Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II -- A Review

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Released : Feb. 19, 2009
Rating: ESRB: M
Platform: PC
Overall Rating : 4.5/5

On February 19, Relic Entertainment released the sequel to “Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War,” a popular real-time strategy game that takes place in the Warhammer 40K universe.

“Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II” uses the Games for Windows service. Players are able to link their progress in Dawn of War II with their XBOX Live (XBL) gamertag, or create a new gamertag, and unlock achievements as they progress through the game.

The only drawback to the feature is that to access the multiplayer content, the player must be connected to the internet as well as the LIVE gaming service.

“Dawn of War II” is much different from its predecessor in terms of both single player gameplay and multiplayer modes.

In single player campaign mode, the war between the Space Marines, Eldar, and Orks hasn’t ended; they still continue the battle for complete supremacy. Unfortunately, little do they know, a new entity, the Tyranids, will make their first appearance in the Dawn of War franchise, and to the Space Marines.

The Tyranid species is best described as an alien race that decimates planetary systems in plaguing swarms and completely voids the system of life before moving onto the next system.

The player takes control of the Blood Ravens, a chapter of the Space Marines, and plays the role of a Force Commander who is sent to aid the Blood Ravens and help defend against the Orks.

The Orks are aggressive and, for a majority of the time, use weapons and tanks that are salvaged from their slain enemies, as well as things created from whatever they can find nearby.

As players progress through missions, they will have to travel to different areas, as well as perform interplanetary travel to complete missions and progress through the story.

As players continue through the campaign, they will encounter the Eldar, who are a highly technological species, using everything from energy shields to teleportation gates, called Warp Gates, to maneuver around battlefields and the Tyranids.

The single player campaign, or co-op when playing over LIVE, has changed dramatically in terms of strategy and units. In “Dawn of War,” the game play was brute force in terms of strategy, with the only tactic being to build as much as possible and then attack in a massive swarm of units.

“Dawn of War II” has completely done away with that style of gameplay. Instead, the player only gets a maximum of four squads, ranging anywhere from a single unit to 4 or more per squad and must complete the mission.

Missions in “Dawn of War II” are relatively straightforward as far as objectives go. The players can go in with guns blazing, heading straight for they target, or they can explore the map and capture unique buildings for beneficial abilities, as well as kill more enemy units located at outposts across the map.

Whichever strategy the players choose, at the end of the mission they are rated on how many squads survived, without dying once, from start to finish; the number of enemy units you killed; and the time it took you to complete the mission. Additional bonuses are accrued for capturing planetary foundries and unique buildings.

“Dawn of War II” takes on the characteristics of a role-playing game in that during and after each mission, the squad leader of each squad, as well as the Force Commander, gain experience points through the various missions. Gaining experience points enables the ability for squad leaders to level up and then players can add points to personal traits as well as equip better wargear, such as poweraxes and armor.

Wargear is obtained after completing missions, as well as killing units or completing specific tasks during missions.

The multiplayer mode in “Dawn of War II” also has been drastically revamped to reflect the new gameplay and tactical style that is used in the single player campaign mode.

“Dawn of War II” features two different modes for multiplayer. The first is control point victory, where certain areas on the battlefield must be controlled for a specific amount of time to win.
The second is total annihilation, where whoever annihilates the opponents buildings, and units, first is the victor.

The first major change to multiplayer is that there isn’t a real tech tree upgrade system anymore and that all units are created from one primary HQ building; any other upgrades are performed on the field of battle.

This allows the player to focus on what is happening on the frontlines, as opposed to sending units off and then going back to using the real-time strategy cliché of base building made popular in games like “Warcraft 3” and “Age of Empires.”

The second major change is that one of the vital elements needed to create units, power, is now obtained on the field by capturing and maintaining control of buildings on the battlefield called power nodes.

An additional feature of multiplayer is that before the battle is started, each player gets to select a specialized hero unit, which is available at the start of the game.

Players get a choice of three hero units. They can be anything from a brute offensive melee specialist to an infiltrating stealth specialist.

This gives players the chance to select units based on how they want to play their game, or when they are playing with multiple people, and want to collectively strategize.

For example, if players are playing as the Tyranids, they can choose the powerful Hive Tyrant, who obliterates any units standing in its way; the Ravener Alpha, who specializes in digging tunnels allowing for units to easily infiltrate bases and strike from below the ground; or the Lictor Alpha, who specializes in stealth, appearing out of thin air to slay the enemy.

Overall, “Dawn of War II” has separated itself from its predecessor, and even though its under the Dawn of War title, it has made its mark as its own game.

A wide improvement on graphics using the new Essence Engine 2.0, as well as a new strategy system, makes it feel like a completely different game.

The game does have its drawbacks, though. Single player is linear, as most missions are point A to point B to point C, and you can only play as the Space Marines.

This limitation prevents experiencing the point of view from the other races in the 40K universe.
The other drawback is that the Space Marines’ eternal enemies, the Chaos Space Marines, are nowhere to be found in “Dawn of War II.” This is surprising because the Chaos Space Marines are in all previous “Dawn of War” installments.

Even though there are drawbacks in “Dawn of War II,” it is definitely worth checking out whether you’re a fan of Warhammer 40K, the “Dawn of War” franchise, real-time strategy games, or just want to run around and hack and slash at various creatures.