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Preys-World - Dawn Of War 2 Review

Monday 9th of March, 2009 - 22:14:30 GMT

I’d like you to exhale. Now hold your breathe, with your lungs empty.

Ok, now when you see the phrase “Sequel to Dawn of War” I’d like you to take a short inhale.

Hold it.

All right, scrap that idea. I wanted to convey the need of fans of the original, to see the follow up. Good Games Workshop adaptations were not the done thing for a long time. For every Shadow of the Horned Rat or Chaos Gate, there was a Final Liberation or Fire Warrior. The former pair of games were moments of purity in a murky swamp of filth and degradation. Dawn of War was fantastic. It spawned 3 expansion packs and was a sign of things to come for the Games Workshop (GW) brand. While not as successful, Mark of Chaos and Warhammer Online were by no definition of the word, bad games. The latter certainly was the most successful WoW style MMO to hold my attention for more than 2 weeks. Mark of Chaos even got an expansion.

However, while DoW was an upturn for GW, the RTS genre had fallen from its throne of the late ‘90s. According to Relic, the genre was stagnating and sales were not what they once were. They embarked on a great realisation, and their creation was certainly unique.

The first thing you will think when you get into DoW:2 is “DoW meets Company of Heroes”. Without a doubt. This is the Essence engine v2, CoH all grown up. Cover, directional bearings and ambient sounds. But there are certain differences buried in this engine. Clearly the graphics are improved, physics are integrated a bit deeper and, wait, where are my buildings? Relic’s first step upon rediscovery has been to ditch one of the staples of the RTS, base building. In single player squads are selected prior to mission acceptance and in Multiplayer they are built by your HQ.

Relic’s subsequent detox included reducing the total amount of squads fielded. If you thought DoW was personal, DoW:2 is expecting an invitation to your birthday party.

The easiest way to explain the new system is DoW meets Diablo meets Soldiers: Heroes of WW2 (I never played the sequels). This is more evident in the single player campaign than multiplayer but the same theme applies.

Imagine the commander concept from Total Annihilation (or Supreme Commander, if you will). You are personified on the battlefield in the form of the Force Commander. You drop in with your warriors for every mission and are quite formidable. You can’t die however, the worst fate you will suffer is incapacitation. Other squads can lose members but the sergeants or captains leading them will never die. As long as at least 1 character is well enough to walk around, the game is not over and there is the possibility of revival. While not ideal, this method can avoid dead end scenarios as you can usually find a way to get yourself up and running after a bad experience with the business end of a Venom cannon. Since reinforcements are handled by way of teleport beacons, resource management isn’t part of the single player (SP) side. The other ‘innovation’ in SP is the handling of Wargear. Unlike Dark Crusade (the 2nd expansion pack to DoW), Wargear drops like MMO loot during missions. Between missions you’re able to equip what you salvaged from the last battlefield. Alongside unit levelling up (see Diablo reference), this is how you improve your squads.

Speaking of Venom Cannons, it’s almost impossible not to have heard that the one race omitted from DoW and its expansions are a starring feature of DoW:2. The Tyranids are here in their savage, spikey and unsettling ways. I won’t go into details on how they work or even what is included, for therein lies the joy of the game. It’s understandable why Relic neglected them from DoW, and you can appreciate their appearance this time.

But to clarify, the races included in DoW:2 are: Space Marines, Eldar, Orks and Tyranids. Needless to say the assumption that other races will be added via expansion goes without saying. The excellent way expansions were handled before avoided them feeling like cash-ins milking the franchise, so the outlook is optimistic.

DoW:2 is so unlike the original that comparisons really can not be drawn. Micro-managing instead of mass battles and the removal of a resource system in SP both help to create a flowing gameplay style. Without worrying about a base to defend, giving echoes of Ground Control, you can concentrate on the battle at hand. You won’t be looking back to your base for defenses and when the mission is over, you’ll realise it’s all the better for it. It’s not dumbing down, but rather focusing your attention where it’s needed.

Multiplayer does hark back to more conventional times. The unit cap is higher and Take and Hold (victory point) bring a taste of the familiar. This is the only place where you’ll be worrying about resources. Requisition and Power are back, but with a different slant. Requisition is accumulated by capturing Req points. Power, however, is different than before. Capture a power point and you’ll get a basic income. Spend some requisition and you can upgrade it to increase that income.

This means that the flow of a battle is centred around these key points. It is almost impossible to turtle because you can’t hoard a generator farm in your base. The req and power points are the only source of income and having them scattered around the map leads to tough strategising. The lower-than-usual unit cap means that unless you’re completely dominating your opponent, you cannot control the entire map. You can often be confident that a flanking maneuver will open up a supply route and help you get back.

There are only 7 maps that ship with multiplayer. A couple of 1 vs 1 and the rest are 6 vs 6. Relic decided to focus on quality over quantity, which, while not popular with the community, will not doubt be added to in the near future. Whether this will be in the form of Downloadable Content at a charge or gratis is unknown, but one would hope for the latter considering the sequel’s integration into Steam. This would make free add-ons easy to adminster.

To summarise, DoW:2 is a welcome change. Without looking to the RTS/RPG hybrids coming out of Eastern Europe, it’s hard to find anything similar. The shift in focus from base-building, resource-hoarding to more free flow gameplay with rewards and a story that shows Relic have done some GW research (you’ll be picking up subtle references to future events in a lot of the dialogue). That gives the impression that a lot of time and thought went into this game. Compare this re-imagining to the way Valve have turned the Multiplayer FPS on its head with Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead. Innovative and unique, not without a few niggles but an overall satisfying experience.

Score: 5 Daves!

- Hyssy