Dawn of War is back, but was it worth the wait? The Answer... YES
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.
