Dawn of War II - Worth it?

[Realitycrash]

I'v always enjoyed Warhammer40K, though I'v haven't had the time to really play the games on tabletop. I'v been thinking about this game though, but is it worth it?
I want to play other races than Space Marines in campaign-mode, and I hear you can do that in the expansions. Have they made a decent campaign for these races as well? Anything you want to praise/condemn?

 

[Gamer_152]

It's not a bad game but my word of advice would be that if you're looking for another Dawn of War this isn't really it. Dawn of War II resembles much less of an RTS and more of a dungeon crawler.

 

[MrPeanut]

If you are going to get retribution, don't get it for the campaign because it sucks no matter what faction you play.

 

[veloper]

Retribution or get old DOW 1: Original + winter assault + dark crusade expansion packs. It's cheap and it's good. Maybe include Soulstorm if you want Sisters of battle and dark elder factions also.

Winter assault has the best SP campaigns by far.
Dark crusade and soul storm let you play as any faction in the campaign mode, but the campaigns are basicly just skirmish maps on an overal map, with very few special missions or story, but even the skirmishing is good.

 

[HerrBobo]

I think all the DoW games are great, bar soulstorm which was rubbish.

DoW1 plus expansions is the most RTS of all the games, with good story lines, ect.

DoW2 is a bit strange as a RTS. Very few units, lots of loot and boss battles. Like Gamer_152 said it does play a little like a dungeon crawler. That said, I enjoyed as much as DoW1, it was different, sure, but different does not mean bad. I thought DoW2 and Chaos Rising had the best story lines of all the games.

Retribution plays like a combination of all that went before it. Several faction, with both hero and regular units. More like an RTS than a dungeon crawler, but still some loot and boss battles. The weak point is the story line though, it is short and pretty much the same for all the factions. The Last Stand multiplayer is great though.

Overall, I recommend them all!

 

[Malkavian]

A word of caution: DoW II + Chaos Rising requires Games for Windows Live.

Retribution is a standalone Expansion, though, and runs through steam.

It is also the only one of the DoW II games where you can play oter stuff than Space marine in the campaign.

 

[Iwata]

I liked the first DoW series better, as a long-time 40K fan myself, but the sequel and its expansions aren't too bad. Just don't think of them as DoW, tihnk of it more like a more serious, expanded version of Kill Team.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

A word of caution: DoW II + Chaos Rising requires Games for Windows Live.

Retribution is a standalone Expansion, though, and runs through steam.

It is also the only one of the DoW II games where you can play oter stuff than Space marine in the campaign.

This is accurate. I'm one of the people that liked DOW2 more than DOW1 or Retribution. If you want to control an army? DoW1(and expansions). If you want to command a space marines fire team? (around 12-16 marines and maybe a Dreadnaught) DOW2. If you want to control a Platoon, Retribution.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Retribution is great for the Last Stand, and it has a pretty fun campaign, even if it's the same for each faction. The replayability comes from how you approach each situation, based on what army you have.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Well personally I absolutely love playing DoW II: Retribution with friends in both Last Stand mode and multiplayer.

The first game was more larger armies and less micro-managing and catchier unit quotes (this is important). The second was more focused and had smaller sized armies with more focus on management and strategic planning (direction, cover etc.).

 

[isometry]

I recommend to buy the soulstorm expansion for DoW. It is the fourth and final expansion for the first dawn of war game, and it's a standalone expansion that gives you access to all the factions that were added to the first game.

Dawn of War II feels more like playing a 500 point W40k game, so there is more attention to the army leader, his retinue, their wargear and special abilities, etc. But for larger scale battles I recommend DoW1: soulstorm.

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

DoW 1 is way better.
DoW 2 really is not a very good game. DoW 2: Chaos Rising however is pretty damn good and Retribution is pretty cool too.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Dawn of war 2 is an excellent strategy game so long as you're not looking for the traditional "build a base then create an army the size of china to steamroll the enemy" gameplay/strategy that usually comes with playing games like Starcraft.

Dawn of War 2 is focused on small squads and micromanaging them. Things like cover[light, medium, heavy], suppression and moral are all taken into account. Cover can also be blown up. Lost your cover? No problem! Just use the crater! I personally prefer it to games like Starcraft.

 

[eventhorizon525]

I'm a pretty big fan of DoW2, though it really is a much smaller scale set of fights. Personally I like this as it focuses more on unit control and less on memorizing how to lay out a base (also, the options with destructible cover and builders never cease to entertain).

I also loved the DoW2 campaigns simply because I prefer fewer more powerful units I can customize over the massive army. You can still do massive armies in DoW2 though, just play any match with 6 players in it, there WILL be clusterfucks even if you only control ~1/6 the forces involved (army dependent).

 

[WaysideMaze]

Retribution or get old DOW 1: Original + winter assault + dark crusade expansion packs. It's cheap and it's good. Maybe include Soulstorm if you want Sisters of battle and dark elder factions also.

Winter assault has the best SP campaigns by far.
Dark crusade and soul storm let you play as any faction in the campaign mode, but the campaigns are basicly just skirmish maps on an overal map, with very few special missions or story, but even the skirmishing is good.

Winter Assault was just brutal...

I love RTS, Im just shit at it, and the winter assault campaign was painful for me to play, it was just so fucking hard.

I enjoyed Dark Crusade, never got around to playing Soulstorm.

Got them all in a THQ pack a while ago.

 

[Darkmantle]

I enjoyed DoW: II. I recommend it, I'm not entirely sure what kind of game oyu are looking for though.

 

[kouriichi]

I personally enjoyed it.
While it may not have been perfect by any stretch of the imagination, it was a lot of fun.

 

[Brighton_Game_Trader]

Campaign has ONLY Space Marines and has very little in common with the tabletop battles.

That said, you can customise your squad as you progress, the action is as awesome as DoW 1 and there expansion packs do offer a fair amount of variety.

It's certainly worth a play - if only to find out you don't like it. At under £10/$15 on Steam nowadays, it's not that risky either.

 

[Troublesome Lagomorph]

Get the first one instead. DOWII is hardly an RTS at all, and its a little bit... annoying, imo.