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I'm thinking of getting one of the dawn of war games. I'm just not sure which ones better.

It's a hard choice,Dawn of War was good and so was the Dawn of War 2.First had epic battles(especially if you install no-limits mod),base building and the second one didn't have those thongs.Second had cool graphics,Company of Heroes battle system,but the battles weren't so awesome.

I prefer dawn of war.
My son likes dawn of war II best

I think you can still get the demo for both of these off of Steam.

I've played the demo for daw of war, but i'ts hard to tell if its any good since it's just the demo. I might download the second and see which one is better.

DoW2 is the superior game. DoW1 was 'tech as fast as you can, then let the high tier rock-paper-scissors sort out the victor.' Trust me, I eat Insane comps in 15 minutes flat on that game. By contrast, individual units in DoW2 are incredably and important. Without being able to reinforce anywhere for a few points (like in DoW1) you have to think tactically to not waste your resources, and react precisely to what your opponent is planning.

If you aren't looking for a challenge, it comes down to whether you like bigger or smaller battles. However, DoW2 has the Last Stand, which is tons of fun.

They are two completely different games, really. DoW is more like a traditional real-time war strategy game, DoW2 is more of a squad-based shoot-em-up strategy game.

I personally prefer DoW simply because there's more variety in it having expansions, and unlike DoW2, you're not stuck with just SM, all the other races have their own campaigns (if you buy the Dark Crusade expansion). As for expansions, Winter Assault and Dark Crusade were pretty cool (also, you need WA to unlock IG, and DC to unlock Tau and Necrons), the final expansion, Soulstorm, I didn't really care for; it introduced Sisters of Battle and Dark Eldar, and also introduced flyers (which was kinda stupid), and they took a lot of the fluff out of it as if they're saying "here's a new expansion. Play it. Don't worry about the story."

In either case, both games are pretty cheap now, and DoW you can get in a battle chest now that has the game and all 3 expansions for cheap.

DarkHound wrote:DoW2 is the superior game. DoW1 was 'tech as fast as you can, then let the high tier rock-paper-scissors sort out the victor.' Trust me, I eat Insane comps in 15 minutes flat on that game. By contrast, individual units in DoW2 are incredably and important. Without being able to reinforce anywhere for a few points (like in DoW1) you have to think tactically to not waste your resources, and react precisely to what your opponent is planning.

If you aren't looking for a challenge, it comes down to whether you like bigger or smaller battles. However, DoW2 has the Last Stand, which is tons of fun.

Lvl 20 is a blast

So pretty much it's what kind of gameplay I like.

DOW2 also has a really fun single player campaign. I would definitely recommend DOW2 over DOW1.

And the DOW2 expansion is coming out soon which looks like it will be really cool and add new multiplayer stuff.

exactly I personally prefer the first one but I also prefer strategy games over squad based games. . . So its up to you and your style

Huffy wrote:exactly I personally prefer the first one but I also prefer strategy games over squad based games. . . So its up to you and your style

The problem is DoW1 isn't really a strategy game. You learn the fastest build order and let the game take care of itself. There is almost no micro management that can be done, and map positioning is largely irrelevant. Stand in the craters, not the water, use grenades and dance out the melee units while you pour bullets into him (even Orks are better off running Shootas and Flashgits compared to Sluggas and Nobs). The game looks great, and is fun to play some psuedo Appoc games (3 IG vs 3 Orks, Insane Comps Quick Start on Death Alley), but as a strategic game it is rubbish.

DoW2 actually has intelligent gameplay, with total emphasis on how your units are positioned. Build orders are largely irrelevant, as the game is entirely reactive to what your opponent's hero and build. It is a much more fluid and comprehensive. The single player plays like a tighter version of the regular gameplay, with RPG elements that work wonderfully. The Last Stand is huge amounts of fun.

If you are torn, go with DoW2. If you want to play Appoc, go DoW1 and get some of the awesome add-ons. Otherwise, go DoW2.

Dawn of war 1 tends to get boring after a while, after you play every team that is. After about 20 battles, you then realise your doing the same boring thing "Capture points, tech up as fast as you can, make an army and then send everything you have over to the enemy's base and hope fore the best" (in basic terms that is, not if your really good of course, but it's the general idea) tough it is fun making massive army's.
Dawn of war 2 is extremely tactical and requires your to think were you place your units. You don't have to tech up (varying) to win. You have to watch every squad's battles careful, and the graphics are insane. Last stand is epic especially level 20 . Also the expansion 'chaos rising' (obviously introducing chaos) is coming out in march.
Overall in Australia I can get every DOW game in one pack for $50, and DOW2 for $40, so if you can buy the second one, it's alot better, then if you still have left over money, by the set ofall four games based around the gfirst one just for laughs

If you get the THQ complete pack off Steam you get every Dawn of War expansion, Dawn of War, Dawn of War II, and a bevy of other games (including Relic's other RTS, Company of Heroes) for $100. A good dozen other games come in that pack as well.

Dawn of War I is a more traditional RTS, Dawn of War II is more tactical, and a bit closer to the actual game. I've compared it to combat patrol before.

I prefer 1. DoW2, to me, just plays like cat&mouse over and over. You go take one place, they go take it back, unless you sit and guard it, in which case they go take the other places.

DoW 1 allows you to position defenses, block areas, and the like. You can make a front and defend it, which seems like a smart thing to do to me.

I personally like the 1st one and the expansions, especially with all the sweet mods out for the 1st one, Firestorm over Korus check that one out if you get the first Dawn of War. DOW 2 kinda just looks good, tho I have to admit I like how they went with a more fluff-listic approach to fielding the space marines(few vs many) , but also thats got a good mod out right now that makes it fluffier its call DOW 2 codex edition check that one out if you get the 2nd.

Both are different games.

DoW is an RTS (and is Starcraft with a 40K skin), and DoWII is more of a squad-based real time tactical game.

Dawn of war if you want to sit back, click a few buttons, and let the game do the rest for you as your army autopilots around. Dawn of war 2 if you want to be actively involved every second micromanaging your force. I prefer the second, but i'm a more involved and competitive gamer, theres nothing wrong with prefering the spectacle of the first game over the tactical involvement of the second.

oW is an RTS (and is Starcraft with a 40K skin),

As much as I love getting into a year old argument. No it's not. The games are absolutely different from one another in virtually every aspect that two real time strategy games can be. You're just wrong on this.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Both are different games.

DoW is an RTS (and is Starcraft with a 40K skin), and DoWII is more of a squad-based real time tactical game.

I play at about D+/C- rank (A+ and S rank being professional Korean gamers) on Starcraft's iCCup League. DoW1 is nothing like Starcraft.

EDIT: Here, take 15 minutes. This is why Starcraft is different.

On topic, again, DoW1 has some great spectacle. Hell, Vanilla DoW and Winter Assault have a great campaigns too. Dark Crusade is pretty meh, and Soul Storm is even worse. DoW2 has a slightly worse campaign than the combined might of the first two, but Last Stand makes up for it. So, spectacle or involved gameplay: Apocalypse or Combat Patrol?

I would go for DoW 2 if I were you, The game is way better than DoW1, no more pesky spam and tech rush and so on. DoW 2 actually managed togive me that Warhammer feeling that Squad command and Final liberation gave me years ago. So if you want a real game that is challenging, and requires effort to win go for DoW 2, but if you want a slug fest with hordes of units go for DoW 1 witch is a bit more relaxed than DoW 2. But both are great games

I found 2 to be disappointing but that's probably because I expecting it to be like 1 (funny thing about that).
1 is closer to the tabletop game (unless you only play 300 pt games) which is what I look for in a game that's supposed to be based on 40k.