Related Articles

A lot of people have been looking forward to Relic's Dawn of War II, and this latest installment in the Warhammer 40,000 franchise has already been rattling a few cages since its recent debut.  Many reviews coming in from magazines and other news sites have been leaning on the positive side, but there are those who feel less enthusiastic about the new Dawn of War.

To be clear, Dawn of War II is my Warhammer 40k christening, and whatever RTS knowledge I possessed beforehand did not include anything with Warhammer in its name.  As I began my review run through DoW II, a friend was kind enough to bring me up to speed on lore and other such details. 

Dawn of War II starts out like any other Relic RTS you may have played, and Warhammer 40k fanatics are probably thrilled to find out that the humans, Eldar, Orks, and Tyranids have been successfully crammed into a single game.  The Blood Ravens have returned to spread the Emperor's goodwill throughout the galaxy.  Now players are only privy to events occuring within the Aurelius sub-sector, as they take on the role of some unnamed commander.  The small scale battles -- "small scale" in comparison to Warhammer 40k -- eliminate infamous retconning, which franchise followers have complained about before, as I learned. 

The opening cinematic is breathtaking but not entirely new:

No subtleties here, but you already knew that, didn't you?

Melee combat makes a return, along with brutal and spectacular animations for every unit, attack, and special ability.  You'll have plenty of opportunities to see them, as Dawn of War II shifts the emphasis to fighting rather than base-building.  In both single and multiplayer mode, you'll no longer have to focus on building entire cities to support your troops. 

Campaign mode takes the greatest departure away from RTS conventions by integrating RPG elements that make up for the reduced scale.  Relic reworked the whole structure of DoW with the idea that players should be rewarded as they progress through a game.  Instead of having to build a base and army in each mission, you max out at six squads, each with its own unique set of skills.  Maybe it's the sci-fi setting, but I'm reminded of BioWare's Mass Effect whenever I'm on the prep screen, customising my units and their specialties.  Only Space Marines are playable in campaign mode, so players are restricted to their race-specific classes, but Relic isn't just handing out presets and expecting you to make due.  No, this time around, units come with skill trees split into four categories -- Stamina, Ranged, Strength (melee), Will -- and each squad has its special abilities that can be unlocked through combat experience.  Aside from skills, units can also be upgraded with weapons, armor, and accessories looted from kills or rewarded at the end of missions.  Needless to say, equipment can offer more abilities or add stat bonuses. 

Combine these customisation features with skill set management and you might actually start caring about your units.  Oh, Relic made sure the squads in DoW II were more than mere meat shields and bullet sponges with about as much individual value as unmarked cans in a factory assembly line.  Each mission in the campaign requires that you select three squads (the Force Commander takes up the first slot), and each group has only a handful of marines lead by a named character.  The commanding unit can never be truly killed, unlike his followers, but if he is downed then the rest of the squad goes with him.  When revived, he'll be without the rest of his squad until the next opportunity to call for reinforcements.  With no HQ to call "home," players will need to actually treat their Space Marines as commodities; and believe me, they are.

This leads into strategy, and DoW II definitely adds some new methods of play.  Rushing head on into a fight works at first, but the game quickly shows us this isn't an effective strategy throughout.  After the first stage, you'll begin to notice that running out in the open tends to drop units rather quickly, which isn't a good thing when you factor in the small squad-based combat.  You no longer have a base mass producing soldiers for your haphazard battle plans!  What's the solution then?  Cover.  That's right, DoW II teaches us that hiding is a very good thing and saves lives.  When clicking around the map, you'll notice colored dots on the ground, corresponding to highlighted landmarks such as bushes, buildings, and so on.  The two colors -- yellow and green -- show how effective the cover at that location is, and white dots means no cover at all.  Explosives, vehicles, and destructive units like Dreadnoughts can tear through light cover, if you want to flush your enemy out.  The game's various customisation options also allow you to outfit your units to suit any strategy, whether it's raining death from the skies with Assault Marines or tearing through hostiles from a distance with a Devestator squad.

Certain destructable items strewn throughout the maps can also be shot open to reveal supply drops.  Aside from providing protection from enemy fire and hiding valuable loot, however, no much else can be said about the terrain.  As the story progresses, you'll get to visit new planets, but novelty of these worlds wear off before long.  Though bland, the landscape is functional and serves its purpose well so there isn't much to complain about here.  Just don't expect the scenery to blow you away.