Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution Review

We enlist with the Space Marines to join the battle in the latest addition to Relic's popular RTS series for our review of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution.

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The Dawn of War games have built a loyal following among real-time strategy (RTS) players since the first title was released in 2004. Their emphasis on combat over resource collection treated fans to some of the fiercest battles in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. With the futuristic sci-fi setting and devoted audience that it’s attracted, I've wanted to get in and see for myself what it's all about. Granted, I’m a few installments late, but I am just in time for Relic’s newest standalone expansion, Dawn of War II – Retribution.

Those new to the series, like me, are placed in the middle of the fight between the Space Marines and several opposing factions. Unlike the core game and previous 'Chaos Rising' expansion, Retribution offers up six different campaigns: the Space Marines, the Tyrannids, the Chaos, the Orks, the Eldar, and the Imperial Guard. Each offers a different narrative and provides a new perspective into the overarching war.

I started off with the newest race to be introduced to the series, the Imperial Guard. The Imperial Guard is a group of human warriors, who overwhelm opponents with sheer numbers, firepower, and strategic warfare. General Castor leads the several different infantry types that make up the Imperial Guard. Much of their campaign consisted of running through large, open areas and completing various objectives. These objectives often consisted of taking out large waves of enemies and capturing strategic control points, before taking down a hulking boss character to end the level.

Fights would often be won easily, especially once I called in troops from forward bases and equipped them with beefed-up weapons, like flamethrowers. Having previously spent a good amount of time on Company of Heroes, Relic’s other acclaimed World War II themed RTS series, understanding the Imperial Guard’s playing style was simple. The idea was to push forward, suppress approaching enemies, and call in reinforcements when needed. Since the two games play similarly, I instinctively knew what to do when vehicles, like tanks, were introduced in later levels.

Completing each level grants a reward of experience and a selectable bonus. Some of the choices included an extra commander, spruced-up weaponry, or stronger soldiers. More experienced players will know which selection best suits their needs, but rookies will likely just pick whatever sounds best. Considering that some of these end-of-level choices include unique weaponry and units, it’s a great reason to play through many of the campaigns a second time around for a whole new experience.

The other races had their own unique styles, but felt similar enough overall that I was able to get the hang of them. Series veterans may lose patience with the early levels, as they’re heavy on tutorial content and, with six campaigns to cover, can total over an hour with the training wheels on. I didn’t feel that the heavy tutorial content took away from the game, considering how chaotic the later levels become. Each campaign lasts several hours and the experience can be extended by playing through optional missions that are unlocked as the campaign progresses. Those looking to play through the campaigns with a friend can do so as well; the game includes support for online co-op.

Of course, as much as Relic goes out of its way to make newer players feel at home during the Campaign mode, there’s not much that can be done to help new players through multiplayer. If you’re new to the Dawn of War series, tread into multiplayer if you dare. Thanks to Steam, connecting to multiplayer matches was a quick and painless process. The hurt came once the game started, as I found myself quickly overwhelmed and crushed like a bug, regardless of whether I played with Space Marines, Orks, or any of the other races. Long-time DoW fans will enjoy matching wits against one another in different types of skirmish modes, such as Victory Point and Annihilation. Newer players looking to stay away from aficionados do have the option of playing against the CPU to practice their skills before properly stepping into the online arena.

Relic has always understood that the key to drawing in new fans is through a great story and a user-friendly interface. Dawn of War II – Retribution offers both and will allow new fans and veteran players an equal opportunity to jump into the action. If you’re an RTS fan, there’s really no topping the Dawn of War series. And with its generous $29.99 price tag, Retribution makes a good opportunity to get into the battle for those who've watching from the sidelines as well.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 10, 2011 12:00 PM

    Comment on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution Review, by Ozzie Mejia.

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      March 10, 2011 12:03 PM

      I wish the campaign had a little more variety. You basically play the exact same missions with each race, and they're generally pretty short. :(

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        March 10, 2011 12:09 PM

        How's coop in this version's SP?

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          March 10, 2011 1:28 PM

          honestly, not as fun as the other two I feel

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        March 10, 2011 12:21 PM

        Yeah I was really disappointed to find this out once I finished my playthrough...

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        March 10, 2011 12:22 PM

        I've decided to think of the different races as additional replay value rather then as separate campaigns. Not what I was expecting but what do ya want for thirty bucks.

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        March 10, 2011 12:30 PM

        Yeah the lore is cool and all but the game play just doesnt hook you

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      March 10, 2011 12:15 PM

      The campaign was disappointing for me not because it was reusing maps but because the story was just weird and bad, there wasn't as much loot-character-skill tree experimentation like in the previous dow2 games and the maps/missions weren't as cool, but at least now I can play it online without gfwl.

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      March 10, 2011 12:19 PM

      Auto playing videos needs to go. :(

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        March 10, 2011 12:23 PM

        They've said they're working on it. Hope they figure it out soon, I'm shacking via RDP so video is not good for me here.

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        March 10, 2011 1:06 PM

        RATED M FOR MATURE.
        This is a little annoying indeed.

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      March 10, 2011 12:19 PM

      The whole orbital abilities yet no ship in orbit is confusing me greatly. Unless the teleportariums teleport the ships in orbit as well.

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        March 10, 2011 12:28 PM

        Yeah there's some pretty jarring flaws in the fluff, just like any 40K product. Teleportairium my ass!

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        March 10, 2011 12:36 PM

        Only very, very loosely and rarely have the imperium used teleportation that was not technologically based and local. Only aliens and Chaos use extra-system teleportation and its very, very dangerous. There are a handful of occurrences by imperial personal of using it, but all those individuals i can think of were either borderline heretical, questionably sane, or ultra powerful Alpha+ psykers. So yeah, if the game has you using teleports without something on the planet or in orbit to be the source/destination then thats not fluff accurate (unless its for the xenos/chaos factions of course).

        The DOW games are pretty loose on the interpretations of the fluff though, and thats fine because its a videogame after all :)

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          March 10, 2011 1:25 PM

          The teleporters themselves aren't so bad, there's a lot of that going around in 40K now (for example, the Deathwatch pen-n-paper rpg has a giant wormhole jump gate as it's central theme). But where the hell were they ten years ago when we were wasting time in ships? Artifacts like that don't just sit around on populated worlds. Not to mention, anything from the Dark Age, that involves the warp, is a potential threat. At minimum there would be massive military / mechanius presence, more likely they'd have been dismantled a thousand years ago.

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      March 10, 2011 12:57 PM

      I would not recommend this game to anyone.

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      March 10, 2011 1:05 PM

      I really love everything I've seen from the Warhammer universe, but I'd love to see more action games based on it, rather than RTSs. I know Space Marine will be out this year but I'd love to play through DoW2 and DoW:R like I would play an Alien Shooter game, someone with modding skills should totally get on that as it would be awesome.

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      March 10, 2011 1:59 PM

      I've barely touched the campaign, I am enjoying having my ass handed to me online though.

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      March 10, 2011 2:21 PM

      The game has been awesome so far. I beat Chaos on Hard, and I've been playing all the multiplayer modes.

      SP with a campaign for any race you want to play through as + Coop + PVP + Last Stand for 30 bucks.

      Sure the campaigns aren't all unique, but the gameplay of each race is different enough to make it a personalized experience for the one you want to play through it as. Expecting 6 sp games in one for 30 bucks, when SC2 was 1 sp game for 60 is pretty unrealistic. Not trying to make a big point of it, but I think there is plenty of value for the money.

      Relic has really done great justice to the style and lore of 40k and I can't wait to try Space Marine.

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        March 10, 2011 2:28 PM

        Agreed 100%. Those with complaints about lack of variety in the SP campaign are missing the point.

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        March 10, 2011 4:34 PM

        Yeah, I think it's still good value. But i wish the SP campaign was more fleshed out.

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      March 10, 2011 3:21 PM

      Still waiting to receive my boxed CE edition =(

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        March 10, 2011 3:27 PM

        Woops, forget the last word.

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        March 10, 2011 4:35 PM

        Me too, so that I can refuse it and get my money back!

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        March 10, 2011 5:02 PM

        I'm still waiting for mine as well. I wish i had just bought the steam version :-(

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      March 10, 2011 5:18 PM

      Good value for 30 bucks, but I would have gladly paid 60 for some more variety between campaigns.

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        March 10, 2011 6:24 PM

        This is the right answer. I doubt the Dawn of War team has the budget to go beyond what we were given in Retribution and 1 year is not enough to time to craft 6 unique fully fleshed out campaigns, but I really would like to see them do it. I'd pay $100 if they could deliver a Dawn of War 1 style campaign for 4-6 races + multiplayer.

        THQ should also fund a Mass Effect style RPG set in Warhammer 40K. Space Marine is a nice start but a good story driven RPG would be even better so long as you can step into the role of more than one race/army.

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          March 10, 2011 6:32 PM

          Agreed. It would be amazing to have a unique, dynamic campaign for all six races.

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        March 10, 2011 6:49 PM

        It's interesting they say they said the CE wargear would be available for a fee, but I had NO IDEA that it would be until the day it came up on Steam, and I was trying to keep up with it all.

        As a result I'd already bought the CE before it was announced...

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      March 15, 2011 12:40 PM

      Is there any skill-based matchmaking in multiplayer?

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        March 16, 2011 10:22 AM

        Multiplayer uses the Elo ranking system (invented by a chess player of the same name) which is a mathematically derived system that gives you a score based on how much you deviate from the mean etc.
        So I guess yes in that your Elo ranking is in theory indicative of your skill.

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