Dawn of War II Review

I'm an avid Warhammer 40k fan, and would certainly play any Space Marine game. Though Dawn of War II has taken a completely different direction, I still think of it as one of the best strategy games ever made.

In Dawn of War II, you are given command of three marine squads and the Blood Raven force commander. It can be easily said that this is one of the major downsides of the game as you can only control a few characters when there is a whole lot more to the Warhammer universe. Despite being the latest Warhammer release, you'll find that the game only focuses on the space marines and instead of being able to field large armies, you are restricted to use a maximum of only four marine squads. Disappointing I know... Looking back to the "Dark Crusade", you can build bases and structures, choose form a wide variety of units, from tactical marines, vehicles, super weapons, and down to the grey knights. Despite being the latest Warhammer game, you'll find that it is more limited compared to the previews releases.

Gameplay however has gotten deeper and more serious. The beauty of the game is in the gameplay. This is what you should call a true strategy game. With only a few space marines, you are to battle countless hordes and impossible odds, and your greatest and only weapon, is strategy. 

You will never be able to finish the game if you engage your enemies heads on. Don't fight on enemy terms, because as space marines you are always outnumbered. 

I've just finished the game at primarch difficulty and damn it was really difficult. One false strategy could be your worst undoing that would result in utter defeat. There are no saves during the missions. Once your squad is wiped out, you'll have to start all over again.

Each marine squad have different abilities, and as you progress you can even upgrade these skills and equip your marines with more powerful war gear. This is one of the things that make Dawn of War II a great game. And in addition to that, you can also equip your marines with those ever handy grenades, call artillery strikes and even the hammer of dawn. 

The game though has a lot of similarities with Company of Heroes. Well it makes sense since both games were made by THQ. But I think COH mechanics works just as fine for DOW. Makes it more realistic, as you'll see how space marines operate.

 These pictures taken from actual gameplay should give you an idea what the game is like.  And yes its shooting and hacking everywhere.. Total chaos. 

Graphics are so beautiful and marines look so sexy in their gleaming power armor. I really love Dawn of War. For me, it's not really so much about the game. It is the main story of Warhammer 40k that inspires me to keep on playing. 

"Chaos Rising" is the latest DOW expansion and I have to say it's a lot better than the first "Tyranid invasion". Here, you get up close and personal with chaos space marines. The more you encounter chaos during missions, you slowly succumb to it's maddening influence. Here you can choose between the path of corruption or redemption. Your actions will completely alter the conclusion of the game. Whether your completely corrupted or completely good, or just a little bit corrupt, you'll find that the destiny of your strike force will depend on the weight of it's sins. Whether you die by the thunder hammer, or fight chaos in the warp for 100 years alone in a campaign of absolution, or completely join the ranks of the black legion. I think this part is really cool. Despite being the savior of the sub sector if you harness the powers of chaos, you'll still get punished the most cruel way. No praise, no honors no nothing, only condemnation. Only Davian Thule, a rusting dreadnought, will remember your deeds.

 On March 2011, THQ will be releasing the third game expansion in "Dawn of War II Retribution". It will be a stand alone expansion but I reckon it will still be connected with the main storyline for the space marines, only that you wont be using the same force commander anymore since he would be in the "Eye of Terror" fighting daemons for 100 years. 

But news has it that instead of being limited to a few units, in Retribution you can control upto four heroes and  command even more squads and new units. They say that there will be a multi-race campaign, meaning you would now be able to follow the story of different race:  orks, imperial guards, eldar, tyranids, tau (hopefully) and maybe even chaos.

Each race will be starring in their very own single-player campaigns which i think is a colossal improvement for DOW II. This news has certainly increased the game's likability among players, and millions of the ever agitated fans expressing their excitement all over the internet.

The creators said that they also improved on multi-player gameplay. I'm quite glad that they really took some steps to upgrade the game's entirety. 

The space marines will never be the same again (sobs)... Our heroic force commander was sent to the warp to fight chaos to the death without aid from his battle brothers. Now for the space marine campaign, instead of a new batch of strike force, you'll be following the story of Apollo Diomedes and his Honor Guards. Cyrus and his initiates will still be with you, and martellus the techmarine can now be playable and deployed on missions as part of your new strike force.. Surprise! It's gonna be one hell of a game.