At first, I thought the sudden change in mechanics from Dawn of War I would steer me clear of this game, especially since the elements of base-building were removed, but after noticing that the Dawn of War II Complete Collection was on sale for a ludicrously low price, I just had to look into it. While most of the mechanics in Dawn of War II are radically different from its predecessor, it stands on its own for a variety of reasons. Improved graphics and better sound quality are always welcome, and while the strategic depth of maintaining an army and bases has been replaced with the complexities of managing squads with tactical planning, there are good things to be had from the latter mechanics as well. The campaign actually gives names and small facets of personalities behind the characters the player uses that would otherwise simply be called "Scout Marine" or "Terminator", along with their own abilities and skill points to boot. The player is able to determine the loadouts and equipment of their space marine squads, improve their combat prowess through experience, and ultimately understands what it means to be a battle brother. It's worth noting that the player's actions can actually determine how well they complete the campaign with a score system that also gives the main character a badass title to boast.

The other factions have not been neglected either, the Eldar, Orks, (and in the Chaos Rising DLC The Chaos Marines) are all present with their own skills and strengths their squads provide to mix things up. While I personally haven't bothered with the multiplayer, it's still fairly active, and speaking of multiplayer unlike Dawn of War I a second player can be invited to help out with one's campaign progress, adding new ways to reach, identify, and overcome different obstacles and objectives. In Short: While Dawn of War II may seem quite different from its predecessor, DOWII has its own merits worth noting. If you prefer managing small numbered groups in a quality-vs-quantity sense and would rather focus on tactics than strategy, this game is for you.

Fans of the Warhammer universe rejoice! Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II is the sequel to Dawn of War where the epic tale of the Blood Ravens continues.

Control & Gameplay:
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War ll renews the Dawn of War genre by adding some new core elements. The well known base building and creation of armies have been replaced by tight squad control, where the micromanagement of these squads will lead to a successful mission. You control each squad's loadout, specialization, abilities and generally everything about them. You will also need to take heed of the terrain, where to take cover, where to move and so on. This might seem as a giant leap away from the first Dawn of War series, and it certainly is. It takes some time to become accustomed with the new game mechanics, but once you get settled, the game is quite enjoyable. In campaign mode, each mission will allow you to choose 4 specialized squads who gain XP and items by completing each mission. There is a fixed number of squads to choose from. In multiplayer, the goal is to capture points and hold them, while building additional squads to supplement your commander in battle. The only building available on the field of battle is the headquarters, from which you can spawn more troops.

The controls are accurate and function without any trouble. In multiplayer, however, if a player is experiencing lag issues, it will affect the entire match, thus rendering control of your units more difficult or even impossible, if someone has a high latency. However, this issue is not prevalent, at least not from my experience.

Fun Factor:
Apart from the new style of gameplay, which can be a huge turn off for some players, Dawn of War ll is as original in its story as the previous games. The story remains rich and plays a significant part in the game, as you uncover dark secrets regarding the unknown past of the Blood Ravens.
Currently, the game is being converted to Steamworks from Games for Windows Live. Therefore, if anyone chooses to buy the game now, beware that large segments of multiplayer is currently unavailable for use.

Graphics & Audio
The visual aspect of the game is a continuation from the previous style: still dark and gritty, but with added details.
The soundtrack is heavy and it enhances the coarse and gritty quality of the game. For the most part, it supplements the game subliminally. After a while, I did not even notice it due to the constant shooting and blowing up of mines, detonation charges and xeno matter flying around.

Replayability:
I have spent 100+ hours on this game already, so I would argue that the replayability is indeed high. Even more so with the two expansions: Chaos Rising and Retribution.
In the original Dawn of War 2, there is a campaign and multiplayer mode. Additionally, the campaign can be played both singleplayer and multiplayer through COOP, which I would highly recommend.
Furthermore, another mode was introduced, namely "The Last Stand". Here, a group of 3 commandos are pitted against 20 waves of unrelenting xenos. Definitely worth hours of fun and frustration.

Conclusion:
Despite the fact that Dawn of War ll has moved away from the original Dawn of War games in terms of mechanics, the game still offers exciting gameplay, a well-structed narrative and solid campaign. Where the older games focused on base building and overwhelming your opponent, the new games focus on managing a handful of specialist squads. Terrain, cover and movement patterns play a larger role in succeeding missions.
The game does not run optimally online yet, as the whole net client is being transferred from Games for Windows Live to Steamworks. Therefore, this is the only huge minus about the game, for the time being. This will soon change, and therefore, my rating for this game is positive - 9/10.

Still a GREAT game years later! Definitley a must-play game if you're going to get Dawn of War III. Highly Reccomended!

>Played Dawn of War
>Played Dawn of War 2
>"Hey, this is pretty cool. Wonder if the real thing is just as cool?"
>Started with the real thing
>Haven't eaten since I started due to Warhammer spending


10/10, would go bankrupt again.

In short i spend 2600 hours in this game (2 years) and never regret buying and playing it
-Awesome game, awesome campaign!!
-Brings WH40K to life
-Buy it if you love tactical RTS or just a WH40K fan...its totaly worth it

The Long Version~

Welp been a fan of WH40k for awile now and still is. As you can see the 2600 hours that i played this was one of the longest games i played and if you like more tactical and up close RTS rather than mass production and watching everything explode, then this game is for you.

In my opinion they also improved alot of the Warhammer 40K models/characters to look more badass, Space marines look more heavy/bulky and...well they just made every faction look more believable and cool looking compared to DOW1

In terms of following lore they did try their best and improved alot compared to DOW1. but really how can you balance things in a legit game when 1 Marine has the potential to take out a small army in lore wise

Its a good game.

Most people know what this game is about. The store page is pretty accurate in describing what it is.

Is it good?
Depends. Some people enjoy making a massive army and steam rolling the enemy. Others enjoy having a smaller amount of units and managing them using their unique abilities. If you fall into the second of these two, then give this game a go. If you prefer large armies, I'd say pass on this.

The Warhammer 40k universe is incredibly well presented in this game. The gameplay is mostly focused on smaller squads and managing their abilities. The combat is great with it's array of animations (which you can catch repeating a little too often sometimes) and solid sounds to back it up.

The single player campaign is good, although I think most people will be attracted to the multiplayer more than the campaign.

What I would add to this game if I could would be to add more races (I miss Tau and Necrons) and have more maps to play on.

A solid buy if you enjoyed previous DoW games. Just be aware it does differ from the first and although the addition of Tyranids is awesome, they've left out other races.

3 Awesome and largley different game modes

Campaign > control 4 squads, level up, find better Loot. You arent stuck with the same 4 squads either as they can be swapped for others ( dont like Scout marines, no problem, Dreadnaught?), some interesting boss battles aswell.

Last Stand > 3 player controlled heros must survive against hordes of enemies, 20 waves with special boss waves, fight the Eldar , Space Marines, Imperials, Tyranids , Orks and Chaos. Level each Hero to 20, unlocking more gear as you level, Play as An ork Mek Boy, Space Marine, or Eldar Farseer.

Multiplayer PVP or Ai > Small scale warfare heavily focused on tactics and stratergy, an example of what it can be like is 'Avatar of Khaine is very strong but a good opponent could kill him with a handful of troops if he isnt supported', each race can choose between 3 commanders, eldar for example can have a Seer Council Warlock, Farseer or Warp spider commander, Each commander has its own wargear to purchase in game.

All modes are enjoyable, and the game is very well made with a great ammount of detail for an RTS, that being said , last stand and campaign double up as RPG games, I often feel like playing them if I want a change from Torchlight 2 or something similar. 9/10 would highly recommend.

- Con - more could have been done for people who play the game offline, a lot of newer games seem to be very restricting to people who don't want to be online, this is no exception, although The campaign and PvsAI alone is solid enough to merit its very reasonable price tag.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=315394833
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is the next installment to the critically acclaimed Dawn of War franchise. It was developed by Relic Entertainment who has done a fine job handling the series with respect and care, and giving the Warhammer 40k universe justice.

Dawn of War II is a Real Time Strategy game set "in the grim darkness of the far future" on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40k tabletop universe. The player will take on the role of a Blood Raven Force Commander who leads a small task force in a desperate attempt to save one of their last few remaining recruitment worlds from the destructive power of the Aliens who seeks to destroy it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=315394042
PROS:
+ Good Visuals: -The game could have used better textures but it still looks nice as it is. Combat animation and movements are great which complements the very well done character and unit models. The game should be 5 years old by the time this review is made, but it has that kind of visuals that ages very well.

+ RPG Type Campaign: -Also a CON (see below). Although the Dawn of War games are known to be a Real Time Strategy Game, this Dawn of War II's Single Player Campaign mixes an RPG element into it (character progression and wargear customization). The original RTS formula is not lost however, because the Multiplayer experience, whether against players or the AI, is still a traditional RTS experience.

+ Wargear and Character Progression (Level Up): -There is an healthy amount of drops and loots in this game which works well on different combinations and situations. This vastly increases the re-playability of the game since the player may experiment with different character builds with different items to attain different results in their missions. This is specially true on the harder difficulties.

+ Variety in Difficulty: -Single player offers a good choice on difficulty by having a fun and satisfying normal mode, and a very brutal higher tier difficulties for players who like to challenge themselves in fighting notoriously hard game modes.

CONS:
- Path-finding Problems: -I noticed that some of the unit's individual AI have a hard time grasping orders. They sometimes run out of cover, charge the enemy even though they are given specific orders for range combat, and even sometimes get delayed response to orders like throw grenades or bombs despite being in range.

- RPG Type Campaign: -Some fans of the old games might not appreciate the RPG element since what really made the original Dawn of War games fun for them would be the base building, management and troop training rather than squad based tactical combat.

- Recycled Maps: -Map variation in both Multiplayer and specially Single Player is woefully lacking with a majority of maps repeating on missions. Company of Heroes, a game developed by the same studio and using the same RTS principles, had more map variety and originality and it was released 3 years BEFORE Dawn of War II.

CONCLUSION:
With its flaws its still a good addition to the Dawn of War franchise. Although it has deviated from its original formula of a traditional RTS in favor of a more RPG-esque single-player experience, I can still say that I found it fun.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=315735768

Dawn of War II is a science-fiction real time strategy game based in the Warhammer 40k universe.

When most people think of RTS games, games such as Starcraft and Warcraft typically come to mind. You have workers to build up your base so that you can train more powerful soldiers. Resources must be harvested, but there is a finite amount of them. Indeed, this is how the first Dawn of War functioned. However, the sequel takes a much different approach.

In the single player campaign, you are given 6 unique squads, and 6 only, to take on missions. No base building whatsoever. These squads can be upgraded with weapons and armour, and can level up to gain bonus abilities. It is a extremely well-executed combination of an rpg and a rts. The story is fairly linear, but you are free to explore the planets and do side missions at your realative leisure (that is, until the space bugs show up. Then you need to be quick or else the bugs will eat the planet).

The multiplayer is also a genre-masher. Each race has three different "heroes" which act similarily to champions in DotA or LoL. They level up, can be upgraded, and can oftentimes turn the tide of a battle. All of your other units are spawned from you one and only building, so if it dies you're out of luck. There aren't any workers, and you must collect resources by capping points. A capped point will grant you the resource constantly. The more points you have, the more resources you'll consistently obtain.

The other huge change in DoW II is the "Last Stand" game mode. Three players, each controlling one of the heroes, must survive wave after wave of enemies (top-down horde mode pretty much). You're heroes level up, get more powerful, and eventually die because Last Stand is hard.

If you enjoy RTS games, but are tired of the same-old same-old style that most RTS's follow, then I would recommend this game (or DoW II: Retribution the stand-alone sequel).

When Dawn of War II came out, it was an absolutely groundbreaking title. It offered some of the most competitive multiplayer at the time, and the later addition of The Last Stand mode offered hours of entertainment to both casual gamers and pro-players alike.

Now, if in 2015 the size of the multiplayer community has dwindled only to a fraction of what it was, you can still find other players out there (steam forums help in this regard) and enjoy some good games, or just plunge straight through the campaign.

Dawn of War II was worth every cent at the time it was released. As part of a Steam Sale, however, there's no reason for you not to pick this up and give it a go. Especially if you're already fan of the first Dawn of War, or just appreciate the universe of Warhammer 40,000 in general.