Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 Review

It may be rather old but JLB insisted on reviewing it. He was far too kind. So enjoy (if you must)...

Presentation, Graphics and Additional Features: 4.0

DoW2 has a really nice feel to it, with simple menus and solid design. The gritty graphics tie it together into a nice little package, with the updated weather effects and supremely gleeful gore that is to be found while playing the game. If graphics are a key point in your purchase then this is a good choice, with amazing animation quality and good themed visuals, though if you zoom in to a very high level (to where a normal Space marine covers the screen) then you can see the character texture work is slightly lacklustre. The Army Painter is a good tool as it allows customization of your army, allowing them to look just how you want them to, giving a personal touch to the slaughter you bring. The music fits into the game like a glove, and although it is not too spectacular or original, it provides a nice ambience for your adventures in the Aurelia sector.

Gameplay: 4.5

The gameplay of DoW2 is a well executed gore fest, with a base on a fairly generic cover based strategy game.   This is almost exactly the same as the original DoW, though with the change from large armies from a variety of different buildings to  more of a heavily upgraded squad game, with all units being produced from a central base. The gameplay is fun. The unit and upgrade variety is huge, with each upgrade and unit carrying a whole new strategic challenge. It can be confusing at times to remember each of the squads purposes and abilities (even though each unit/upgrade has a tooltip) especially when in urgent need of countering the enemy- though once you have played the game for a while you can pretty much do it by reflex- you know that the Eldar Avatar has immense health and melee damage, so you can figure out that a hit and run ranged attack could eventually bring it down through the use of practice and the heavenly blessed tooltips of the Emperor (who sits in his broken throne smiling with joy at the great godly work he has wrought). At the higher levels of play it becomes  more of a resource management game- try to make the most out of your units and capture more requisition points - but until you really get into the multiplayer you will be blissfully ignorant of it. Overall the gameplay is fun, bloody and strategic, although lacking in originality and simplicity.

Overall *

 Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 2 is a good game overall, BUT IT USES GAMES FOR WINDOWS LIVE AND THEREFORE MUST BE PURGED IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR!

*JLB is insistent that overall scores are the job of the reader to decide. PWN disagrees.

-JLB-