Warhammer Epic 40000 - Final Liberation

As a fan of the classic warhammer tabletop game you look upon pc games based upon the license with a sense of both longing and dread! The chances of hitting the mark are slim but if its pulled off the rich tapestry of background presents an almost unmatchable canvas on which to make some of the greatest games around, however with so much at stake and such an intimate knowledge of the subject matter owned by most players its also all too easy to make an absolute stinker of a game!
The first thing you notice is how religiously the game designers have stuck to the fluff and background of the warhammer universe as no doubt GW's mitts kept a super tight grip on proceedngs and this is no bad thing! It is a difficult mob to please and to keep the fan and flame boys happy everything has to be just right.

Unit types are very specific and army formation and building happens almost on parallel with the background so the army you field in the game may very well be one you saw fielded on a table top at the time. So the image of the 41st millennium is painted very well, the impression you get is what you'd expect of a wartorn universe if maybe a little garish by current standards but you can't blame GW for lazy graphics cards back in the day!
Epic 40,000 the first real attempt at a sci fi rts by the brand is in actual fact a mixed bag, precursor to the now legendary Dawn of War series you can begin to see the fledgling ideas of something quite special. No attempt has been made to do anything clever or different from your average toolbar which in my eyes is a blessing, keeping the levels of simplicity down to entice more 'average' rtsers such as myself in. The graphics are decent enough for there time and the game has a good deal of longevity with its multiplayer modes being pretty enjoyable. However clunky physics sometimes appallingly slow gameplay can detract from what should be a solid strategy game. By the time DoW came around all the creases had been ironed out and new radical improvements made in the game engines being used made for one hella title!