The Warhammer universe is one rife with conflict, turmoil, bloodshed, and as far as I can tell, little else. Story-lines never seem to consist of more than some hero selling out to another race and then being taken out in a valiant self-sacrifice by the protagonist, all while alleged millions die in the war. Perhaps that is why the tabletop game is as popular with pasty Mountain Dew-spazzes as it is; it requires little consideration of else other than combat. While Orks, blood-thirsty space marines, and xenomorphs aren't a recipe for scoring a date in even the most desperate situation, they do make for a great video game, and Dawn of War II for the PC proficiently proves this.
Relic's latest effort is a drastic shift from the original Dawn of War game but it is strongly in the vein of their close-combat tactics style. The game is much better for it too, I should add. Joining a unit called the Blood Ravens as their Force Commander, you are a soldier who's record in battle is tremendous and who can literally crash through stone walls at will. Atypical to every plot in the 40K universe ever, the combined forces of the vicious Ork tribes, the hyper-advanced Eldar, and the terrifying hordes of the Tyranid are upon you, and you have been tasked with putting a space boot up their asses or die violently trying. And I do mean violently:
This is limited unit gameplay to the extreme; there are only 3 other units available each mission, so your decisions must be in consideration of the tasks set before you. If you have to flush out a bunch of snipers you're going to want the Tactical Advance ability which allows you to get close without taking too much damage. If you have to take out a defense sentry, then you'll want Invisibility to sneak in and drop a satchel charge on your unwary foes. And if you just have to feel things go smoosh under your feet, then bring in the scary stuff and have a Dreadnought power through your enemy's defenses like they weren't even there. Unfortunately there are only 6 different heroes to choose from when creating your team, but this does allow you to grow fairly accustomed to their unique advantages hastily.
The game plays more like a tactical RPG than a real-time strategy game and you'll be advancing much faster than you might expect, because there are no resources to manage at all. You can capture specific points to regenerate lost squad members and that is all they can be used for. As such the action is fast and furious and turtling is not a common occurrence. You even pick up items and treasure that make your units more powerful and bestow them special abilities. They are often great advantages, and you can really appreciate something that allows you to rocket-pack over barricades and onto someone's head in a crash that knocks every foe around you off their feet.
The graphics are fairly strong but not too many of the environments are what I would call attractive. A shame because you will be seeing each one of them far too often, with missions requiring you to return to old levels over and over. There is a Tyranid hive level that is lush with greenery and some flowing water worth ogling but it is one of few maps like this. The monotony is broken however by the satisfying gunfire and terrific lighting effects when you demolish structures with rocket launchers and grenades and other explosives. And it's all topped with viscerally thrilling finishing moves occasionally performed by your commander, each one a painful sight to behold. The battles seem to be almost always fun and exciting and if you think about it, isn't that what matters?
The sound is a weak point, however. The combat rings as gun-metal as it should be, but the characters themselves might benefit from a bit of shutting the hell up. The delivery of the dialog is mostly wretched and destroys any possibility of the characters having personalities worth caring about. Their inflection seems to vary as they complete their sentences and this doesn't help the shitty script. The story is boring and all you need to know is that everyone is against you and the Eldar have their own mysterious agenda, per usual.
When you get back to warring all will be well again because goddamned if this game isn't fun, though it comes with a redundancy caveat; unless you are doing one of the minor defense missions, then you are always fighting your way from one point to another and finishing each round with a boss encounter. You can not save during missions either, which makes things tense if not irksome at times. Thankfully the small teams force you to really think about what you're doing and you do not error often. While Dawn of War might not be an RTS per se it becomes one in practice, and a better one than most. Having to always consider your next move and to frequently dodge timed explosives while deadly finishing strikes keeps you on your toes never fails to be an immersive thrill.
All the races seem to play quite similarly but have their own over-powered vehicle units, long-ranged snipers, iron-skinned soldiers, and powerhouse Force Commanders. You'll need to avoid cover fire and use their special abilities to hit critical targets in each and every encounter regardless of what you pick, though the Eldar do seem a bit more powerful than the rest at times. Damned if my fucking front-liners didn't drop like flies every time I encountered a mass of them during the campaign...
Multiplayer options begin with the tantalizing co-op mode, which has you and a friend simultaneously controlling your own units while attempting to defend the Raven's portion of the universe in the campaign. This is great fun and it is a much preferable first-time experience if you can muster a companion. That or you can suffer the solo experience like I did.
The multiplayer skirmish modes consist of a standard destroy everything option and the popular control node style from Relic's own Company of Heroes games and DoW's predecessor. You must capture more territories than everyone else before a point timer counts to zero, causing many people to lose their S and attack everything that moves without thought or consideration. Players can chose a Force Commander that plays either an offensive, defensive, or support role before the round starts but it's a bit too rock-paper-scissory for my tastes. Regardless, this is where the game pays for itself and you'll be skirmishing quite a lot most likely, so learn the ropes and get to it, bucko.
There were vague promises of hasty post-release DLC from Relic but nothing to really grasp onto for cockle-warming as you sleep at night. When you're talking about PC games though, there's always gonna at least one expansion so give it a few weeks and I'm sure we'll hear something. I am grateful that this a cow worth milking repeatedly though, and I look forward to the inevitable map pack and unit increase I'll be exchanging probably 30 bucks for.
Dawn of War II suffers few faults and is a goddamned blast to play, but I should warn you, the single player campaign played solo may make you want to beat your face against the monitor, it's that damn repetitive. If you have friends, especially ones willing to play the campaign with you, you should pick this up as both an RTS and an action-RPG fan and play it with them. Force them to buy it too. Just tell them you're doing them a favor.
This is raw entertainment and shouldn't be missed.
-Unfather
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