• Publisher: THQ
  • Release Date: Feb 18, 2009
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 67 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1331 Ratings

  • Summary: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe – a dark, futuristic, science-fiction setting where armies of technologically advanced warriors, fighting machines and hordes of implacable aliens wage constant war. Dawn of Wof War II ushers in a new chapter in the RTS series, as ancient races – including the dauntless Space Marines and savage Orks - clash across ruined worlds on a mission to claim the galaxy and preserve their own existence. Powered by the re-vamped Essence Engine 2.0, the next evolution of Relic’s proprietary game engine made famous in the award winning Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II delivers fast-paced RTS action with ferocious melee and ranged combat in fully destructible environments. The game immerses players in an in-depth non-linear single-player campaign and a fully-co-operative multiplayer mode. [THQ] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 67
  2. Negative: 0 out of 67
  1. Dawn of War II is an easy recommendation for me to make it is one of the best PC games in recent year.
  2. 100
    Some gamers will no doubt hate the new direction they've taken but the game is much improved and definitely deserves its fair share of love. While it still early, I wouldn't hesitate to nominate it for PC Game of the Year honors come December.
  3. Although it lacks in mission variety, Dawn of War II skips the pleasantries of base-building and gets right to the point: action-packed, bloody warfare (with loot!) [Mar 2009, p.62]
  4. Relic’s last few titles have been a triumph, and there were high hopes for Dawn of War II. At the end of the day, it just doesn’t quite measure up to the previous iterations of the series or Company of Heroes. Relic are capable as ever at implementing some thoughtful and well-designed game mechanics, but the campaign design and multiplayer balance are both severely lacking.

See all 67 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 62 out of 284
  1. Okay, I'll be honest with you. At first, having tried the demo and a taste of what DoW2 has to offer, I was sorely disappointed by the drastic change from the gameplay of the original game. HOWEVER, I still decided to give it a shot and I'm so glad that I did. The game plays differently, (there's no building, and more about squad abilities and tactics) but this is by no means bad. The campaign is quite engaging and you're given a number of varied squads to improve and upgrade throughout the game, and that is by far my favourite part. There is choice involved in missions, outfitting and strategy, making an overall flamboyant single player campaign. The co-op is just as sweet. But wait there's more. The cream of the crop is the multiplayer and The Last Stand where you take on hordes of monsters with 2 other heroes. Great additions all way round. Long story short, yes it is a massive departure from DoW1's style but it is fortunately just as good in its own right. I certainly have respect for the devs for changing things up and trying out something new, and I'm glad that they've still kept the strength of this series and its ability to constantly impress me. Expand
  2. I love the graphics,the Characters,the weapons,the costumization hero,I'm not so impress with multiplayer mode but it's not bad.I don't really like about the design each mission of the campaign,they're al just the same activities= Explore,find the foundry or the what they call commlink or something,kill the ORKS then find the boss on the top of the map,get the wargear.it's kind of boring activity to me...however I still love the fantasy of the Warhammer 40K universe Expand
  3. 7
    This is a new approach at the RTS where you have control of stronger units than the typical RTS but you don't make new ones. Gone is the base building and resource management and you only focus on the combat. For me, that's fun but I can see where some people were let down. Since I only cared about the combat and paying attention to how much of this or that I have never appealed to me this game works really well. Other than that fundamental change its very much a RTS where you control each of your units from a top down perspective and each has a few unique abilities. This game adds a slight RPG element in that you collect loot as armor and weapons and customize your squads. You also spend points on very simple talent trees which adds a little extra to the game. Want your giant mech walker to kill from range or do you want him to squish units in melee range? You decide. It's got decent voiced story parts and the graphics are not bad either. Points taken off are for awkward keybinding which you can't change and missing graphical elements such as Vsync. These things can be modified if you want to go into the files and feel comfortable editing code and game files, something I think the devs should just put the stupid button in the game. Expand
  4. AndrewM
    4
    Good quality campaign mode, it was accurate to how space marines would do things, not giant assaults out of nowhere. However, I was appalled at the lack of detail in multiplayer and single player scenarios. All the races were almost exaclty the same as the ones next to it and the playstyle was far from how they are supposed to be played, orks dont use tactics, they rely on numbers as do tyranids (although they probably use more than orks). Furthermore being forced to get a windows live account to play the game is a huge waste of time if you will almost never use it. Expand

See all 284 User Reviews