Malf on 17/7/2019 at 08:47
I really liked Space Marine, but I have suspicions it won't have stood the test of time. I suspect it would feel clunky and primitive when compared to something like Bayonetta 2, Vanquish or God of War. And yes, I compare it to spectacle fighters because much like Vanquish, it really shouldn't be played as a cover shooter.
I kind of bounced off of Total War: Warhammer, and I'm still waiting for someone to release a proper turn-based version of Warhammer / Warhammer 40K, sticking as close to the table-top game's rules as possible.
Although maybe reduce the random element introduced by dice rolls. I found Blood Bowl versus the AI frustrating because of the capriciousness of the dice. You could perfectly plan a play, yet still fail miserably thanks to a bad roll.
Of the Dawn of War series, I personally preferred Soulstorm to all the others, as it was pretty much identical to Dark Crusade, but with MOAR FACTIONS. I loved the Risk-style strategy map too, and was disappointed when they didn't lean in to it harder for DoW2.
DoW2 and its expansions for me had some of the best gameplay of the entire series, and the sound effects were perfect. But the lack of the Risk element reduced replayability drastically.
If they'd had DoW2's gameplay, including the squad progression, while keeping the Risk map and expanding it, then allowing you to play through over and over with different races, I think I would have still been playing it today.
icemann on 17/7/2019 at 14:56
I tend to flip flop back and forth over which I like more out of DoW 1 and 2.
1 is completely an RTS, and from Dark Crusade onward as you say it's very risk-like. Very Command and Conquer / Starcraft like, though it has the point capturing stuff which was unique. 1 got better with every new expansion, and in that respect was more like the tabletop.
2 is a squad based shooter with a strong RPG angle, and more of a story focus. And they FINALLY brought in the Tyranid's. None of the other 40k games (that I can recall) have them in it. That's just criminal.
Both are great lines of the franchise. 3 I've not played and dunno if I ever will.
Nameless Voice on 17/7/2019 at 15:48
The various Space Hulk games, including Deathwing, all feature Tyranids, though not as a playable faction.
icemann on 17/7/2019 at 15:57
Genestealers sure (which are part of the Tyranid faction I know) but not the rest of them.
Tony_Tarantula on 19/7/2019 at 12:27
Related note
Tabletop inspired video games have a very, very bad track record. The pathfinder game got slammed in reviews and Warmachine Tactics was a buggy disaster. The only franchise that's escaped that is D&D(including it's Star Wars spin-off rules) in no small part due to the involvement of an extremely skilled studio.
Part of the problem is that the actual tabletop game is pretty shit. It's a badly balanced mess where gameplay consists mostly of pushing your Army at the other guy then rolling dice for 30 minutes as you read rules out of the four different rule books for your army. It's got none of the precise positioning dance or resource management that Warmachine has and none of the tactical maneuvering that characterizes Infinity (which is fairly close to the XCOM reboot gameplay wise).
Trying to adapt 40k straight to PC is a mistake just because there isn't much more to The gameplay than dueling spreadsheets.
PigLick on 19/7/2019 at 14:02
Tony, for once I agree with you regarding tabletop skirmish and wargames. Infinity is/was a great skirmish set of rules with some decent miniatures, Warmachine is vastly superior to Warhammer in so many ways except the actual quality of the the minis.
icemann on 19/7/2019 at 14:19
Warmachine was formerly called "Epic"? With the super small marines, Titans and all that.
I still have the box and minatures for that.
WingedKagouti on 19/7/2019 at 14:40
Quote Posted by icemann
Warmachine was formerly called "Epic"? With the super small marines, Titans and all that.
I still have the box and minatures for that.
Warmachine is its own thing by a different company. Epic was the WH40k version of huge armies with really big machines (with the biggest being the Imperator Titan).
icemann on 20/7/2019 at 04:48
Ah ok a different thing.
catbarf on 23/7/2019 at 15:01
Tony's right about 40K itself being thoroughly mediocre as a wargame, but Epic was a great example of how the material could be used to make an engaging wargame. It had a lot more focus on command and control, maneuver, and morale, and did a good job of making factions feel different from one another with army-wide characteristics rather than millions of special rules. It also had simpler combat resolution mechanics that made it easier to assess units, and less susceptible to game-breaking combos (which in Warmachine is a feature, but also makes it play more like a CCG than a wargame).
At the same time, it failed as a miniatures game in part because your average hobbyist isn't especially interested in paying money to paint matchstick-sized troops, and because the relative simplicity of the individual unit profiles lacked a lot of the background flavor that they had come to expect. Neither of those would necessarily be an issue for a videogame.
Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon appears to be something similar and has a 7/10 on Steam. Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War also has a 7/10, but that seems to be basically Civilization without the diplomacy.
Total War: Warhammer was successful enough to spawn a sequel, so fingers crossed we might see something similar for 40K.