Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Demo

The first Dawn of War game in the Warhammer 40,000 saga made quite the impression on the industry, mainly due to the fact that it managed to properly portray the universe and do a good job at implementing some sturdy RTS elements into the gameplay. Naturally, the fact that Relic was in charge of developing it certainly helped, thanks to their unscathed reputation when it comes to strategy games.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, as the name clearly implies, is the logical follow-up to a first great part and all of its expansion packs. However, the term sequel must be handled with care, since the title at hand tries to do something different and sort of disregards everything its predecessor taught it, in order to change the pace of the gameplay and emphasize on the actual soldiers that are part of the war, rather than on entire armies at once.

For a start, the campaign mode does not feature any base-building mechanics whatsoever, which means that you are only able to take a handful of units at the beginning of each mission and use them as best as you can during each confrontation. Naturally, they are a bit stronger this time around, as are the actual team commanders and the various heroes you get to control and grow over the course of the career mode.

Speaking of which, these squad leaders are the center point of your army and you must pay additional attention to them, especially since they now gain experience for every kill they manage on the battle field. Moreover, they are also able to pick up various items, such as better weapons or armor pieces, all of which can be equipped in-between the scenarios. As far as the actual gameplay is concerned, the units can now use the cover system in order to shield themselves from enemy fire, sort of like it was possible in Company of Heroes.

The multiplayer matches have been heavily modified as well, since the base building aspect is also less important this time around, now that almost any unit can be trained from the main building. However, the fights are very tactical and less prone to descending into simple click fests, due to the large number of tactics you can employ, as well as the many abilities that are available for every particular squad.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is definitely a good game, although it may disappoint those who wanted to see a better version of the original title. The new mechanics function quite well though and the only bad aspect remains the campaign itself, since every mission consists of basically the same objectives and it can get pretty boring after a while.