Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising

by THQ

• Put new units for the Space Marines, Ork, Eldar, and Tyranid armies and two new last stand heroes to work for you on the battlefield.
• This expansion allows you to continue your fight against the enemies of the Emperor and use your squads? wargear, abilities, and experience to battle Chaos in 15 new missions.
• New ice planet graphics set increases visual diversity and adds 7 new multiplayer maps while six-player online multiplayer and a raised level cap of 30 allows for even more glory and devastating abilities.
• New single player mechanic allows you to equip incredibly powerful equipment that corrupts your squad and will guide the story towards or away from the corrupting influence of Chaos.
• Swear loyalty to the Chaos Gods and play as the bloodthirsty Chaos Space Marines in multiplayer battles against both Chaos Rising and Dawn of War II owners.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002V16T92
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: March 11, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,611 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #61 in Video Games > PC Games > Games > Strategy > Real-Time

Product Description

Platform: PC

Amazon.com

Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising is the first standalone PC expansion to the real-time strategy (RTS) Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II franchise. Continuing the story of the Space Marines battle against a variety of factions across several planets, in Chaos Rising players must also stand against the dreaded Chaos Space Marines. The game does not require the earlier Dawn of War II game for play, and includes 15 new missions, new units and corruption mechanic, the Chaos Space Marine faction and excellent online multiplayer options. 15 new standalone single player Space Marine missions. View larger. New units, environments and a playable multiplayer faction. View larger. Challenging Dawn of War II specific unit based RTS gameplay, including coop. View larger. New unit corruption mechanic and upper level cap. View larger. Story Your Blood Raven Space Marines have saved the sector, but can they save themselves? In Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising, the sequel to the acclaimed Dawn of War II RTS franchise, you return to sub sector Aurelia where a long lost frozen ice planet has reappeared from the Warp, bringing with it new secrets to uncover and foes to face. Here you must take command of the Blood Ravens and defend the sector against the forces of the Black Legion. Purge the chaos filth and hold the chapter together as traitorous forces work from within to try bring down the Blood Ravens. New Missions, Units, Multiplayer Race and Corruption Mechanic Dawn of War II struck a new chord in the RTS genre with its focus on specific unit based strategy with limited reinforcement options and limited RPG elements, as opposed to the generally repetitive RTS tactic of resource gathering-base building-and swarming maneuvers. The Chaos Rising expansion to the franchise follows suit with 15 new single player missions centered on the players' strategic choice of units; upping the ante further by including new units for each of the returning in-game races and even introducing a new race, the traitorous Chaos Space Marines, who are a playable faction in online multiplayer action. In addition, players must navigate a new corruption mechanic built into in single player campaign, which consists of access to new and dangerous destructive powers. Designed to allow for variation in completing mission objectives, these powers also carry the possibility of drawing units closer to the influence of Chaos, which affects both the mission possibilities as the game progresses and the overall outcome of the game. Key Game Features New Single Player Missions – Continue your fight against the enemies of the Emperor and use your squads’ wargear, abilities, and experience to battle Chaos in 15 new missions. New Environment and Multiplayer Maps – New ice planet graphics set increases visual diversity and adds 7 new multiplayer maps. Six-player multiplayer support available online. Aspire to Glory – Build your existing squads up to level 30 and unlock even more devastating abilities. Chaos Corruption Mechanic – New single player mechanic allows you to equip incredibly powerful equipment that corrupts your squad and will guide the story towards or away from the corrupting influence of Chaos. New Multiplayer Faction – Swear loyalty to the Chaos Gods and play as the bloodthirsty Chaos Space Marines in multiplayer battles against both Chaos Rising and Dawn of War II owners. New Units – New units for the Space Marines, Ork, Eldar, and Tyranid armies. 2 New Last Stand Heroes – Face off against the relentless horde as either the Chaos Sorcerer or Tyranid Hive Tyrant. System Requirements Minimum Specifications: Recommended Specifications: OS: Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1 Processor: P4 3.2 GHz (single core) or any Dual Core processor AMD Athlon 64x2 4400+ or any Intel Core 2 Duo RAM: 1.5GB 2+GB Disc Drive: DVD-ROM drive Hard Drive: 5.5GB or more Video Card: 128MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / ATI X1600, or equivalent 256MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT/ ATI X1900, or equivalent Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c or 10 compatible Input Device: Mouse and keyboard Other: Internet connection required for online Games for Windows LIVE play

Product Description

Your Blood Ravens have saved the sector, but can they save themselves? In THQ Inc. and Relic Entertainment’s sequel to the acclaimed Dawn of War II real time strategy franchise, you return to sub sector Aurelia where a long lost frozen ice planet has reappeared from the Warp, bringing with it new secrets to uncover and foes to face.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Much Like Its Predecessor March 18, 2010

By Christopher A. Rebhan

Platform for Display:PC

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

One caveat first. This is a Windows Live/Steam game, so if you have objections to either of those things then stear clear. That said, I'm going to provide a brief review of the game with scoring not weighted by those factors.

I have a fairly uncommon perspective on this game, I imagine, which is that I played it before I played the original (which I just completed last night), so I can rate it both as a stand alone experience untainted by preconceptions, and as a continuation of the original.

As a stand alone experience I found the game to be quite addictive and fun. The first level is designed as something of a tutorial to the game's basic mechanics. You're introduced to various ideas like explosives, the cover system, bunkers, the strengths and weaknesses of the different squad types, etc. Not having read the manual I found myself scratching my head at a few things but if you click the little quick tip icons on the left side of the screen and pay attention you can figure out most of the game's major mechanics fairly quickly. I was able to beat the first level of the game at the medium difficulty setting on my first try. Don't forget to use the "x" button frequently to retreat your squads that have lost members. This way you can replenish them to full strength and bring them back into the fray without any of your squad leaders requiring revival. This works especially well during boss battles. Since the bosses don't heal you can chip away at them and win by sheer persistence. Once you learn the mechanics you are fairly quickly thrust into the thick of things and the game ceases to coddle you.

Your squads carry through from one mission to the next, gaining levels and experience much like an RPG. You can and will upgrade their equipment multiple times. Though individual members of each squad can die (and easily be replaced at any control point), the squad leaders persist and stay with you for the whole game. You'll have to play through a few missions before you find Captain Thule, or unlock your Terminator armor, though.

You lose stars on your mission rating for each squad leader that becomes incapacitated during the mission (whether you revive them during that mission or not). I find this mechanic works well. You can plow through most missions by attrition, even if you have to revive your squad leaders multiple times, but to earn the highest rating (and the most experience), you'll need to be smarter and more methodical. It can be quite a challenge to get a 5 star rating in all three categories (number of enemies killed, squads that didn't become incapacitated, and speed with which you complete the mission).

There are a few changes to the game as compared to its predecessor, but nothing major (with the exception of the corruption system). Mostly, you just don't have to worry about defending your foundries and such any more. You'll probably also appreciate the new abilities you can unlock. Some of them are truly amazing such as converting signum use to energy. Talk about blasting the enemy to smithereens! Good stuff. I particularly enjoyed the section of the game where you get to explore an ancient space hulk. I had flashbacks to the board game. Also, at a certain point you unlock a new unit type, the Terminator Librarian. This guy is extremely versatile and effective if specced out right. Controllable mini "black holes"? Yes, please. The game includes an additional enemy type, chaos marines, which are pretty evil and fun to blow up. I'm sure there's some change to the tactics required to defeat them, but I found that they died pretty "hand"ily to Davian Thule's massive Dreadnought claws. Long live Captain Thule! Additionally, there's a corruption system whereby you can let your team become more and more evil, thus unlocking the ability to use special "corrupted" weapons and armor, which are fairly univerally better than the uncorrupted stuff. I didn't try it this way yet, so I don't know exactly how it would change the story, but intend to do this on my 2nd play through.

In summary, if you liked the original, you'll like this. I can't imagine why you wouldn't. If you haven't played any DoW II but you like tactical style RTS games with no base building (much like World in Conflict) then you should definitely give this one a try.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars If you liked the first one get this. September 4, 2011

By Timothy J. Mcconnell

Platform for Display:PC|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

If you liked Dawn of War II, you will like this. The story continues and you can import your save game. It is mostly more of the same except for a few welcomed changes. The biggest of all is the changed mission structures. DoWII ended too many missions with an arena and a boss fight. Those are still present but not nearly as prevalent. While you revisit the planets from DoWII, they are new maps that show what has happened to the planets because of the Tyranid invasion. A new "planet" is also added where more missions take place. A librarian squad member is added who acts as a powerful spell caster but I had a hard time justifying using him over the dreadnought. A new "Corruption" mechanic is added where certain choices made during missions corrupt your characters to Chaos. This opens new abilities but at the cost of a bad ending. It also affects the story. New war gear has been added and new skills have been as well. The level cap has been raised.

Again, if you liked the first game, get this and if you didn't, it doesn't change enough to make you change your mind. I have not played it myself but DoWII Retribution sounds like it as a much different game. Maybe you should try that.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad June 16, 2010

By Veil_Lord VINE™ VOICE

Platform for Display:PC

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

First off, copy protection. It's not as bad as it could be. You have to run steam and Games For Windows Live, but after the first activation Steam can be left in offline mode and Games For Windows Live can be created as an offline profile. It's annoying and the game hassles you to go online, but the game is playable and doesn't seem to have any really evil protection like SecureROM.

Dawn of War 2 is a tactical RTS game that removes base management entirely in single player and somewhat in multiplayer. Chaos Rising is the sequal, but it really does come off as just an expansion pack. You can import your DOW2 campaign into Chaos Rising so you start out partially leveled up, which is a nice touch, but what hurt is that I finished it in far less time than the original. One problem is a lack of the random missions you'd get in DOW2. Those not only got you some experience if you were low, but sometimes a decent weapon. In fact, in Chaos Rising you mostly lose the mechanic of capturing certain buildings to gain bonuses. You can still capture buildings, but mostly just for items or a respawn spot. Replacing it is the new "taint" mechanic. You're now forced to do certain objectives in most missions or take a certain character on your team or you start leaning closer to Chaos. As you become more tainted, your powers change. There's a new bar on each character page that shows the stages (0-24) of taint. I played it entirely pure and it was quite possible to do the tasks, but they were kind of annoying at times.

For the most part, the game played alright. I only had some weird glitches when I was trying to select characters sometimes. My 8400GS graphics card was pushed to the limit and beyond, but by turning of the Aero interface (glassy look to windows in Vista) and changing my texture quality to "Performance" on the graphics card, I managed to play with only a few areas of really bad lag. I doubt I could play online without lagging out though. The AI on your units is not always great. My commander would routinely stand around getting shot until I told him to go attack the guy shooting him. Still, the characters are good. The powers are good. The weapons are good. Pretty good game overall.

There's no way it's worth $30 to me on its own, though in the package with the original too for $40 it's not that bad. I got that for $20 so I'm quite happy. Just be aware that as with DOW2 there is only a Space Marines campaign so don't expect a lot of single player time. I could really only recommend buying this one on its own if you're really into playing multiplayer.