Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising (2010)

After finishing the original Warhammer 40 000 – Dawn of War II game, it felt that something was missing. I fought Orcs, Eldar and Tyranids, but where is the main enemy of the Space Marine, the Chaos Empire? I really liked Dawn of War II, but the lack of the Chaos Empire was somewhat disappointing. Well, that problem solved itself with this excellent new campaign.

After you wiped out the Tyranid infestation in the first game and thought that was it, think again. The Chaos Empire is coming for your ass and lured you in with a fake distress signal. The smoke of your gun has just been cleared, but now, some more killing needs to be done.

The story and plot of the game is the same as every other game which feature the Chaos Empire. Their only goal is to spread the word of Chaos and corrupt as many souls as they can throughout the galaxy. It is your job to burn the heretics and stop the corruption that is spreading.

This is also the new mechanic featured in the game. The Chaos corruption is spreading rapidly to all the planets in the solar systems and you need to choose your missions wisely and keep an eye on the corruption level of a certain planet to prevent total Chaos (pun intended).

I really like the slow build up of the corruption, that is affecting the mind of your heroes. Slowly they get mad and fight for their sanity. The way you complete the game gives you a good, somewhat good, bad or somewhat bad ending. In each scenario, the speech and behavior of your heroes changes accordingly. This way of playing keeps you focused and makes you feel desperate but determined to press on and murder those foul heretics before it is too late.

The game play style, graphics and controls are the same as the original game and offer no new features. The new grim soundtracks on the Chaos Gothic-themed maps are nice and fits the setting well.

I found the campaign a little short, but for a lower priced standalone add-on, this was to be expected.

Overall, I had fun with this campaign and Dawn of War II feels more complete with the Chaos Empire included.

Dawn of War 2 was a disappointment after DOW 1: Dark Crusade but it was still a decent game. Chaos Rising is more of the same. More of the exact same. Tedious item juggling, boring linear campaign, awful nonsensical story and characters.

If you liked DOW 2, you will like this. If you like RTs games, you probably won't like this because it's all combat. If you like MOBAs and other strategy games that focus on unit abilities, you might like it but you'll probably be put off by the setting and item juggling. And honestly now, €20 for a glorified expansion pack?