Amazing battles, a new placement in Relic’s style of RTS games, and a decent story make Dawn of War 2 worth checking out.
Warhammer 40k Dawn of War 2 is a Real-Time Strategy game developed by THQ and Relic, and another installment in their long running series of Dawn of War games.
The game is set in the Warhammer 40k universe where the basic premise is that it is standard fantasy taken to the future where all of the standard races that make up what people think of when they think of fantasy such as humans, Orcs, and elves, all have guns. The unique twist on what would be kind of a standard setting is that they all retain their archetypical traits such as Orcs are bloodthirsty but they also add additional quirks such as how the Orcs spell their racial name, the Orks, which displays their intelligence, as well as how the Orks can be considered the comic relief of Warhammer 40k. In what is a fairly dark, and grim universe the Orks are seen as uncontrolled, bloodthirsty, can still be considered comical in ways such as how they do a poor imitation of their gun sound as they shoot, or simply being unaware of things that the more intelligent races would easily take note of.
Now, I know this is a lot of information about the universe the game is in, rather than the game itself, but this is also where a lot of the game’s charm is at. In all honesty, as with all of the previous Dawn of War titles, Dawn of War 2 excels are bringing the table top game to your computer screen, and this installment pushes that implementation even further with the campaign.
In Dawn of War 2’s campaign, you play as a newly appointed commander to the Space Marines of Sub-Sector Aurelia, there is little to no introduction however, as the planet Calderis is assailed by Orks which you are assigned to aid in the defense of. Along the way you’ll be joined by Space Marines and their squad leaders such as the Tactical Marine, Tarkus, and Cyrus of the Scout Marines. If their titles sound like unit types, that’s because they are, many units of Dawn of War 2 act as a small group rather than an individual, and when there are individual units, they are usually balanced in a way that would allow them to be stronger than a small unit group. Squad leaders don’t simply serve as a recognizable character in a squad however, they are also the main characters of the game, all of the dialog done by the space marines is through the squad leaders, and a few extra supporting characters, while many of the characters seem generic at first, they all have their back-story quirks, motivations, and developments that will end up making many players warm up to them. Despite this, there is almost no player interaction with the supporting cast (all of it is done before the game starts essentially), and the force commander simply serves as a avatar for the player.
There is quite a bit of customization in Dawn of War 2’s single player campaign however, as a player advances through the campaign they will come across war gear which can be sorted through in a after mission screen which takes places on the player’s flagship, and although it’s just a screen, it gives a good impression of being on the ship without actually showing what’s inside the ship. There the player can level and equip war gear to improve a efficiency, as well as be aesthetically displayed on that character. On the topic of leveling up, Characters can spend points in 4 different stats, in general terms they are health, firearms, melee skills, and energy which allows a character to do more special abilities; all 4 stats improve upon the specific stat, but also give the character an additional ability as they further advance into that path. All of the paths are fairly balanced, and allows players to customize their characters in unusual but still effective ways such as giving someone who would normally be seen with a bolter, a chain sword, there are very few limitations on the customization system, and although underrated, is quite a interesting part of the game.
The game’s single player campaign removes all forms of base building, and has very minimal structure interaction in general, the game very much focuses on getting units into the battle, using their skills, and cover to overcome the enemy, and possibly finishing them off, I say possibly because the game includes a feature that will allow your units to retreat if they are in a losing position, which will relinquish all control of them to get them to the nearest strategic point.
That brings us to the high-light of Dawn of War 2, the battles. While the game play has it’s own way of striding away from the standard RTS formula, it still very much displays it within the battles, the combat is fairly fast paced, and tactical with management of units being key in both single player, and multiplayer. Every unit is designed to do something very specific, while at the same time making it vulnerable to something else, for example a Space Marine Devastator squad uses a lot of heavy weapons to well… devastate the enemy, however at the same time that squad requires a degree of setting up, and if engaged quickly by flanking, or through melee combat, the space marines will be at a noticeable disadvantage, this situation can be applied to almost every unit in the game in different ways, and it is only when they all collide together, does quick unit management, or finding a flaw in the enemy’s strategy and utilizing it, turn the tide.
The graphics and sound in Dawn of War 2 are also extremely well done, the environments, and units are very well detailed, with their models rivaling almost every non-RTS game in the market to this day. The environments that range from war torn to breath taking are all very detailed as well, and as war ravages it, the changes on the environment are noticeable thanks to many of the buildings, and walls being destructible, which of course provides new strategic opportunities besides simply wrecking the landscape.
In terms of balancing, the battles take very different spins in multiplayer and single player, in single player while there is definitely a element of tactics, the enemies are balanced to either be cannon fodder for the player, or to provide a challenge, the enemies do not scale to the same way as they would if you faced them in multiplayer, and that alone provides a very different take on the two modes of game play.
The Multiplayer itself takes a completely different approach to the game, the first thing most people will notice is that it allows you to take control of all of the game’s factions instead of just the Space Marines like the campaign does. It features the standard annihilation game type which is is the standard destroy your enemy’s base to win, and the other game type is different variations of “victory point control” where you win by controlling victory points on the map, as with most games that feature this style of goal, the fighting is very pinpointed and can be chaotic and fun in it’s own right. For practice or for people who simply want to play or try out the multiplayer modes alone, Dawn of War 2 also features bots, while the bots don’t seem to be the smartest things ever, they can get the job done, and are more than suitable for a easy to set up and fun alternate way to experience the multiplayer aspect.
In the end Warhammer 40k Dawn of War 2 is a fantastic RTS game with a focus on action that you’ll love if you like actions, or are looking to expand into the RTS genre but never enjoyed the aspect of base building, or even if you’re a Warhammer 40k fan looking to see how the game has translated to the computer, while the game isn’t for everyone, it’s a fantastic game that will capture many people in one way or another.
Concept Implementation : Great
-Foregoes most structure building to get the players into RTS combat, and focus on it very well. It also stays true to the Warhammer 40k fiction, and essentially transitions the normally table top experience to a RTS game.
Gameplay : Great
-The controlling and management of units are fairly standard RTS fare, much of it’s charm being placed in the combat itself, which is both tactical, and fast paced.
Presentation : Average
-Lacks any form of tutorials for controlling the other factions besides Space Marines. Other than that the storyline is fulfilling and coherent but a little on the lacking side in terms of being compelling.
Graphics : Great
-The unit models, effects, and environments are all stylish, detailed, and just in general fantastic.
Sound/Music : Good
-All of the sound effects in DoW2 simply make the battles even more enjoyable than watching them directly, the music somewhat sounds like slight alterations of the same score, but often times than not, it is around to add some atmosphere without being the main focus.
Singularity Score : Single Player - 2, Multiplayer - 3
Overall Score - 22/25 Great
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