Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (2009)

Warhammer 40 000 – Dawn of War II is the long-awaited sequel to the excellent Dawn of War series after Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm. When it was announced at the time, I did not hesitate and bought it immediately.

The intro movie was baddass. It got me hyped up, and I could not wait to start playing. When I started the game, I noticed something different. Where is the base building? How can I produce more units? It was all gone. At first this disappointed me, but when finishing the first three missions, I actually liked the new play style.

Instead of building a base, creating units and go to war, you have some commando squads with different specialties, like the Assault Squad, Tactical Squad and Scout Squad. You find more units to add to your army throughout the campaign like the Dreadnought and the Predator Tank. You can choose which of those units you want to use in your missions before deploying, and figuring out which unit would work best for which scenario is the first step in this new game style.

When entering the battlefield, you got an assignment you must complete and fight your way trough the map to reach the target location. The careful, tactical advance towards this goal is very different and a fresh new concept in comparison with the previous games, in which you blasted your way to everyone and everything. In this game, you connect more with the units and heroes you have and try to keep them alive, rather then use them as cannon fodder because you could just create more later on. You can secure beacons, foundries and relics for tactical bonuses and experience later on, and they let you replenish your squads when you suffer casualties.

The way you finish missions, directly impacts your score and you can earn some bonuses when going through them in a certain way. If you speed run a mission for example, you add points to your speed score and may earn another deployment for a second mission that day. It’s a nice little bonus in this game.

The improved cover system works great and with the right placement, enemies don’t stand a chance when they rush toward you and you are well protected behind your stone wall.

I also really liked the RPG elements in the game. In the previous Dark Crusade and Soulstorm games, you could also earn gear that you could equip on your hero character and this principle has been perfected in this game. You collect dropped loot, can equip your heroes with new armors, weapons and regalia and can donate unwanted items for experience to level up your characters and give them new skills.

The graphics are nicely polished and good upgrade from the first game and still feel like the Dawn of War games. The animations have been greatly improved and because of the added ragdoll and physics on the enemy models, it feels more realistic when blasting them away or giving them the might of the Chainsaw Sword.

The orchestra soundtracks fit the Warhammer 40 000 theme very well and reminds you that the Emperor is counting on you and that you better not fail him or else..

The story is, once again, rock solid and grim, like we are used to from the Dawn of War games. A swarm of hungry, unstoppable Tyranids threaten the existence of the entire galaxy and it is up to the Space Marines to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, the Eldar and Orcs bother you every second and you need to whoop their asses too, or else they steal or sabotage important locations and relics that you already secured.

In true Warhammer 40 000 style, the ending is grim and you know this is not the end of the Tyranids and you only bought some more time before sh!t hits the fan again. And it sure does, with the Chaos Rising Expansion.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this game and although I still prefer the older games and their play style, Dawn of War II is a fresh new idea in the series and makes for a completely different Warhammer 40 000 experience that, in my opinion, has been executed very well.

I only played the single player campaign on this game, and on Normal difficulty.

Let me start by saying if you have even a little experience with strategy games, go to Hard, Normal was ridiculously easy. Literally no challenge at all.

The game itself is pretty, and sounds great. The voice acting at times is cheesy, but does what it needs to.

The storyline is decent, but nothing to get too excited about.

The game play is where this game starts off shining and then falls into a boring repetitive grind. The concept of quick, squad based tactical missions is a great one, the leveling process is really fun, lending something to look forward to and specialize in during the game. I enjoyed the cover system, and the cool down abilities.

However, after playing about 5-8 missions, you have basically played the game. The rest ends up repetitive, with large waves of enemies, more bosses, but not necessarily anything new or fresh.

The missions turn into a blur of uninteresting grinding through maps, to get to the boss at the end, each fight which feels very, very similar.

My favorite missions were the defend missions, where you fend off waves upon waves of enemies. But even these grew stale over time.

Honestly, I was debating jumping into Chaos Rising, but this end game left me so unimpressed I will probably not go back to it. I'm remembering why I haven't touched this game for years now.