Warhammer40k: Dawn of War 2

[Dowly]

Have now played it for a day or so. Let's see what I like in it and what not.

DoW 2 isnt like Dow 1. It's not an build up -> rush RTS. Instead, you will have 4 squads + you (the Commander) and that's all you're going to get to finish the missions. The squads are: Heavy Bolter(MG) sq, Scout(Sniper) sq, Space Marine(infantry) sq and Assault marine(ranged/melee inf) sq. All squads play a part in the storyline, well, the squad leaders to be more precise. I kinda like this idea of having the same guys all the time with you.

Commander and the squads all gain experience and level up, you can choose their weapons, armor, abilities and if they carry grenades or medpacks. The leveling part isnt really good to anything else than getting your squad better in it's job. The abilities and stuff you can get by leveling are pretty useless. So, I just check if my squad is a melee or a ranged squad and put the skill points to the ability that makes them better on that area. Another idea I kinda like, mixing the RPG games with RTS.

Gameplay wise, the game is very close to CoH. There's cover, buildings to go into and the Heavy Bolter squad needs to be setup before it can fire just like the MG's in CoH. All in all, it's very smooth, hard to say why, it just feels 'good'. Havent encountered any bugs nor CTD's yet, everything seems to be running nicely.

The campaign is the type where you have few story missions scattered between 3 planets and then you have sidemissions (either defending your sector, or getting rid of alien infestation). Sadly, the missions seem to be very repeative. The usual pattern is: You start here, go there and kill the "boss" monster/ork/Eldar. BTW, be sure to check the little cutscene when you travel between planets, that's farking cool.

Sounds I didnt like, and by that I mean the weapon, melee and explosion sounds. They are very faint with the exception of the heavy bolter that has a mighty "THUK THUK THUK THUK" sound when it shoots. Music is pretty good, some choir stuff and military thingy, work well with the theme of the game. Dialogue is ok, very deep, whiskey burned voices, just what you'd except from a human who's been genetically modified to be the size of an small car.

The graphics are pretty close to that of CoH, maybe a tad better. The Space Marines are nicely detailed, but the surroundings seem a bit dull at times. The cutscenes are great, a kind of mix between CGI and drawn stuff, very nice.

As for the story, to say it quickly: You and your marines go to help another marine ppl on planet X, you kill some orks, then you meet the Eldars, you shatloads of them, realise they were trying to get orks to unite against a new threat, you bang your head to the wall, the new threat arrives, Tyranids, a real wankers, they try to kill you, you kill them, they infest your planets, you fly around the 3 planets doing missions to fight the infestation, you kill some more eldars and orks, build some weapons to cap the Tyranid fleet's arse and no idea if that happens as I've not thru the fricking game yet. *takes deeep breath*

Now, is it a good game? Depends. If you wanted something like DoW1, then no. If you like WH40k in general or just want to have some old fashioned buttkicking in between your other more serious games, then yes, it's a good game. The story sucks you in, the battles are fluid (but repeative) and you just cant stop watching your commander sinking that huge chainsaw/sword thingy up your enemy's gut.

EDIT: Ow fark, forgot! There's no Chaos in the game... yeh.. I know.. (wankers)

[AJ!]

I wasnt keen on the game buts thats simply because i wanted a tarted up DOW1

All these new rts games getting rid of base building and saying its a good thing are just plain boring. I liked being able to build a base in dow1 and then build a huge army

[Falkirion]

I liked DOW1, still playing Soulstorm occasionally as the Space marines this time though and not the Tau. I liked the Tau, give me a couple of fire warrior teams, a broadside, a hammerhead and a group of kroot and I was set.

Still DoW2 seems like a different kettle of fish, so I'll have to withhold judgement until I play it.

[kiwi_2005]

Haven't played it yet was going to download the beta last week, read some reviews and seems alot of DOW1 fans are pissed off at the new gameplay of DOW 2. Still i will be getting dow2 Ive always enjoyed the series.

[Dowly]

Yeh, I was mighty pissed at first too. Mainly because of the lack of basebuilding/unit recruiting and it lacking the Chaos. But I grew to like it after a few missions.

[Tachyon]

Well, from now on.. I'm permanently stopping my visits to Gamespot and IGN. I'm gonna lurk here and wait for Dowly to buy all the good & bad games and review them .