#Warhammer dawn of war 2 review ign license#

The campaign sees players controlling a commander (ie you) and three other squads of Space Marines investigating recent attacks by the Ork and Eldar races on human-controlled worlds. Combining number 1 and 2 results in a pretty awesome level of addictivenessIf you can look past the dissimilarities to the first game (because after all, strategy purists love their base building) you'll find much to love here. The strategy gameplay using stealth, demolitions, cover, and straight up assault tactics is addictiveģ.

The RPG style stat building and item looting is addictiveĢ. That said this rule of thumb if applied to Dawn of War II results in the following three realisations:ġ. This is not a criticism of either genre, human's are after all creatures of habit - if a game of this type can strike a certain level of addictiveness, everything else falls into place - graphics, control, gameplay, et al. Rewards in an RPG or RTS are simply incentives to keep playing, and the phrases 'one more level' or 'one more map' are strikingly similar to 'one more hit'. When it comes to measuring the greatness of an RPG or RTS, addictiveness is arguably one of the most important aspects of doing so.Īnother word for this that most people tend to use is 'reward system' which if broken down points straight to 'addiction'.

Catchy title aside, despite Dawn of War II bringing back the intense squad-based gameplay of the original, it scales this back to an almost minimal degree and implements a style of play that, well, is as much RPG as it is RTS. So it's safe to say anticipation was running high for Dawn of War II, and to be completely honest 'Company of Heroes 2: Warhammer 40,000 Edition 2' would have been enough to warrant a look. Two classic entries into what's generally seen by most as a 'stale' genre - making Relic's recent output in this regard, two for two. Ridiculous setting aside, Dawn of War was action-packed, brutal and fun and, surprisingly, also featured an engaging story.ĭeveloper Relic's follow-up, Company of Heroes, which saw similar gameplay (this time set during 'that war with the Nazis') added an increasingly detailed 3D engine that allowed realistic physics, line-of-sight, and a cover system bringing a new level of immersion to the gameplay first displayed in Dawn of War.

#Warhammer dawn of war 2 review ign license#

It also took an already nerdy genre, the RTS, and made it even nerdier with the addition of the Warhammer 40,000 license - and along with it Space Marines, Space Orks, and other quasi-medieval races thrown into, err, space. It shifted the traditional RTS focus from simple base and army building to tighter squad-based mechanics and implemented a resource system where capturing and holding supply lines meant keeping your armies on the front lines. One of the best looking and best playing RTSes of the past year.The original Dawn of War was a great game. It’s too bad, because when it’s useful the cover-based combat is some of the most tactically interesting gameplay in DoWII. Since the majority of the mid- and late-game missions pit you against the melee-focused Tyranids, the importance of cover is diminished. In practice, cover is only really helpful against basic infantry, since nearly every other type of unit has an ability to defeat entrenched units (grenades, jumpjets, teleporters, flamethrowers, rocket launchers, melee charges, etc). Much ado has been made over the cover system if you set up a gunner squad behind rocks or walls, they take much less damage than they would out in the open. That can be harder than it sounds, because the armor system is difficult to fully comprehend, so when your troops do go down it can take you by surprise. Outfitting and upgrading your squads and deciding which missions to take on is handled between missions from the safety of your orbiting battleship in the somewhat shallow meta-game, so all you have to keep track of in battle is the health of your soldiers (they never die, they just become incapacitated until revived). It’s a drastic departure, but this formula pays off by dramatically upping the action dosage from your typical RTS - rather than spending half of your time managing unit production and upgrading your troops, you’re in constant combat.

Or, like I just said, instant gratification. The result is a party-based action-RPG with RTS-style controls and camera. The transformation goes something like this: take an RTS, add role-playing mechanics like hero unit-leveling, tons of special abilities, and loot, then strip away RTS mechanics like base-building, resource management, and expendable units. Indeed, Dawn of War II has gone to such lengths to differentiate itself from that other real-time strategy game with space marines fighting aliens that it’s become something else entirely. It isn’t dumbed down at all, but the focus has shifted to tactical combat.