Warhammer 40,000: Sanctus Reach

Before buying this bundle -- WH40K:SR+the two DLCs, I read everything I could and watched Let's Play of the first few missions on YouTube. I was excited in spite of obvious problems with the game's design: - I did see that the tile overlays (colored tiles that show movement paths, danger zones, cover etc.) were confusing to the point that when the overlays are displayed you can't see the units (both enemy and your own); - I did see that the units were colored in such a way that it is very hard to see them against the terrain, trees and buildings (both enemy and your own); - I did see that the color palette was something like 50 shades of gray and grayish-blueish and grayish-greenish, making everything blend into everything else; - I did see that there was no "Undo" in case you miss-click (and miss-click you will because unit selection is kind of clumsy - clicking on a unit does not select it, until you right-click to deselect the previously selected unit); - I did see that there is no narrative of any kind about the campaign; - I did see that there are no cinematics or cut-scenes of any kind (except the intro movie); Yes, I saw it all and yet I bought the game. I suppose it is because SplatterCat's commentary in those Let's Play videos was cool and distracting, so these obvious problems did not look like a huge deal... But they *ARE*. I regret having spent 30 bucks on it. 10 bucks for the whole package might be a fair deal, not 30. Finally, I accidentally discovered a "tactic" which kind of shows just how dumb the AI is. It so happened, that half my units were stuck behind debris and rough terrain and out of battle, my commander was in cover but alone on the opposite side of the map. Units in the center were on Overwatch. The ENTIRE orc force ran toward my commander and tried to kill him for 3 turns (he is hard to kill and can heal) while my center-field Overwatch units just decimated all of them... I "won" this 9-turn mission in 3 turns...

Beware when near a level up, if you get the level up as a last action on a map, you will be unable to choose a skill. You only have a few levels, so be careful to not waste your best units. Besides from this, after playing half the 1st campaign, the AI is not the best, and killing those orks gets a little repetetive.

Preface: I'm very involved in the tabletop game this game take's it's IP from. In a Nutshell: This is a beautiful Panzer General clone in a Warhammer 40K universe. I picked up this game with low expectations, because it was a licensed game, and looked on the surface to put style over substance. But I think this is the favorite game I've played in the last year, and I've log 219 hours playing it at this point. The game mechanics are solid. Your unit selection is limited in such a way to strongly encourage you to run a diversified force, and the level up mechanic reinforces that somewhat. The Tactics are fairly good, with the exception of a few exploits. The AI is simplistic but very functional. The theme is on point. I know 40K well, and in many ways units have been captured in this game at least as they are in the current ruleset. Land Speeders, and Ork Bikers are 2 examples where the game feels like it nails the feel of the unit better than the tabletop game. The missions are fine, with the DLC's having more effort put into the missions than the core game. On the other hand, the maps can at sometimes be a tad frustrating. I'm thinking they are procedurally generated, and maybe 1 in 10 missions features a map that has really awkward placement of obstacles. This is overcome somewhat by all of the obstacles being destructible, so typically a bad map gen just means you have to spend a bit of time clearing a path through. The Good: Theme is on Point Force Composition is outstanding Leveling system works well It's really pretty The Bad: The optional tactical overlay is worthless. (Keep it off) Missions are frequently simplistic Map generation could use a bit of work. I'd Strongly recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of games like Panzer General, Fantasy General, Battle for Wesnoth, or Warhammer 40k.

I love the Warhammer 40K universe. Dawn of War (DoW) was my introduction, and I have been looking for good W40K games ever since I first played it back in 2005. Sanctus Reach, unlike DoW, is a turn-based game, which is closer to its table-top roots. Unless you are into the long, tedious slogs of table-top games, where you move around units and obsess on stats, this game will probably not hold your attention long. The models are well done, and the special effects are good enough. Sounds and voices are good as well. However, the campaign gets boring quickly and certainly does not have an interesting story. You are mostly capturing points on a game board and holding them until the turn-timer runs out. Thankfully, you do get to select your units before each fight, and they level up and improve. But other than that, there is nothing exciting about the gameplay. I made the mistake of buying the expansions, which I am just not inspired enough to play. Anyhow, if you are looking for a good W40K game, try DoW1 or DoW2 (definitely skip DoW3). Both are great, especially DoW: Soulstorm and the other expansions for the first game. W40K: Space Marine is a good first-person-shooter rump worth playing, too. I bought W40K: Gladius and will play it before long. It's gotten decent reviews and looks good. Anyhow, unless you are just too curious about Sanctus Reach and can find it at a deep discount, don't bother. It got very tiring to me long before the campaign ended.