Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is a real-time tactics and tactical role-playing video game based on Games Workshop's fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe, developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.
Dawn of War II was released in North America on February 19, 2009, and in Europe on February 20, 2009, with two expansions Chaos Rising and Retribution being released in 2010 and 2011, respectively. A sequel, Dawn of War III, developed by Relic and published by Sega, was released in April 2017.
Gameplay
Playable armies at the initial release of the game include the Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, and Tyranids. The Chaos Space Marines and the Imperial Guard were later added to the game through its two expansion packs.The gameplay of Dawn of War II is markedly different from that of Dawn of War and its expansions. Building bases is completely removed. Jonny Ebbert, the game's lead designer, describes the feel of the game by saying that it "takes everything that was great about the original and combines it with the best that Company of Heroes had to offer." There is a heavier focus on utilizing cover, which gives more substantial defensive bonuses. Accordingly, there is also new emphasis on methods of dealing with units in cover. Some weapons, such as grenades and other explosives, can destroy cover, while others, such as flamers, ignore cover bonuses completely. Other differences between Dawn of War II and its predecessors include improved unit AI, more realistically sized vehicles, and an improved physics engine, though the AI is easy to manipulate, by means such as placing suppression squads which the AI will instantly know have been placed and avoid, thus allowing to funnel the army to the player's needs. This game also includes a fall back command which the AI will use somewhat liberally, making the squad or command unit fall back at a higher speed and become resistant to range damage while being more vulnerable to melee.
As a Games for Windows - Live game, the game uses the Achievements system from Xbox Live, and is the first widely released, PC-exclusive game to use it. Because of this, a player must be able to connect to the Windows Live servers in order to access the game's multiplayer features. The game also requires authentication via Steam. On June 17, 2014, an optional update was released that removes Games for Windows – Live and the defunct GameSpy multiplayer servers for Steam solutions, including Steam Cloud.
Campaign
Dawn of War II features a non-linear interplanetary campaign, playable as the Space Marines. The campaign can be played either as single-player or cooperatively with another player through an online connection.The game's campaign departs from those of its predecessors in several key features. One of the most notable departures is that there are no base-building elements, unlike in previous Dawn of War titles. Instead, the player chooses the units to be used prior to beginning a mission, cannot build new units once the mission begins, and has only limited reinforcement options.
A major part of the campaign lies in choosing which battles and even planets to fight in, and there are consequences regarding which missions are chosen. There may be multiple distress calls to answer, for example, each available for only a limited duration. Once a mission is chosen, the player may still have to choose between various objectives, having to decide between saving civilians or obtaining a powerful piece of wargear, for example.
Once a war zone and mission is selected, the player chooses only four squads to take part in the coming battle. Each squad is unique in its combat specialty, personality, and even the voice acting of its squad leader or sergeant. There is a strong narrative focus on the sergeants of these squads who can increase in experience and skills as the campaign progresses, and cannot ultimately be killed. Rather than dying in a mission, squad leaders are "knocked out" and can be revived either by a friendly unit in close proximity or upon completing the mission.
The campaign includes many elements traditionally associated with role-playing games. Squad leaders and commander units can be equipped with the wargear which is gathered from battlefields and slain enemies and by accomplishing objectives during missions. Throughout the campaign, as a Space Marine kills enemies and achieves objectives, he gains experience, "levels up", learns new abilities, and gains bonuses.
Squads
Force Commander: The player-named Force Commander serves as the player character, he leads the strike force throughout the game and is the one "squad" that always deploys. The youngest Force Commander in the history of the Blood Ravens, he earned a reputation for his ability to command in situations that would have broken other leaders. The Force Commander is never heard speaking outside of battle, where he can be heard shouting the generic battle cry "For the Emperor!" when using the "Rally!" ability, making him an almost silent protagonist. The character is the most versatile one, and can be customized to fulfill most roles. He can use almost any weapon and equipment, save for a few squad-specific items.Tarkus: Tarkus leads a squad of 3 Tactical Marines, who fulfill the "tank" role by drawing enemy fire and soaking up damage. Tarkus can wield a variety of ranged weapons, from the default bolters to plasma guns and flamers, and his squadmates can be upgraded to use plasma weapons as well. With investment in the "Melee" skill tree, the Tactical Marines can switch to close range weapon, but that reduces their ranged capabilities. The Tactical Marines are potentially the most durable squad and a great addition in any mission, and later in the game even capable of utilizing Terminator armor. A veteran of countless battles, Tarkus' professional, confident, seen-it-all demeanor makes him a model Space Marine Sergeant.
Avitus: Avitus leads a Devastator heavy weapon squad of himself and 2 other Tactical Marines, and is specialized in laying suppressive fire upon enemies to reduce their movement and firing accuracy. The squad members use a default heavy bolter covered by two regular bolters, and Avitus can switch to missile launchers or a plasma cannon when enemy heavy vehicles are expected. Devastator squad ranks highest in terms of raw damage and suppression abilities, although they lack in mobility and melee combat capabilities.
Thaddeus: Thaddeus leads a squad of 3 Assault Marines who specialize in close quarter combat and use jump packs for rapid air assaults, which can stun and break up enemy formations. His squad almost exclusively uses melee weapons, and refocusing to ranged combat is costly and ineffective. A former ganger on Meridian, Thaddeus was the first recruit from that planet in decades, and, although over 80 years old, is considered young and inexperienced compared to his fellow Sergeants, all veterans of several centuries. The process of Space Marine maturation, from a brash fighter into a cold-blooded warrior, is discussed after one of the missions.
Cyrus : Cyrus leads a squad of 3 Scout Marines who specialize in stealth and infiltration. While Scouts are equipped with the ubiquitous bolters by default, and Cyrus can be trained to use flamers, their most effective weapons are unique to the squad - combat shotguns and sniper rifles. Cyrus also gains a special ability depending on the weapon he wields, for example the "Headshot" skill for sniper rifles. The active camouflage ability allows the squad to scout ahead undetected and, when upgraded, to deploy traps and explosives without compromising themselves. They are vital in missions where a direct confrontation is ill-advised.
Davian Thule: A cameo from Dark Crusade, after being critically injured by a Tyranid Warrior, Davian Thule is placed in stasis until his condition can be stabilized. Afterwards, unable to fully recover due to his grievous injuries, he instead becomes a Dreadnought — a cybernetic combat walking vehicle. Although a powerful heavy hitter, Thule is slow and more vulnerable to anti-vehicle weapons and explosives. His default armament — a pair of arms ending in massive power fists, with a flamer fixed under one of them — is geared for melee. However, by replacing one of the arms with an assault cannon, Thule can be turned into a devastating ranged unit.
Skirmish
Dawn of War II includes a skirmish game as well, playable either as single-player or multiplayer, and uses the Games for Windows - Live online gaming service for multiplayer games and matchmaking.Prior to a match, a player chooses a faction and one of the chosen faction's three commanders. The various commanders are used to complement different strategies. For example, a player who chooses the Space Marine army can choose among the offense-oriented Force Commander, the support-oriented Apothecary, and the defense-oriented Techmarine.
Unlike most contemporary real-time strategy games, including Dawn of War, most of the unit and research production in Dawn of War II is done from an army's headquarters building, and unit upgrades are performed on the field of battle itself. The focus in the game is on frontline combat and unit-based tactics rather than the more traditional base-building style popularized in titles like Command & Conquer and the Age of Empires series.
There are two game modes in the skirmish game. There is the standard Victory Point Control mode where the key to winning is controlling the critical victory points on the map until the opponent's victory points run down to zero, and in unranked custom matches there is also the annihilation mode where players attempt to completely destroy their opponents' units and structures. In both modes, players fight to control requisition and power nodes which supply factions with required resources. In online ranked play, players compete in 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 matches. Annihilation games are not supported for ranked play.