Review: Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II

[John Funk]

Wow, Funk, the multiplayer is way better than you make it out to be. Can you control the avatar of war in the campaign? NO! - There is also an Annihilate mode, not just victory point.

I'm aware. But it still remains that there's just one structure to Annihilate, which feels both tactically constricting and not as satisfying as rampaging through a base. The multiplayer is okay, but nothing special, and really not up to the level of the singleplayer.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

Wow, Funk, the multiplayer is way better than you make it out to be. Can you control the avatar of war in the campaign? NO! - There is also an Annihilate mode, not just victory point.

I'm aware. But it still remains that there's just one structure to Annihilate, which feels both tactically constricting and not as satisfying as rampaging through a base. The multiplayer is okay, but nothing special, and really not up to the level of the singleplayer.

Well...to you - har har. I don't miss the base building at all, but I totally understand your viewpoint, running through a base and torching it all down with your army.

Many games seem to not have the ability to build multiple headquarters though, which I do miss.

So...Blood Ravens are not a "new chapter" that is the love child of The Blood Angels and the Raven Guard?

Learn something new every day. Now the blood ravens seem like they awkwardly fit into the game.

Wait... what?... who?... but how? ... ... /facepalm (nice joke ElArab)

Funny enough, I heard that was their original story for making them, but then they realized it made no damn sense, so they just said "They know nothing of their primarch".

lets see how GW works them in.

 

[Skizle]

*sigh* if only i could get this to work on my laptop. damn igfx drivers.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

Ive played all the other Warhammer RTS's, i played the DOW2 demo, and im very dissapointed with it, the old formula of the first games was perfect, they streamlined this one so much that it feels rather lacking in what makes a RTS an RTS. A friend of mine bought it and returned it the same day, it is NOT worth it IMO.

 

[acronix]

DoW 2 is quite different than its predecesor. Relic probably wanted to innovate, you know. It will certainly dissapoint those that expected "more of the same". The singleplayer campaign is very different but is very enjoyable too (without counting the repetitive "Go kill this" missions). I found the multiplayer to be...unfinished. It feels like they wanted to put the old base system in it, but didn´t have time and had to rush it, with some unfulfilling results.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Hooray for the return of Mr. Funk and his sexy voice. Great review, great supplement.

I actually might buy this one if I ever come across a copy for a good deal. I appreciate the different style since I suck at traditional RTS games. I'd probably still be pretty awful at the multiplayer, so I'd stick to the single player campaign. Also, I have barely any background with the IP, hence why this would definitely be a "bargain only" purchase for me.

 

[KeithA45]

I've only done the campaign so far but it's pretty addictive I must say and I've been into RTS's for almost 15 years now

the biggest things I miss from Dawn of War 1 are the Chaos Space Marines and the giant characters you could make (Avatar anyone?)

Still, Dawn of War II tried something radically different in an RTS title and it ended up pretty good so I say kudos to the creators!

 

[Skeleon]

Hm, I took part in the Beta but I wasn't too happy with it. That was Multiplayer only, though. That cross of RTS and RPG or rather RTT ('cause it seems more tactical than strategic), plus the total omission of the boring one-building-base (if I understood that correctly) in Singleplayer sounds more to my liking, though.
I doubt I'd like the Multiplayer at this stage, but do you guys think the game would be worth buying for the Singleplayer campaign alone?
You only get to play Space Marines, alright, but is the campaign long enough to make up for this?

 

[NordRaev]

I can't really say I like DOWII better than the others... mainly because I actually like the RTS aspects of games and only having to control one building to form your army just seems boring. I'm not a big multiplayer fan, mainly because of all of the... well, you know the kind of people I'm talking about. The fact youre stuck with only four squads in the campaign kind of sucks, but I guess it makes it slightly more difficult... slightly. I just miss the banter between two races commanders as one invades the others HQ and has to overcome twice as many enemies as you yourself are able to train... Plus the fact that the series went from four races to nine, then whittled back down to a meager four. All in all, I'll beat the campaign because I've already started it and go back to playing Soulstorm or Dark Crusade until I find another fun challenging RTS. I'd give it a 5 out of 10.

 

[KDR_11k]

The base doesn't act much different from CoH except there are no tech tree branches and you don't have to plot your constructions so that you don't run out of space for buildings. You can just hit F1 to select the base, hit the tech up button and you get tech (it even lets you queue stuff from that higher tech immediately instead of having you come back later). I find the numbers on the GUI a bit hard to read though (especially the unit hotkeys in the right bar and the offmap ability resource). The pop cap is a bit hard to keep track of since the number is now 100 but it still amounts to at most 10 units (most take up 12+ pop), the older, lower numbers made it easier to consider what you can fit into your limit and it just sucks when you find out that you don't have enough room for an AT squad when the enemy is bringing walkers.

I guess this base approach will make more factions easier to implement though they will be harder to make different with no way to have different teching (think about the Necron E-only econ or the Tau path choice). Well, unless that system gets overhauled in the next addon like they did with stealth in DC.

 

[Riceman]

Ok
Basical get your friend and co op this is where the game becomes a ton more fun =P. It's a great game it's a pretty unique concept but you cant compare it to DoW they are just too different. Most of the bosses are bugged the bosses will not go past a certain point so you can just basically range them to death. The campain (on captain difficulty) will take you about 24 hours on co-op or less depending on speed of your computer disconnects ect ect (we had many). My one real complaint is the fact that you have to sign up for Steam (not all that bad) the you have to play though windows live for co op and multiplayer (excepting lan).

Thats my rant feel free to scroll past by

 

[runedeadthA]

hmm there seems to be a lot of hate for this game, alot of it seeming to come from the fact that DOW2 isn't like DOW1 + 3 expansions. The complaint seems to be that this is a different gamestyle??? Though i havn't played DOW2 yet it seems to be that it has an awesome potential and style and other it would just be another genric RTS (with more WAAAAGGHH of course). I personally applaud Relic they have made DOW2 out of what made DOW1 special.

To the people who protest about the number of races: I'm fairly certain that Relic will be releasing expansions with all your favourite races, and you can't expect DOW2 to have 9 races straight off the back and still have the quality it has.
Similarly I think that trading CSM for Tyranids is a pretty fair trade don't you (especially since many people cryed out for them in DOW1 )

 

[Epictank of Wintown]

See, here's the thing for me. I played Dawn of War, and I played the hell out of it. I played the Dawn of War II Beta and played the hell out of it- and I really enjoyed Dawn of War II more.

To me, this is what a Strategy game on a military scale should be- matching wits with another commander on a battlefield. Taking points, holding points, co-ordinating troops and setting up fields of fire. Fire and maneuver actually matters in Dawn of War II, as do heavy weapons and suppressing fire. It's fantastic, really, and I love it. I just need to buy the game now.

And, as for the Space Marines showing grief over dead civilians, let me just say this: they're still human. First and foremost, Space Marines are the defenders of the Imperium of Man and Humanity as a whole. Each chapter of Space Marines also varies, as their order and belief varies from chapter to chapter. It goes beyond battle doctrine.

 

[darkeldar1]

And the Hello Kitty Chapter is rumored to have been branded as heretics for spreading peace across the universe.[/quote]

Thats why I play as the angry marines. "always angry, all the time."

 

[darkeldar1]

Do you have any Idea how to use wargear you get on the last level? there is no replay.

 

[darkeldar1]

There is only one thing I have to ask: Why the hell did they invent Blood Ravens? I wish they just simply gone with the existing Chapters. I mean why cant we play as Blood Angels in one game, Ultramarines in the other, and Mortifactors in the expansion? Also why dont they make a story campaign for Tau Empire? [/rant]

Cause tau suck. Simple as that.

 

[TOGSolid]

Do you have any Idea how to use wargear you get on the last level? there is no replay.

Odd, when I beat the campaign it created two save games. One right before the final mission, and the other listed as "complete."