Customer Reviews

Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

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.

I'm a big fan of Dawn of War and Dawn of War 2. If you are unfamiliar with Dawn of War 2, It is a squad based RTS that focuses on combat rather than base building and resource gathering.

I enjoy mixing up strategies by deploying my different squads and leveling them up with different skills. I've played this through twice already and I still enjoy it.

Added from Dawn of War 2, Chaos Rising adds the Corruption/Redemption scale, so you can decide to take the high road or sink to Chaos's level; gaining their power, but losing your soul. The choices you make in this expansion will have consequences in the next expansion, Retribution.

On that note, This expansion did not expand as much as I thought it would. In multiplayer, you can now use Chaos and Tyranid units. Supply crates in missions now drop different types of supplies. And there's the Corruption scale. ....that's about it.

The original Dawn of War 2 had constant retaliations from opposing forces. It was up to you whether or not to accept those missions and defend your planetary assets. And you had many limited opportunity optional missions available to you at once. This greatly expanded the game. In the Chaos rising expansion, it is much more linear and you rarely have more than one mission at a time.

I think it also would have been nice for a Chaos mission track to be added if you decided to corrupt yourself. But no dice. It looks like the next expansion, Retribution, will offer campaigns for all races involved, so I'm looking forward to importing my characters from Chaos Rising and having more endless hours of fun. (between DOW2 and Chaos Rising I've played over 300 hours.)

a fine continuation of the first Dow2. You can continue the story from the first DoW2 using your old squad mates. Keeping the same equipment and experience (if you completed the first game). Warhammer 40,000 fans will visit some new, but familiar, places.

Played the first series and DowII. Pretty much the same deal 2nd time around. Not sure if im up the for the 3rd one if its the same thing. I would recommend trying the demo out first.

Good campaign, decent multi. Keeping it simple thought, buy the original DOWII before you play this one, its more satisfying, and great to see your team evolve through two campaigns.

Basically just a bunch of new levels, to allow additional playing. The gameplay is essentially the same, and there aren't any real changes to the game mechanics or units. One issue is that it seems to crash more than the original game, but this may be addressed in future patches. I didn't have any problems with the DRM, so I can't speak to those issues. If you enjoyed DoWII then you will enjoy this expansion.

Relic, I'll buy the game when you find a way to encourage fans to create & share maps and mods.

The online presence is pretty boring and broken. Barely anyone is online now when I look for games.
None of the metrics and cool achievements are tracked when I comp stomp or play locally with friends. How hard would it be to add that?

The original Dawn of War was such a success in ways that cost the company no money, why cant you setup the same situation again?

Once this is available, I'd love to buy the expansions.

I couldn't help myself. Dawn of war 2 was such a fun mix of RPG and RTS, that i had to pick up and try the expansion. While overall just as fun as the base game, the expansion had a few bits in it that kinda drug it down for me, if only a bit.

First off, when transfering characters from your old game, they will come across with the gear they had on, and a few random pieces from your arsenal. this was okay. somewhat anoying was that the Terminator armor i had was "broken" until i could find a tech-priest to fix them. an issue of balance i supose. and sense the story picks up rather quickly after the first games big epic conclusion, i can understand it.

I enjoyed myself on the side missions that were available, and found the missions on the space hulk to be very fun, in that they changed the feel of the game, if only slightly. overall there was a lack of side missions to choose from, and i think i fought the orcs and eldar twice each. mabye twice.

The Runtime of the game was rather short. even doing all the side quests, i blew through this game very fast, playing on the normal difficulty setting. it just seemed to rush through the plotline, and then leave a huge dangling plot for the next game. it felt less like an expansion as a half hour episode compared to the two hour opening movie of the core game.

the corruption aspect of the game is interesting, but at best seems to be a reason to go through the game twice, once pure and once corrupt, and besides the ending cinematic, i doubt there is much of a difference, besides the new powers, weapons, and armor you will be weilding.

This game feels like it should have been more of a Downloadable content upgrade for the first, restructure the plot a bit, and make episodes out of it. but thats just my opinion. it was fun, and if you liked the core Dawn of War 2 game, i recomend it, if only to continue the plot, and try out the new squad member (your librarian, or to non 40k people, a magic user).

The use of BOTH windows live AND Steam is somewhat anoying. if not for the Dawn of war games, i wouldn't have steam on my computer. i had some trouble with windows live not connecting at times, which means YOU CANNOT PLAY THE GAME. you NEED to have an ACTIVE internet connection to play these games, so watch yourself if you don't (a small number of people in this day and age, but still present at the corners of the world). The DRM of these two programs / "services" is anoying, but not so much to make the game un-playable. you would think that one or the other would have been enough, but both?

Gameplay ****
Plot ***
acting ****
DRM BS ***
Gameplay time **
Overall ***

Dawn of War II returns with the first of hopefully many expansions a little more than a year after its original release, and the wait has paid off.

Most players will be happy to see Chaos Space Marines return, as the initial game felt oddly out of sorts with Chaos missing from the choice of sides. Picking up about a year after the first campaign in the Aurelia sub-sector, you and your Blood Raven brethren return hot on the heels of a bizarre discovery: a planet that disappeared and was devoured by warp storms long ago has now returned from the depths of the warp. A cursory examination of the planet reveals traitor Imperial Guard, and as evidence of corruption grows it soon becomes apparent that the archenemy Chaos has poisoned the planet to its very core. As more events occur throughout the sector, the loyalty of the Blood Ravens is thrown into question, as traitors within their own ranks begin to make themselves known, and the corruption threatens to consume the entirety of the chapter.

Boasting 15 new missions, a level cap raised to 30 and new abilities available for your squads, the campaign delivers a solid story despite an under-used corruption mechanic. Familiar friendly faces pop-up, as well as unexpected enemies throughout the missions. Players may feel immediately at home with the familiar locales, whereas other players may ask "we're here again?!". A few maps are re-used from the previous game, though they are still relatively new as most of the maps have updated layouts and objectives. The addition of a snow tileset introduces new environmental challenges and a break from the usual jungle and city locations, though it rings eerily similar of the original Dawn of War's first expansion Winter Assault. Somewhat ironic that the first expansion for both games throws you into a snowy locale. Despite this, there is another type of environment that will bring veteran Warhammer 40K gamers back to classic days. Let's just say that I still don't know how those Terminators manage to get around so easily in those claustrophobic hallways...

The Chaos Rising expansion introduces a whole new gameplay dynamic: corruption. As you deploy on missions, a series of optional objectives will typically pop-up early on in the mission. These objectives often have a distinct payoff: reduce corruption or gain it. Actions such as wantonly destroying civilian structures to create a path to the enemy, or violating sacred shrines by destroying them to acquire the wargear within will set your deployed squads on the path to Chaos. All squads including the new Librarian character can fall to corruption, except for the great "Incorruptable Dreadnought" himself, Davian Thule. As your squads continue to gain corruption, they will gain access to new abilities. However, this comes at the cost of losing some of their other abilities (typically, the Chaos ability simply replaces the Pure ability) and access to certain wargear. However, if you catch yourself early enough, there are Purity items that, while often having negative effects (lower defense rating or higher vulnerability to certain attacks) will offset your corruption level and, as Davian Thule would say, "bring you back from the precipice of madness." However, falling to Chaos gives you access to new items, namely corrupted wargear. This wargear, when applied to your squad, while raise their corruption level with each deployment. As you continue to gain corruption, some of your corrupted wargear can be donated to the Librarium which will in turn create a better version of the gear. This usually results in an even higher corruption rating for the gear and sometimes a different look. Sadly, you cannot have your squads in Chaos armor, but you will come across corrupted weaponry that bear the trademark signs of Chaos all over them. Corrupted items usually have higher attack ratings and benefits but they come at the cost of corruption, so the choice is up to you.

Sadly, the corruption dynamic doesn't factor much into the gameplay until the final mission. If you fall to Chaos, some of your squads that have not fallen will refuse to fight by your side anymore. Davian Thule for example will always leave you if you fall to Chaos. If you maintain purity but some of your squads fall to Chaos, it is possible that they too will leave you. However, I have never seen this happen...I have only lost Davian Thule when I purposely played through the game a second time gaining corruption. Storywise, other than the fact that you can lose loyalty from your squad there is no real impact on gameplay until the final missions. A traitor in your ranks is evident less than halfway through the game, and if all of your squads maintain purity the traitor becomes obvious early on, even if it doesn't make much sense. However, a second playthrough where all of my squads were corrupted brought a different traitor about, which actually made a bit more sense. The game is vague on how these characters fall to Chaos but in the end it is at least an interesting gameplay mechanic. Other than that, corruption will also cause different dialog from your squads. There are 5 endings to gain, pending various levels of your corruption.

The 15 missions seem to end rather quickly, though they are a lot of fun to play. The return of Chaos was sorely needed, and the story while not that deep is nonetheless interesting and well paced. Chaos itself as a selectable army in Skirmish mode is a blast to play...they are incredibly powerful and versatile, moreso than in the previous game. Upgraded differently than other races, Chaos units can be "marked" for certain Gods. For example, instead of seperately training basic Chaos Marines and Berserkers apart from each other, the standard Chaos Marine can bear a Mark of Khorne and become a Berserker, or bear a Mark of Tzeentch and gain powerful ranged weaponry. Plague Marines make their debut, as does The Great Unclean One of Nurgle (the new Chaos "monster" unit). My only complaint is that there seem to be more Demon units than actual Chaos Marines...not a bad thing, but I prefer the Marines over the demons. Sadly, the numerous complaints from players that Chaos unit were "too obnoxious" have been addressed...the Chaos Marines aren't anywhere near as vocal as they were in Dawn of War. Personally I enjoyed the random bursts of maniacal laughter and over-the-top acknowledgements. However, I am happy to say that the cultists are far less irritating.

With more options now in skirmish, the addition of new units to Last Stand, new army painter colors and seemingly improved coloring and graphics, Chaos Rising is a worthwhile expansion. It feels a bit short, but overall the content and replayability is well worth it. You will not be disappointed. I know it's LIVE/Steam but get over it...it's a small price to pay for a great game.

As a final note, I was very surprised to see that this game featured one of the most prominent and centrally important characters in the entire Warhammer 40K mythos. Though not an actual unit in the game, it marks his first appearence outside of the tabletop wargame and novels.