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[K.Jack]

Info
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: THQ
Release: March 1st, 2011
Platform: PC
Price: $29.99 USD
Other: Stamworks Integration
Website

CAMPAIGN:

A decade has passed since the events of Chaos Rising, and the sector remains in turmoil. Despite the defeat of the Black Legion and the Great Daemon Ulkair, the planets of sub-sector Aurelia remain gripped by constant warfare and bloodshed. Having uncovered heresy in the highest rankings of his Chapter, Blood Raven’s Captain Gabriel Angelos has been branded traitor by corrupt Chapter Master Azariah Kyras. Unwilling to spill the blood of his brother Space Marines, Gabriel has gone into hiding. There, he gathers what few friends and allies he can, readying himself to oppose the Chaotic taint that consumes his brothers.

The xenos threat continues to plague the entire sector. Imperial forces struggle with the feral remnants of the Tyranid invasion, while Orks continue to ravage at the fringes of every world. The Eldar still raid from the shadows, whispering of the remains of a long-fallen Craftworld.

The Imperium has had enough. In a bold effort to restore control, entire regiments of the Cadian Imperial Guard have arrived in the sub-sector and have taken control of its planetary defence forces. The bulk of these forces have been deployed to Typhon Primaris, a world whose dense jungles have provided sanctuary to alien and heretic alike. However, progress is slow, and the Imperium has prepared a more permanent solution for the sector and its citizens: Each and every world shall be scourged of life, subjected to the fires of Exterminatus.

- Completely Standalone - no GFWL
- No Imports From Previous Titles

FEATURES


Take command of one of six unique factions in the next stand alone expansion of the critically acclaimed Dawn of War real-time strategy franchise.

Choose to build a massive army or lead your small squad of elite heroes into battle and experience a single player campaign customized to your faction.

Go online and face off against your enemies and experience the fast brutal combat of the 41st millennium.
Key Features :

• Multi-Race Campaign – For the first time in the Dawn of War II series, players will be able to experience a single player campaign customized for their chosen race.
• Develop your Army – Upgrade your heroes and unlock new buildable units as you progress through the single player campaign.
• 6 Playable Races – Choose from 6 multiplayer races, each with their own unique super heavy units

Multiplayer Resources

Some really informative stuff for those of you getting into multiplayer.


Harlequinn is doing some really good videocasts.
DOW 2 Dev Commentary Match Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

DOW2info is up and running as well as a resource for units/what they do/abilities...etc...

Reviews:
PC Gamer - 88



That's enough, for now. Will update the OP over the next few days.

 

[Daigoro]

good shit. looking forward to it.

 

[K.Jack]

The game is unlocked, as has the full DLC package:

 

[HeadlessRoland]

I am on the edge of buying it, can I get some first impressions on the campaign? If it doesn't have a strong plot/narrative I am really not interested.

 

[slidewinder]

Game started for me once, now it only gives me a black screen with no HD activity until I kill it.

 

[bonesmccoy]

Pre-loaded. Decrypted Steam unlock. Click Play.

"This game is currently unavailable. Please try again later."

 

[Reluctant-Hero]

The game is unlocked, as has the full DLC package:

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h204/killer-ra/VidGame%20Screens/DLC.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Sweet. Glad to see it's $5.00 I held off on the pre-order as I've yet to finish the first two DoWII campaigns. I'll pick it sometime in March, if only to support Relic.

[spoiler]I'm going to miss the xbox achievements.[/spoiler]

 

[Speculator]

Ordered, haven't had a Relic game experience for awhile. I'm looking forward to firing this baby up.

 

[Dice]

What race is that on the cover?

 

[Speculator]

What race is that on the cover?

Imperial Guard Hero

 

[Haeleos]

What race is that on the cover?

She looks like a Witch Hunter, so I'm guessing Imperial Guard.

 

[Mrbob]

Didn't have time to play much tonight since I have to get up early tomorrow but I put about an hour into the new Last Stand map. Everything feels much more compact and melee option is now more viable. Also it is TOUGH. Forget about trying to do well with a low level character. Rolling with a 20 and 19 (with a 1) and we were struggling to get through wave 12. Challenge is ramped up!

 

[deim0s]

How's the skirmish AI? Any improvements?

 

[KaYotiX]

Will buy!! gonna miss XBL achievements but I can deal

 

[Gully State]

What race is that on the cover?

Imperial Guard Inquisitor..

The campaign enemies seem to hit a lot harder..

 

[Xapati]

How's the skirmish AI? Any improvements?

Terrible as always. If you want to play skirmish against AI buy the Soulstorm expansion for DOW I from Steam which allows you to play all races in skirmish and go look for the Steel Legion mod:
http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?255981-Steel-Legion-SS-Release-Dec-23th-2010

This gives you an superbly designed 10th race and also amazing AI for skirmish battles.

If you'd rather stick to DoW II I suggest you play multiplayer online, the ranking system has greatly improved from Chaos Rising so there should be far less matchups against better players.

 

[Sinatar]

Played a bit of the campaign in coop tonight, soooo good.

- They removed the silly resources for special abilities (medpacks, nades, arty and so forth) and instead all the crates drop the RTS resources (Requisition & Power). All the special abilities now take mana or resources. No more shooting a crate and leaving the power up on the ground until you need it.

- The ability to make troops is fucking awesome.

- Imperial Guard seem pretty damn fun so far. Pretty mean that your first encounter with a Baneblade is to *fight* one though. Evil bastids.

 

[Narag]

Had no idea they revamped the reward & levelling system. Good stuff.

Castor is rather pimped out with the preorder wargear too.

 

[slidewinder]

Game started for me once, now it only gives me a black screen with no HD activity until I kill it.

Phew, got this fixed by running Driver Sweeper and reinstalling my ATI drivers.

Played a couple missions so far as Imperial Guard, pretty awesome as expected.

 

[Corto]

Insta buy. I've yet to finish the campaigns of the II and Chaos Rising that I bought last Steam sale, but I just want to support Relic. Great games.

 

[Ikuu]

Anyone in the US who could gift me the game and I'll send the cash through PayPal? Game is almost twice the price in the UK.

 

[coldvein]

the game so nice
its double the price

 

[FunBoy]

Why do I have to wait till Friday

Cant really complain since I ordered from shopto for £26 for the collectors edition.

 

[markot]

Anyone in the US who could gift me the game and I'll send the cash through PayPal? Game is almost twice the price in the UK.

I managed to get it from Gamersgate for 30usd... but since they have a uk store I dont know how much luck youll have... (Im in Australia)

http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-W40KDOW2R/warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii-retribution its 20 pounds there.

Its steamworks so you dont have to worry about the crappy gamersgate download speed or anything >.<

 

[Ikuu]

Ah didn't think to check there.

I can do that if you're online atm. PM me if so.

Thanks for the the offer but it seems Gamersgate has it for the same price.

 

[slidewinder]

Anyone in the US who could gift me the game and I'll send the cash through PayPal? Game is almost twice the price in the UK.

I can do that if you're online atm. PM me if so.

Edit: Oh, good.

 

[ArjanN]

The new Last Stand map does seem a lot harder. Tougher waves right off the bat and less room to manouvre. The waves seem a bit more varied as well.

It's great to have new content for it.

 

[JoeBoy101]

I have to say, just have diddled with the campaign so far, the base of the story used in it is quite grim.

Gameplay in the campaign is awesome as they took the skirmish gameplay and melded it with the more traditional mission play. There's no base building, but troop building and customization via abilities and wargear.

Overall, very nice.

 

[Iztli]

I cant wait to get this game No GFWL FTW!

 

[Philthy]

Not sure what to think of it so far. The changes to using items and abilities is different. It looks like it'll be more detailed, but I've only played through a few Space Marine missions and so far you're stuck with the most annoying of annoying annoying characters. Your captain is a crybaby who whines to his chapter master every five minutes. I really hope he dies with the Exterminatus.

 

[Vorador]

Ummm Diomedes

Spoiler

i remember him from Chaos Rising campaign. Hope the fucker dies this time. Annoying prick.

 

[LowParry]

I will have you oh sweet Retribution. As soon as my taxes show up.

 

[Q8D3vil]

the emperor shall see my money today.

 

[Gully State]

For those of you interested in watching multiplayer matches, Harlequin does some fairly good video casts. He does a good job providing context for beginners too. Here's his channel..

 

[Vorador]

WTF. I finished the first mission, closed the game and now the game is marked as "pre-load" and the store page says it will unlock in 3 days.

Bu bu bu i just played the first mission.

 

[ArjanN]

WTF. I finished the first mission, closed the game and now the game is marked as "pre-load" and the store page says it will unlock in 3 days.

Bu bu bu i just played the first mission.

What region?

I know the game orginally had the 4th as the release date in the coming soon section for me (in the Netherlands) but I can play it now.

 

[Ikuu]

I hate that about Steam, the game has been released in the US so it's not like it's an anti-piracy measure.

 

[Darklord]

Better hurry up, already pulled da pin.

 

[Vorador]

What region?

I know the game orginally had the 4th as the release date in the coming soon section for me (in the Netherlands) but I can play it now.

EU

 

[Tacitus_]

The game was available this morning here in Finland but it's no longer available. Luckily I played through Chaos already but this still sucks.
Why can't we have proper worldwide launches on a DD platform?

 

[bonesmccoy]

There seem to be a fair amount of issues with the preload. My buddy at work bought it 2 hours before it was scheduled to unlock, and was able to play it without any problems. I bought it on Sunday afternoon and received the annoying 'This game is currently unavailable' message after decrypting the Steam files, whatever that means.

 

[Gully State]

The game was available this morning here in Finland but it's no longer available. Luckily I played through Chaos already but this still sucks.
Why can't we have proper worldwide launches on a DD platform?

I'd blame the publisher-retailer distribution. Most likely it's so that the digital retailers don't get an unfair competitive advantage over the B&M. I doubt this is something Valve would want to do if they were given the choice.

Anyone here actually going to dabble in the competitive multiplayer or are you guys pretty much sticking to campaign and last stand?

 

[ZealousD]

I'm actually a little disappointed there's no GFWL integration. I wanted to see 3000 gamerscore for a single game. =P

 

[SapientWolf]

I'm actually a little disappointed there's no GFWL integration. I wanted to see 3000 gamerscore for a single game. =P

*Achievement unlocked: Game actually works*

 

[Ikuu]

Anyone here actually going to dabble in the competitive multiplayer or are you guys pretty much sticking to campaign and last stand?

I might give it a shot, but I've been playing SC2 so much that I'm not sure if I want to try and learn another RTS that is so different. Have they changed Last Stand much in this one as I loved it in the previous games.

It's funny how I could just play Chaos Rising instead of being frustrated that the game hasn't unlocked.

 

[ZealousD]

*Achievement unlocked: Game actually works*

Having both Steam and GFWL integration was kind of bloated, but I never actually had any problems. =P

 

[Gully State]

Thanks to GFWL, I find myself pressing the damn home button whenever I want to invite a friend into a match.

GFWL was horrible
-Matchmaking didn't make any sense
-There would be random times when GFWL would prompt me for a CD-Key despite having owned the game for months
-Matchmaking when it wasn't necessary- I've got 3 friends in a party ready to do Last Stand and the game spends time looking for more players? It should take me straight into a loading screen.

 

[Kahoona]

I might give it a shot, but I've been playing SC2 so much that I'm not sure if I want to try and learn another RTS that is so different. Have they changed Last Stand much in this one as I loved it in the previous games.

It's funny how I could just play Chaos Rising instead of being frustrated that the game hasn't unlocked.

I'm pretty sure they just added a new map for it.

 

[jhawk6]

I'm pretty sure they just added a new map for it.

Just a single new map? Any tweaks or other additions? It was my favorite mode playing with friends

 

[Gully State]

I'm pretty sure they just added a new map for it.

Heard the waves are different this time around too. Apparently the first waves are no longer cake walks.

Also, Relic has gone on record to say that they would be dropping both free and paid content for this game so we'll probably see a new game mode as well..