With a focus on fast-action RTS gameplay, Dawn of War II brings to life the science fiction universe of Warhammer 40,000 like never before. Experience the intimate brutality of battle as you play through your chosen race's epic campaign.
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I haven't returned to this in well over a decade, and oh my god, I see why. It is OUTRAGEOUSLY monotonous. They seemed deeply insecure in a lot of aspects of this game as they moved on from the traditional RTS of its predecessor to a radically different Company of Heroes with RPG elements style. And it really, really shows.
First is the horrible inventory management, that I can only compare to the modern Destiny style of loot where your inventory is clogged with dozens of items that are all .3% stronger against a specific enemy type. My brain is not wired to enjoy looting when I only ever actually upgraded my gear maybe 3-4 times per character, despite picking up numerous amounts of trash.
Then the length. The game has too little mission variety, too few possible character builds (again, see the lame itemization), and too repetitive enemy types to be over 10 hours long. Maybe they felt too embarrassed to release a 5 hour game after the hype Relic came off of with Dark Crusade, but Jesus. They should have just bit the bullet.
And the final entrant for the messy mechanics that betray low confidence or general indecisiveness in what the game should be is the deployment and Tyranid infestation system. Why are days a thing, exactly? Why not just fail the mission if you die instead of miraculously being saved each time and have a day pass? The only penalty for missing out on days is optional missions, and goddamn do you not wanna do those anyway after the first 30. Tyranid infestation also feels useless. Apparently it affects how many tyranids you see on missions on the planet, but frankly, who cares? Is it worth spending hours on side quests to see a few less squads of termagaunts?
But maybe the worst thing they did was have the protagonist be a silent self-insert. The fun banter is reserved only for the four squad members, and Force Commander is just a presence they will mention to dissipate any inner-circle spats. I don't know why they moved on from the fun banter of Dark Crusade, but it was a terrible mistake they never rectified until the final entry, which was far too late.
It is a fun game despite my complaints, but it's not a game I would have finished if not for sunk cost fallacy. I desperately wanted to not launch it anymore, but I was close enough to the end that I couldn't just leave it as is. Angel Gate is the real cinematic battle of the game, and then... It just keeps going for 5+ more missions? At a certain point, enough is enough.
First is the horrible inventory management, that I can only compare to the modern Destiny style of loot where your inventory is clogged with dozens of items that are all .3% stronger against a specific enemy type. My brain is not wired to enjoy looting when I only ever actually upgraded my gear maybe 3-4 times per character, despite picking up numerous amounts of trash.
Then the length. The game has too little mission variety, too few possible character builds (again, see the lame itemization), and too repetitive enemy types to be over 10 hours long. Maybe they felt too embarrassed to release a 5 hour game after the hype Relic came off of with Dark Crusade, but Jesus. They should have just bit the bullet.
And the final entrant for the messy mechanics that betray low confidence or general indecisiveness in what the game should be is the deployment and Tyranid infestation system. Why are days a thing, exactly? Why not just fail the mission if you die instead of miraculously being saved each time and have a day pass? The only penalty for missing out on days is optional missions, and goddamn do you not wanna do those anyway after the first 30. Tyranid infestation also feels useless. Apparently it affects how many tyranids you see on missions on the planet, but frankly, who cares? Is it worth spending hours on side quests to see a few less squads of termagaunts?
But maybe the worst thing they did was have the protagonist be a silent self-insert. The fun banter is reserved only for the four squad members, and Force Commander is just a presence they will mention to dissipate any inner-circle spats. I don't know why they moved on from the fun banter of Dark Crusade, but it was a terrible mistake they never rectified until the final entry, which was far too late.
It is a fun game despite my complaints, but it's not a game I would have finished if not for sunk cost fallacy. I desperately wanted to not launch it anymore, but I was close enough to the end that I couldn't just leave it as is. Angel Gate is the real cinematic battle of the game, and then... It just keeps going for 5+ more missions? At a certain point, enough is enough.
I played this with a friend of mine who's headset had a weird way of reactivating when it unmuted, where it sounded like his room sound held completely still when it was off and slowly rushed back towards the mic as it unmuted. I pointed this sound out and made a mimicry of it, and then for the rest of our playthrough, every time a space ship entered the warp he'd mute his microphone and unmute it when it left the warp. That's when I knew they were going to be a good dad.
The game is going through a major identity crisis. It is not clear whether it is a cRPG or an RTS. It tries to be both at the same time and fails at both. It didn't bother me at all that the game is not a pure RTS. But it would have been better if it was a pure RPG and the RTS mechanics were completely removed from the game, or vice versa. As it is, it's caught between two game genres and it's pretty mediocre. Relic Entertaintment, on the other hand, has become one of the worst game developers I've ever seen, because the terrible gameplay mechanics that they've persistently maintained since the first game in the series, with no interest in fixing or changing them, are still there in the second game. The unit controls are pretty horrible. I mean, has nobody in the development team ever played a game from the Age of Empires series in their life? Units never follow your orders as they should, and they never move where you direct them on the map without getting stuck. And they still won't let you change the controls of the game! I've played hundreds of games in my life and this is the first time I've ever seen a game series where I can't change the controls. Everything else about the game, including the default controls, has been terrible since the first game. They tried to add RPG mechanics to the game, but we need an active pause to be able to use the units' special abilities without missing the timing, but they can't even add that because they have no idea what they're doing. They don't know how to make an RTS or a cRPG game. Games Workshop probably regrets now that they didn't give Blizzard the rights to develop the Warhammer games at the time, because not only did they make Blizzard a bigger company than they could have been, but they also failed to make the Warhammer games as successful and popular as they should have been. At least they could take Blizzard's example in making these games, but they can't even do that. Arrogance is unfortunately such a harmful thing. At least thanks to them, the Warcraft game series was created.
One of the best games in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. RTS with a mixture of RPG.
Одна из годных игр во вселенной Warhammer 40,000. RTS со смесью РПГ.
Одна из годных игр во вселенной Warhammer 40,000. RTS со смесью РПГ.
Arrivée des Tyranides, une de mes factions de coeur, mais le style de jeu n'est plus le même et c'est vraiment dommage.
This review contains spoilers
Really good game on its own.
Warhammer 40 000 – Dawn of War II is the long-awaited sequel to the excellent Dawn of War series after Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm. When it was announced at the time, I did not hesitate and bought it immediately.
The intro movie was baddass. It got me hyped up, and I could not wait to start playing. When I started the game, I noticed something different. Where is the base building? How can I produce more units? It was all gone. At first this disappointed me, but when finishing the first three missions, I actually liked the new play style.
Instead of building a base, creating units and go to war, you have some commando squads with different specialties, like the Assault Squad, Tactical Squad and Scout Squad. You find more units to add to your army throughout the campaign like the Dreadnought and the Predator Tank. You can choose which of those units you want to use in your missions before deploying, and figuring out which unit would work best for which scenario is the first step in this new game style.
When entering the battlefield, you got an assignment you must complete and fight your way trough the map to reach the target location. The careful, tactical advance towards this goal is very different and a fresh new concept in comparison with the previous games, in which you blasted your way to everyone and everything. In this game, you connect more with the units and heroes you have and try to keep them alive, rather then use them as cannon fodder because you could just create more later on. You can secure beacons, foundries and relics for tactical bonuses and experience later on, and they let you replenish your squads when you suffer casualties.
The way you finish missions, directly impacts your score and you can earn some bonuses when going through them in a certain way. If you speed run a mission for example, you add points to your speed score and may earn another deployment for a second mission that day. It’s a nice little bonus in this game.
The improved cover system works great and with the right placement, enemies don’t stand a chance when they rush toward you and you are well protected behind your stone wall.
I also really liked the RPG elements in the game. In the previous Dark Crusade and Soulstorm games, you could also earn gear that you could equip on your hero character and this principle has been perfected in this game. You collect dropped loot, can equip your heroes with new armors, weapons and regalia and can donate unwanted items for experience to level up your characters and give them new skills.
The graphics are nicely polished and good upgrade from the first game and still feel like the Dawn of War games. The animations have been greatly improved and because of the added ragdoll and physics on the enemy models, it feels more realistic when blasting them away or giving them the might of the Chainsaw Sword.
The orchestra soundtracks fit the Warhammer 40 000 theme very well and reminds you that the Emperor is counting on you and that you better not fail him or else..
The story is, once again, rock solid and grim, like we are used to from the Dawn of War games. A swarm of hungry, unstoppable Tyranids threaten the existence of the entire galaxy and it is up to the Space Marines to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, the Eldar and Orcs bother you every second and you need to whoop their asses too, or else they steal or sabotage important locations and relics that you already secured.
In true Warhammer 40 000 style, the ending is grim and you know this is not the end of the Tyranids and you only bought some more time before sh!t hits the fan again. And it sure does, with the Chaos Rising Expansion.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this game and although I still prefer the older games and their play style, Dawn of War II is a fresh new idea in the series and makes for a completely different Warhammer 40 000 experience that, in my opinion, has been executed very well.
Warhammer 40 000 – Dawn of War II is the long-awaited sequel to the excellent Dawn of War series after Winter Assault, Dark Crusade and Soulstorm. When it was announced at the time, I did not hesitate and bought it immediately.
The intro movie was baddass. It got me hyped up, and I could not wait to start playing. When I started the game, I noticed something different. Where is the base building? How can I produce more units? It was all gone. At first this disappointed me, but when finishing the first three missions, I actually liked the new play style.
Instead of building a base, creating units and go to war, you have some commando squads with different specialties, like the Assault Squad, Tactical Squad and Scout Squad. You find more units to add to your army throughout the campaign like the Dreadnought and the Predator Tank. You can choose which of those units you want to use in your missions before deploying, and figuring out which unit would work best for which scenario is the first step in this new game style.
When entering the battlefield, you got an assignment you must complete and fight your way trough the map to reach the target location. The careful, tactical advance towards this goal is very different and a fresh new concept in comparison with the previous games, in which you blasted your way to everyone and everything. In this game, you connect more with the units and heroes you have and try to keep them alive, rather then use them as cannon fodder because you could just create more later on. You can secure beacons, foundries and relics for tactical bonuses and experience later on, and they let you replenish your squads when you suffer casualties.
The way you finish missions, directly impacts your score and you can earn some bonuses when going through them in a certain way. If you speed run a mission for example, you add points to your speed score and may earn another deployment for a second mission that day. It’s a nice little bonus in this game.
The improved cover system works great and with the right placement, enemies don’t stand a chance when they rush toward you and you are well protected behind your stone wall.
I also really liked the RPG elements in the game. In the previous Dark Crusade and Soulstorm games, you could also earn gear that you could equip on your hero character and this principle has been perfected in this game. You collect dropped loot, can equip your heroes with new armors, weapons and regalia and can donate unwanted items for experience to level up your characters and give them new skills.
The graphics are nicely polished and good upgrade from the first game and still feel like the Dawn of War games. The animations have been greatly improved and because of the added ragdoll and physics on the enemy models, it feels more realistic when blasting them away or giving them the might of the Chainsaw Sword.
The orchestra soundtracks fit the Warhammer 40 000 theme very well and reminds you that the Emperor is counting on you and that you better not fail him or else..
The story is, once again, rock solid and grim, like we are used to from the Dawn of War games. A swarm of hungry, unstoppable Tyranids threaten the existence of the entire galaxy and it is up to the Space Marines to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, the Eldar and Orcs bother you every second and you need to whoop their asses too, or else they steal or sabotage important locations and relics that you already secured.
In true Warhammer 40 000 style, the ending is grim and you know this is not the end of the Tyranids and you only bought some more time before sh!t hits the fan again. And it sure does, with the Chaos Rising Expansion.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this game and although I still prefer the older games and their play style, Dawn of War II is a fresh new idea in the series and makes for a completely different Warhammer 40 000 experience that, in my opinion, has been executed very well.