Warhammer, its been Relic's flagship game for almost 3 years or so, it
would make sense to make a sequel to that wildly popular game, and that
is by god what they did. They took what Dawn of War had, threw it out
to concentrate on namely the series trademark, the gritty, bloodthirsty
combat.
Gameplay has changed dramatically, it took all the building aspects of
Warhammer and replaced it with a tactical managment type of combat,
this is a great change of pace for this game, since the combat was what
Warhammer was all about, this game really does feel like a true sequel
to the game, I mean, you see your Space Marines ripping up orks into
meat rolls, blood flying every which way, I can't tell you what is more
satisfying.
The thing you'll notice right off the bat is that the gameplay has a
more tactical consideration feel to it, that means that you have to
think about your decisions, and your attacks, running head on into the
thick of battle isn't smart, mainly because Cover has been amped up
quite a bit, marines in cover have a better advantage than the opponent
who might be standing in the middle of the battlefield, but remember
now, such cover bonuses can be negated with flamers or a well placed
grenade, adding alot of tactical managment (micromanagement.).
Another thing you might notice is that Relic pretty well took building
out of the picture, again, this game focuses heavily on the combat,
nothing else, just pure, in your face combat, this game isn't about
turtling up in your base and stinging anything that comes into view,
its about strategically taking out your enemy without, or with minimum
casualties, don't think you can hide in buildings around your base, a
vehicle, rockets, satchels, or grenades will be able to take down said
building.
The Singleplayer campaign has a better feel to it, but that is strictly
looking at it while pulling up comparions to its predessors. You lead a
company of Space Marines, who have been sent to cleanse the planet of
the Alien scum as so they would refer to them as. At the beginning, you
get two units, the force commander, and the rifleman, now how you use
the two units is entirely up to you, but as you probably already know,
the rifleman won't take down melee units as well as the force commander
could, but that is not what you strictly are limited to when you are
playing the campaign, not long after the first mission, you do have
access to Devestator Marine Squads and Stealth Marines, so on so forth,
can't wait for the Terminator squads to become available.
The mission based campaign will draw comparisons to Risk based games,
thats true, because in ways it sorta looks like a Risk board, but the
thing is though, you are trying to retake each province back on every
planet, and like the Dark Crusade campaign, each province holds
different wargear for you men or company to obtain, they also contain
strategic points on each map, for what they are worth, remains to be
seen. **EDIT** The points on every map count towards a special ability,
capturing Sensor arrays for example count towards how many times you
can call artillery in on one map, this makes alot of maps easier,
especially against bosses.
Now concerning the Wargear, yes I know, but this is where the plot
thickens, the game has taken a turn for an RPG feel to it in its
singleplayer, with your persistant squad being with you for every
mission you come across, over the campaign, they garner experience,
which can be used to up there range damage, melee damage, so on so
forth, playing out similiar to many other RPG's out there, this system
is similiar to EndWar.
The races has been downed to four, I was disappointed when I heard
this, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I mean, the Space
Marines, the infamous Orks, The mysterious Eldar, and the deadly
Tyranids. They all have there own unique personalites, and there own
playing style, but don't let that prevent you from straying to one race
permanently, switching to another race isn't difficult, just a bit
frustrating, especially if you have no clue what to do with that
particular race.
Graphically, this game looks fairly stunning, with the environments
stealing the show completely. Utilizing the Essence Engine 2.0, they
are able to create Battlezones that look both believable, and fun to
fight in. The destructible environments add a scent of hecticity in the
firefights you have with in this game. Lighting and shadowing within
the game are done with a grace, with light shimmering off the Body
armor of most units, and with the meticulous bump-mapping detail to all
character models, especially with the Tyranids, this game will stun
you, if you have a modern PC, this game will run superbly on ultra
detail, even for those users still running on Dual Cores. Relic added
small cosmetic touches to the game that really help add a shade of
realism to the game, the vehicles you'll notice are awefully bigger
than the marines.
Sound does just as well as the Graphics, you will never hear more
satisfying Firefights in any game to date, guns fire with a commanding
attitude, explosions send a bassy wave, shaking the entire floor,
chainsaws shredding through hordes of Orks, the battlecry of fellow
comrades, the effects really help immerse you into the experience.
AI of this game isn't great but does well enough to deserve mention,
the AI aren't stupid, you advance, they will start to get into cover
and take you out. Reaching out from the flanks, throwing grenades, or
hiding in buildings are one of the many things they do to take you
down, however, it is rather questionable why they don't retreat, even
when facing unstoppable odds.
Multiplayer is a blast, especially if you have players you know playing
along with you, with the standard array of game-modes, this will be a
keeper for most of all RTS fans out there. A very interesting feature,
while done before by Red Alert 3, still a nice touch none the less is
the inclusion of a Coop Campaign, so for those with friends who have
the game, you two can play coop togther, this also adds to the tactical
considerations in the game, deciding who should charge and who should
suppress are by far the most commonly asked questions within these
conquests.
You will notice that this is a Windows Live game, meaning you will get
achievement points to add to your Xbox if you have one, this isn't a
bad thing, even for those achievements whores out there, however, you
will need a steam account if you want to run this game, not bad either,
helps prevent some pirating out there, so if you already have an
account, then don't fret. Can't blame Relic for including Xbox Live Support and Steam, its serves as a cheap solution to the Pirating issues, yeah sure Pirates will bypass this system, but til' then, this will have to do.
The only bad thing about the game is that it did stray a little far
from the award winning formula, not a bad thing, its just that most of
us weren't ready for such a change, I guess people should have saw
something like this coming, but for people like me, I am open to
change, and this sequel really did hit the spot for me. Your friendly
AI does great, but the reaction time is a bit pitiful, meaning that it
takes some squads a bit of time before they begin running towards the
target marker, not a complaint, but it is something you notice. The
bossfights... They aren't what they are cracked up to be, but in ways
they are fairly frustrating, they take a long time, and it is hard to
manuveur your squads out of the way of the bosses... Special Attack.
The only thing that can take down a boss is a concentrated array of gun
fire, and the force commander repeately hitting the dam thing, not
hard, but at times, frustrating. **EDIT** There have been some
persistant crashing issues with Dawn of War, especially with the
connection to Xbox Live, its something to be concerned about, crashed
on me most of the time, but the time I was in was no doubt alot of fun.
Dawn of War II in the end is a very satisfying sequel, Most RTS fans
will be pleased with the results of the game, if you are a fan of the
series, or you are just in for bloodthirst, and strategic carnage, then
Dawn of War II will be the game you will be craving for the rest of the
year.
