Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II reviews

Relic have tried to refresh the rts genre, by removing the typical element of base building. they have also trimmed down the number of units, the game mainly focuses on micromanagement and planning your advances carefully and using the newly implemented cover system to full effect.

unit counters are very important in this game so its best you learn them all quickly :)

i found the 3v3 mode to be the most enjoyable.

this multiplayer is awesome if you invest alittle time and effort.

If you look past the fact that you need steam and Windows Live to be able to play even the single player campaign, and the fact that because its steam you can't play it unless it's up to date, this is an excellent game. The graphics are excellent, the gameplay is great – though don't expect it to be the same as Dawn of War.

Dawn of War 2 is highly bent around the use of tactics, as opposed to base building. This is not a bad thing – indeed, it makes for a very interesting play style.

Once again I'd like to emphasise the fact that you need an internet connection, and be prepared to download any patches.

I've already pre-ordered this game from mighty-ape, however I still wanted to see what it was I was actually looking forward too. I found the Warhammer II Multiplayer Beta – which can be found in the “Steam”‘s demo section. Google “Steam” if you don’t have it, or don't know what it is. I've played it a number of times, with the people online, including the AIs to understand more of the game. There isn't much too learn, it's quite basic. The game is pretty much built on the graphics, and front line action.

The Good:
Graphics are awesome! Although the Beta limits me, from putting everything on to the highest graphics, it's a new world of anti-aliasing and zoom in action! – Yes, you can see the Marines chain-sawing the enemy – it's pretty intense.
Simple and easy – the game is pretty much a click and point. Hardly any building involved, just a few turrets. After that, it's all fighting, and capturing strategic points.

The Bad:
Not many units! One thing I found very disappointing, was the number of units you can use, or get. Either the Beta doesn't show much, or there just isn't many. The Space Marines only have 4 in Tech 1, 3 in Tech 2, and 1 in Tech 3. 2 of those consist of vehicles. – Tragic, I know! – Perhaps they plan to put many expansions on, for this game to strive? I Hope so! Well, in order for this game to be a success and have a “WOW” factor, it needs a lot more options, and units.

My point of this, TRY the demo first before you buy it, like any game. If you don't have a good graphics card, already you've lost 3-quarters of the intensity and fun!

Good luck!

If you like micro intensive strategy games, this game is for you. If you like building lots of buildings and making pretty bases, you probably won't enjoy this.

The gameplay is very similar to Company of Heroes, just simplafied a little and made to be a smaller scale.

The single player campaign is really good with a really nice storyline and very rpg like feel to it, with having characters leading squads who can be leveled up fine tuning them to the way you intend to use them.

Only bad thing about this game is the bug caused when running on a computer with an Athlon X2 CPU, after 1 hour of play in singleplayer the game will start to stutter and freeze, but knowing Relic they should get this fixed fairly quickly.

I'm no rts fan but i'm surprised how much I enjoy playing this game.

Best part of this game for me is the simplicity of the units and easy to understand.

There's no dozens of upgrade or variable upgrades I need to Study/Memorize in order to start enjoying the game. and it still provides enough room for new tactics etc.

Worth every penny.

It is not just a real time strategy game, the game system also combines the role playing ingredients, such as units level up, upgrade each skills for different unit features and boss for each chapter. Graphics is also really cool. control is similar to other real time strategy games, you won't get confused. You should get one, trust me.

Its alot different to most rts.
Tho the new last stand makes this game very interesting and fun

Dawn of War 2 is a challenging game that requires some good strategic play. The single player campaign is well thought-out and is not one of those easy wins.

Tells a story and good play dynamics, not too hard to succeed but may take a few tries. Could do with a little more variation between games.

I bought this as a Xmas present for my partner and he is addicted to this game, the graphics, sounds and story line with this game are fantastic!

If you are a fan of dawn of war you are going to love this one!

You only ever take 4 squads with you on missions (sometimes others may appear for you to control but typically its 4). They dont die as such, but get incapacitated and need to be revived. No base building, no unit building. Just grab new loot, level up and sort out your skills. If you like the game make sure you check out the expansion as well.

Overall a somewhat worthy followup to the gamer-favourite of 2004, Relic Entertainment has tried to bling up and dumb down Dawn of War to make it more attractive to the more casual gamer not cerebral enough to manage RTS concepts. All base-building and resource management is gone, as is any notion of strategic positioning as seen in the Dark Crusade and Soulstorm DoW expansions. Instead, we get a massively expanded “RPG-esque” component of arming and levelling the un-killable squad commanders (think Soulstorm wargear x 100), and….well, I guess that's about it.

The result is a pleasing, if rather chaotic, tactical combat experience, linked together by the most basic of storylines. The problem is that every single component of the game proper just feels lacking – the story, while valid, is very basic with no twists, all the wargear feels much the same, most of the traits and special abilities provide little flair but rather just make your commanders “generally a bit tougher”, all characters come across as the same brooding cookie-cutter tough guys, and every single mission plays exactly in the same way, since you start every mission with the same squads once you're got your playing style figured out.

The only things saving the game is that the general epic tone of a Warhammer 40k game is pretty well maintained, thanks in no small part to the excellent voice talent, again mostly brought over from DoW, and the “in the thick of it” feeling of combat – you just never get tired of listening to the deafening roar of the heavy bolters and chainswords.

This game could have been so much better with a bit more strategy and a lot more wargear variation thrown in, but is still a worthy purchase as is, although perhaps only at the discounted price.

Certainly one of the most addictive and engaging games I have played this year.
Personally I found Dawn of War was magical, until company of Heroes cover mechanics and gameplay blew it bits.

Trust to form they have mixed all good bits of Company of Heroes with the fantastic feel and background of the 40K Universe.

The game plunges you head first into a smaller scale campaign, not too unlike the DOW ones. However you dont have unlimited resources and you must carefully manage your squads and choose your weapons and abilities well.
The game limits you to 4 squads including your force commander, so you find yourself having to think a little about force composition and who has what.
To me, this was just excellent, your squads leaders actually level up and interesting drop equipment is random but scarce at times.

Units are impressive because the game punishes you for being greedy ( ie deploying your dreadnough every mission, when the breifing states… enemy has rocket launchers…hint hint..) I like this, it means units like SCOUT ( yes scouts ) become extremely useful and versitile, unlike the minor footnote they were in the first DOW.

I think its very fresh and feels very new. It works very well too!
the multiplayer/skir­mish is more true to the old DOW form, but again, less base building ( which personally I thought was a snooze fest anyway ) more emphasis on tactical attack and retreat and balancing your forces.

As a strategy gamer and a once big fan of Warhammer 40K id highly recommend this. The demo sucked me in hook line and sinker and after that i was sold!

Multi-player is awful, do not even try to play untill they fix it, poor unit choice, no upgrades, not much customization or side ways movement in strategy.

Campaign has an awesome storyline but the co-op feels like an after thought. Weapon upgrades are cool, and good CGI, but very little replay value.

Untill more content is added, stick to company of heroes and command and conquer

They took a great game and made it better in every way.

The expansions will be great as well, looking forward to guard and chaos the most.

As for the people upset about steam, get over it, its the sign of the times, if you own a legal copy of a game steam is a great tool for online gaming, its just the pirates that hate steam.

Spent Most the day waiting for steam to run the bloody game!! then when i finaly get it to work i find i can only do story as the space marines and to cap it all off they changed the combat system as well all in all waste of my time

ok the game is good, but be careful of a few things like:

• Steam, you need the latest, and its a annoying to have to install it just to play a game you brought, the days of playing games straight out of the box after a 15 min install are long gone
• You have to install windows live as well........o­verkill with 3rd party software hey.
• Biggest issue, the actually installing of the game, lots of problems have been had with it, and relic and steam arent doing much to fix it, pretty much have to find your own way or post in a forum and hope lots of other people have had the same problem

i have sent a entire day trying to get it installed from the disk, but i gave up so just gonna post it in forum. Just giving people a heads up, dont rush in to buy the game so quickly, unless you got a huge cap on broadband, then you can get around most installing issues easy.

Dawn of War 2 is gunna be amazing. The graphics are sick! The gameplay will be your good old favourite Dawn of War brutalness thrown in with an abundance of new features and visceral action! It has an emphasize on smaller groups of troops and hopefully that will improve the story drastically and make you become attached to your troops! =P Beta demo coming out soon! Everyone should get it.