Warhammer 40 000: Dawn of War II (PC)

Gameplay

Playable armies at the initial release of the game include the Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, and Tyranids.^[4]

The gameplay of Dawn of War II is markedly different from that of Dawn of War and its expansions. 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."^[5] There is a heavier focus on 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 (squads under fire seek cover, for example), more realistically sized vehicles, and an improved physics engine.^[5]

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.^[6] 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. This dual-platform requirement is unique to the game.

Campaign

Dawn of War II features a non-linear interplanetary campaign^[7], playable as the Space Marines^[8]. The campaign can be played either as single-player or cooperatively with another player through an online connection.^[2]

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 warzone and mission is selected, the player chooses only four squads to take part in the coming battle. Each squad is highly 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 RPG-style 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.^[9][10][11]

Plot

The game opens with the player and Sergeant Tarkus being deep-striked into Calderis to aid Captain Davian Thule and his initiates. As they drive away the Orks they are confronted by Mek Badzappa and his wartrukk. Although the Mek escapes, the Marines collapse the mine through which they are coming and take a victory. After this they are deep-striked from the cruiser Armegeddon into a hamlet where Scout Sergeant Cyrus is waiting for them. They manage to fight their way to the defender of the hamlet: Sergeant Avitus, and rescue him and save the hamlet from Orks.

After this they receive word that Orks have attacked two more key locations and assume some one is leading them. The first attack is led by a Stormboyz Nob named Skykilla and the second by Warboss Gutrencha. After this the Marines obtain information from Skykillas and Gutrenchas and find that both have visited Felhammer Mine recently. They also learn that Mek Badzappa is there as well. However Cyrus remains onboard the Armegeddon to provide technical support. When they enter the mine they see a Warp Spider Exarch and his retinue vanish and the marines are rescued from Ork gunners by Sergeant Thaddeus. They also find Badzappa and his platoon under attack by an Eldar Warlock and a company of Guardians. Although they kill the Warlock, the Mek escapes once again. As the Warlock dies he speaks of a greater foe threatening them all but the heroes remain unconcerned.

They travel to planet Typhon to stop Eldar activity. A Warp Spider Exarch is stirring up the Orks into revolt and must be eliminated. He mentions nothing of the so-called "greater foe" but Thule asks them to return to Calderis because Mek Badzappa is launching an attack against the capital and citizens report plants mutating and small purple creatures killing livestock. The Space Marines arrive and finally kill the Mek but they are soon attacked by the Tyranids. Thule is mortally wounded by a Warrior and Techmarine Martellus leads them back to safety after they destroy the Tyranid attack force.

The Space Marines return to Typhon, leaving Apothecary Gordian in charge of Thule. They kill the Eldar ranger Nemerian who has been stirring up trouble.

After this the game presents 3 primary objectives to complete: gathering a sample of biotoxin, securing a deep space scanning array, and defending Angel Forge. These can be completed in any order desired but it is recommended that you finish the biotoxin mission first as it gives you access to a dreadnought;who is Davian Thule.

Upon completion of all three objectives, the Tyranid poison is ready for delivery. However, the Litany of Fury (which has been travelling to the player's aid for some time) is psionically assualted by the Hive Mind and is in grave danger of becoming lost in the Warp. This effectively takes your reinforcements out of the picture - but the Hive Mind is weakened from the exertion and goes to a nearby planet to feed. The player's strike team deploys on the planet and administers the poison to the Hive Mind through it's feeder tendrils. In the space battle above, the Armageddon is destroyed and Gordian killed.

As the poison takes effect, all appears lost as the strike team has no means of retreat. Suddenly, Gabriel Angelos and an entire company of Blood Ravens deep strike into the battlefield and protect your force from the oncoming Tyranids. Angelos himself joins your command and is completely controllable; with his help your team kills the Hive Tyrant and the day is won.

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.^[12]

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.^[5]

There are only two game modes in the skirmish game thus far. There is the standard Victory Point Control mode where the key to winning is controlling the critical victory points on the map until your 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. Free for all games are not supported for ranked play, and neither are Annihilation games.

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