row 2 free, which is some totally unrelated GTA knockoff from last year, so also meh. However, this game has absolutely phenomenal multiplayer, and I know pretty much everyone and their grandmas will be getting it, so I really hate being left out. Good news is, you don't have to get the expansion to play with people who have it, you just wont be able to play as CSM or go through the new campaign levels, so if you just play multiplayer and Chaos isn't your thing (like me) then it's easier to save that 30 bucks and wait for something better.
Awakening comes out on March 16th, and also looks to be equally awesome and disappointing. The story takes place after the end of Dragon Age: Origins, and gives players the option of either importing an existing character or starting anew as a Grey Warden from Orlais. It centers around a mysterious figure known as the Architect (read the 2nd Dragon Age book, The Calling, I highly recommend it.) and incorporates five new recruitable party members as well as cameos of some old faces. The biggest letdown of this expansion is that it seems to have a total lack of content anywhere near different from the last game, and is actually missing quite a few components that made the original so amazing. Yeah, you get new spells, a few new specializations,but there's no new origin stories, no romances (preexisting or not) at all, and you can't even use your DLC or promotional collectors items. On top of that, the expansion is a whopping $39.99 and you get absolutely nothing for pre-purchasing it except a facepalm when you see it on sale for $10 cheaper a week later. Overall, unless this expansion has some mind-blowing new adventures and plot twists, it's going to feel like a hastily finished cheap ploy at riding the publicity wave the original created.
As silly of a question it is to ask an audience that is predominantly 40K players, what video games are making their way onto your shelf this March, if any at all?
Cripes, I havn't played a game in ages, somewhere in the region of 3 months - if I don't include Eve online, where all I did was mine while I was working :P (and have since cancelled my subscription because it was too distracting).
ReplyDeleteBy the sounds of things, both of those games seem to be a bit of a let down. I'm always sceptical of anything DoWII related though, because I was expecting something alot different (more like Company of Heroes) and because it didn't fit those expectations I'm prejudiced against it :P
I guess what I'm really trying to say from this epically long comment is: I don't have any plans to buy a game at the moment, because either I don't like any of the new releases on XBox and PC, or the ones I would like wouldn't work on my laptop (and were released last year).
Actually, Saint's Row 2 was pretty much the game GTA4 should have been - however the PC port is bloody awful because Volition always farms them out to people who can't code properly.
ReplyDeleteI'd almost be tempted by Arkham Asylum or Assassin's Creed 2, both have been out a while now, but DoW1 is still my main game.
ReplyDeleteIncidently, that bronze effect you've done on your necron's looks awesome in DoW. I just selected the preset Tin Bitz and used verdigris colours for the two trims
DoW2 was a big disappointment. Hopefully, with this Space Marine game (terrible title) coming out, the series will move away from herohammer and out into massive apocalyptic battles. And compared to the first few DoW1 games, the voice acting was terrible: "Enemies! We need enemies!" Classic.
Awakening sure doesn't look all that deep, but given Bioware's track record for the past, a large part of me wants to just trust them that it'll be worth it.
ReplyDeletePlaying the "when to buy for the best price roulette" is quite another matter. I'll probably grab the first special that's below retail price.
DA is attractive for allowing you to port characters from game to game, although yeah, for the price I'd want an expansion that was nearly as big. Their unwillingness to call an orc an orc irritates me, though. If they insist on calling their gribblies "darkspawn" why not make up new names for the elves and dwarves like "woodsfolk" or "cavesquats". Call a spade a spade, for pete's sake.
ReplyDeleteYou could snub both of them and just get Final Fantasy XIII. After about 3 months or so the prices will drop by at least $10 on Amazon (btw Xaeromancer, AC2 is easier on your wallet now if you want to pick it up)
Well, personally, I all ready pre-purchased Chaos Rising on Steam. I enjoyed the campagin, despite it going against fluff and codex just a tad (a four man Tac Squad... come on Relic, do remember the basics at least), but I get why they did it (Tales of Valor was the test rurn for DOW II and don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I like Chaos Marines (they are one of my armies; Alpha Legion) and the Mark System for Chaos in Multi and the Corruption System for the Campaign intrigue me greatly. There are also Deamons, though they are somewhat limited to Khorne and Nurgle (personally, I want to play the Sorcerer anyways, especially in Last Stand).
Also, where are the Dire Avengers and Fire Dragons, Relic? Wraithguard? REALLY?
Who else noticed not one mark of Slaanesh anywhere in Chaos Rising? Maybe the next expansion...
Both - For different reasons - The Dawn of war expansion adds ALOT especially for Last stand, Free for all, new maps, new units and a campaign. Dragon age I'm getting because even at it's current price R285 it's still way worth it since I'll end up playing with multiple characters anyway making it worth it. Besides - it's got the Drunken dwarf in it.
ReplyDeleteI will be getting the DoW II expansion. Not because I'm a 40k player (I'm actually an avid gamer in general), but because while I loved Dragon Age, its far more expensive for the content they give you. I'm quite competitive and RTS games have excellent competition, especially Dawn of War. For me, its not even a choice.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to procrastinate this one and play some DoWII multiplayer when Chaos Rising comes out and see how good Chaos is and just wait for the price on Awakening to come down. $40 is way too much for the little content they seem to be offering, but I love Bioware and the original so much I can't not buy it eventually.
ReplyDeleteI highly suggest Mass Effect 2, or even the first one. They are both excellent games!
ReplyDeleteBud
@Dennis: I have Mass Effect 2, I pre-ordered it a couple months ago. :)
ReplyDeleteFound DOW II very disappointing, without even touching on the fluff issues. Still plugging through DA just keep getting distracted by other games, books, losing access to ps3 as she wants to play ff100 or somat, but I think I'd probably go for the DA add on and DOW expansion when they do a cheap bundle 12-18 months down the line.
ReplyDeleteDA was great, loved it. Mass Effect 2 is also very good (better if you've played ME1 and can import your character).
ReplyDeleteBeen playing a ton of StarCraft II beta.
Finished Heavy Rain (every interesting game, but short and has many flaws -- but they did nail a few parts).
I've already preordered DoWII xpack. The way I see it, I want to keep supporting 40K franchises. I don't like DoW2 MP as much as DoW1, but the single player was still entertaining. DA xpack just seems waaay overpriced. It should be $29.99 or $19.99 and I think I'll be waiting for it to drop down to that before I purchase it. I'm a social game and enjoy the romance options, if it does not have that... then eh. I'll wait.