Warhammer at it's finest. The closest thing to table-top and it's wonderful.
Today we are going to look over Dawn of War 2.
Now personally, I am a huge Warhammer fan. I play table-top and sport the Imperial Eagle tattooed upon my shoulder. Now, you might think this makes me a little biased, but if anything, it makes me judge this game all the harder. I've gone into this with high expectations and i've not been disappointed.
Graphics: The visuals are simply stunning in this title. The shine off of the Marine's armour. Bolter rounds and tracer fire lacing back and forth. It's definately something to see. Even melee has definately been improved with different finishing sequences that look fantastic.
CGI sequences between levels are well done and definately help expand the story and give you a detailed look into the Warhammer universe.
Sound: Sound effects are something I always hope for. Especially spoken script or anything to push more information on the Warhammer universe. Weaponry sounds fantastic, as well as the voices of each race.
Control: Controls in this game are fairly standard as to what you will find in say, Company of Heroes. The only difference is the different skill and accessory loadouts. I found it sometimes a little difficult to select squads and sent orders out to the incorrect units.
Hopefully this was just my machine and not an actual in-game issue.
Storyline: This is always a big thing for me in any game. If you can give me a good story, then you will probably have me hooked.
Throwing in the Tyranids for Dawn of War 2 was a pretty good idea. I mean, none of us have seen the 'nids outside of table-top and the fans were ready to pick up torches and pitchforks if it didn't happen soon.
You start off defending a series of planets from an Ork attack, which is fairly standard opening it seems for most Dawn of War titles. It progresses you onto the Eldar then reveals the dooming mass that is the Tyranid hive fleet.
Now, this game left me with a few more questions than answers.
Especially with Gabriel Angelos (The Force Commander from the first DoW title) making an appearance. They speak an awful lot about a terrible secret that surrounded his homeworld, Cyrene. Which we should all know was extinguished via Exterminatus.
The story-line is decent, moving toward differen defensive missions and levels of infestation. The campaign, while short, detailed nicely how a small splinter fleet can present a major threat to the Imperium. That's right folks, this is a small splinter fleet from when the Ultramarines battled the Hive Fleet on their own chapter world. If it had been a true outreaching of the Hive Mind, there would of been no chance what so ever of survival for those worlds and the people upon it.
Multiplayer: This is really where the game seems to excel. I was playing the Beta since the moment i've gotten my hands on it and it's only gotten better. I've hated playing RTS's online now for years due to it's terrible skill-less spam of units. This finally introduces strategy and tactics back into gaming. Bravo Relic.