Due to the overwhelming positive review and the good experience from the first Dawn of War, I bought this game without much hesitance. After having tried the single player and multiplayer mode, I am hugely disappointed. Frist of, the single player campaign is boring. It is the first time in my life that I fell a sleep while playing an RTS (literally). All you do is just looking at your same tiny Squad, moving them around the map, setup a good position, let them do automatic shooting, heal, then occasionally use their special ability, and repeat that throughout the game. Multiplayer is almost unplayable. Most of the time the match will be disconnected due to somebody's slow internet or computer. However, the new mode, The Last Stand, was pretty fun to play once in a while. I really try to like Dawn of War II, I have install and uninstall the game more than 4 times, but every time I started playing, it bores me. It is great that Relic try new approach on DOW2, but it lost a lot of the charm from the first game while doing so.… Expand

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

I was completly disapointed by DoW 2. If you loved DoW 1 you will be really disapointed by this second part. First thing, you don't even have a builder, you can't make any buildings, you just train squads to join the battle. Second thing, you can't micro at all, the only thing you can do is make your squad ''fall back'' an auto fast running that brings your squad back to your only building. Compare this to DoW 1 and its pure crap. The only good thing are the graphics. This game is not worth paying 50$ for, not at all.… Expand

Dawn of War II is an excellent game in its own right. However, it is easy to understand how fans of the first game feel slightly wronged after having played it. It is very different compared to the first game, perhaps too much so for it to be called a direct sequel. But if you only look at it as a game it is still quite a great one.

The visuals are very nice and the gameplay is fluid and fun. Dawn of War keeps setting the standard for visceral combat in the RTS genre.… Expand

I think the best thing (in my eyes) of this game is the graphics. The graphics are a huge improvement over DOW I and any other RTS I've ever played (and I've played most of the major ones, SC2, Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander I and II, etc etc).
That's the main good thing I liked. That and how the gameplay revolves more around combat rather than resource gathering. And, of course, the fact that it features the Imperium.

The thing that I didn't like about this game was that it had very small army sizes, and VERY small battles. This is a step down from DOW I, where you could actually command armies. In DOW II, you get a few squads, and that's it, you're stuck with them. No building squads, no calling in reinforcement squads, nothing. You choose four for each mission and you're stuck with them. This needs a serious fix in the next game.
Second, the campaign is more of an RTS/RPG hybrid rather than a true RTS. You choose equipment for each character, and decide what each character brings. In regular RTS's, you don't get to do that, each squad has a specialty, and you know their abilities. So it's not a true RTS, but rather an RTS/RPG hybrid.

Hopefully the next game will be better.… Expand

This was no fun at all. except the missions where you defend against waves. INSANE repetition of maps, you will play the same map at least 3 times with similar objectives. Losing men is meaningless, you just retreat and recharge. EVERY situation can be dealt with the same way, lead the enemy to a bottleneck. The AI is non existent, units simply charge at you, or wait until you get in their viewing range.
Massive step back in every respect except graphics.
this is disappointing after the previous DOW games. No buildings just removes an element from the game without adding a thing. Except superior graphics and destructible environments, no advancements and all removals of features.… Expand

Dawn of War 2 is an RTS/RPG-hybrid where the player takes control of a maximum of four squads of units. Standard RTS-controls apply. Each squad comes with a squad leader that can level up between missions and equip new items that are looted on the battlefield or gained as a mission reward. After each mission the player will be asked to choose the next mission objective from a star map where they will be able to see how much time is left for a mission, what the rewards are and what kind of assets are available on the planets. The ultimate goal is to stop the Tyranid threat which is represented by a bar that is constantly filling up as time goes by. Focus too much on one planet and you won't be able to save another. During missions there are three types of assets to be captured and each asset gives the player a strategic advantage. Winning the game relies on finding the time to capture these assets but not lingering around for too long as it diminishes the chances of gaining another deployment for that day. The more deployments per day that you secure, the slower the Tyranid threat grows and the more experience your troops gain. When 2 players engage in co-operative play, they will each be assigned two squads and although these are locked during the RTS stage, the players are allowed to both seamlessly control the interface during the RPG/tactical planning phase. As the person whom I played DoW 2 with put it "the Warhammer universe is endlessly repeating itself" so the story is just that; familiar. Sounds and video are excellent, the game looks and plays brilliantly. Although I am not a very big fan of the Warhammer universe, this game is legendary. Most fun can be had in co-operative play with a like-minded friend and my only grievances with it are the fishtank soundbug, the inclusion of GFWL and the inability to rebind your special abilities and accessoires!… Expand

Beautiful campaign mode. Great voice acting. Great action. Wonderful ability to outfit your team and unit selection. nice graphics.
A Rare game that is nearly perfect as far as a role play campaign is concerned.
2 thumbs up!

This along with Company of Heroes are my most favourite current RTS. The reason for this is the way the game plays. Rather than matches being about unit spam (unless you're playing Orks or Tyranids, where it's partly about unit spam), it's more about tactics and unit placement. My real problem with the game is how hard it is. I can't speak for everyone as I'm naturally bad at RTS games, but I do believe that there has been a problem with this game for not just me, but a majority of people who try to play online and usually end up fighting against people 10x better than themselves. This causes a lot of new players to be put off meaning that other new players don't get a chance to fight against equally skilled people. I suppose it really just takes perseverance but it's still tough.
The graphics of the game are absolutely lovely, definitely best out there, on par with, if not better than Starcraft 2's graphics.

For originality of gameplay how ever, this game is basically Company of Heroes, set in WH40k, and a smaller viewing angle with a closer in camera.… Expand

I never knew anything about the Warhammer Universe, until i picked up my copy of Dawn of War, several years ago and i was immediately engrossed. With great eagerness, i picked up this game the day it was released. EDITORS NOTE-All in all, i fear change so my review may be seriously biased but here it goes anyway.
DOW 2, is a game that will please you and frustrate you at the same time. To me, it is just company of heroes meets DOW and that aspect bothered me a lot. It took me a while to get over that. Also, the fact that you have to have an internet connection, and you have to get windows live bothered me a lot too. Well, what if someone doesn't have an internet connection. I am sure there are some people out there who still do not. I am lucky enough to have that.
For those of you who are huge DOW fans, you might be a tad dissapointed at what is going on in this game. For starters, there are no more base building. You have an galactic map which shows you all the planets that you can travel too. there are three of them in which you are to initiate warp travel to reach. You start out with yourself, the commander, and a tactical squad. Mind you, the squad consists of only 4 space marines. then, as you progress you get other squads, a devestator squad(heavy weapons, 3 space marines), a scout squad,(3) and an assault squad.(3). As for the assault squad well, what can i say about the assault squad? I have had it on missions and he is always usually the first to die. He kinda sucks in the first DOW 2. He gets better in Chaos rising.
During missions, your squad earns xp, and upon leveling up you can unlock new powers for your squads to use, some of which are pretty bad ass. But it seems to me, you can only have one and not the other, as there is a level cap of 20, so choose the right path you want for your squads, as you will not be able to get those points back.
Personally, i stuck with the same for guys more or less the same time, varying upon the different missions parameters, which aren't really that different at all. You are going to either attack or defend, and most defend missions, you will have a time limit to do so, in which if you miss it you have to wait for a later point to go resecure that sector and what was lost. At times, i also do feel very overwhelmed. I know space marines are all powerful to an extent, but sometimes it is just insane. I do believe before the first patch, the weapons were a bit different and did more damage, as i get confused, when a bolter says it only does 11.6 damage per second and my squad which does 9 damage, goes down. I thought higher damage was better, call me crazy. Which includes power weapons. Most power weapons, which although do more damage then a chainsword, do not actually do as much damage on the field, due to their attack speed i am guessing?
anyway, all set aside i have fallen asleep during the single player. The same type of missions do tend to get a tad mundane and repetitive, and sometimes the war gear rewards aren't even worth doing it in the first place. But it is a decent campaign.
The multiplayer is pretty engrossing, but once again highly modeled upon the COH engine, with holding of victory points, and anniahalte. No base building, so dont even think about that. It is definitely a far cry from the DOW.
the army painter i was dissapointed in as well, as it seems to me there is less detail you can do from the first one.
the last stand? I don't even know what to say about that. It's as if someone said, no no, we want the game to be harder so they did. It gets repetitive. The leveling up takes too long. DONT EVER PRESTIGE BECAUSE IT SUCKS AND YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING AND GET SOME CRAPPY REWARD.
do i reccommend it? if you're new to DOW yeah, you can go in this with a clear head. If you are into DOW? Sure, just be prepared to be let down a bit. Thanks… Expand

Impressive and plenty of fun, with some noticeable flaws. The biggest flaw I'd say is the lack of responsive units. Nearly every unit feels slow and uncoordinated. With that said, the tactical aspects of the game are very fun. Setting up your units behind cover and watching them obliterate the landscape (along with any Ork in the way) is satisfying. I miss the large army/base-building gameplay from the first Dawn of War, but they've done a good job with this one.… Expand

I have DOW 2 and DOW 2 Chaos Rising, will probably get Retribution sometime this year. This game is good. The stand alone campaign is interesting and replayable. What makes this game really good is the co-op game "The Last Stand" and you can co-op the campaign games too. It is worth getting all 3 games together at $60 on steam but you can buy the first 2 games for $20 each.

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

Don't get me wrong, the game has some things I like about it, specifically a unique blend of RPG and RTS, not to mention that it has the name of Warhammer 40,000. But like many of the other people who expressed frustration with this game, I felt like it just barely missed being exceptional with a few short-sighted mistakes (including lackluster AI, early-launch bugs, and unbalanced play). The fatal blow to the game in my mind was the repetition. Did they really launch a game with only a handful of maps (campaign) and then expect you to play each one until you can recreate it in your head down to the very last pixel? This is one of the few times that I've been very disappointed with the professional critics because I think they missed the mark in a major way. I understand that they want to support a company who tries something new (i.e. blend multiple genres), but the game simply doesn't rate as well as the critics claimed (which is evident in the fact that, for once, the professional critics have a higher rating than the users).… Expand

Singleplayer was great, although filled with cheese. No room for character development with space marines, but I guess that's how they were created. Once the tryanids came in, you did see some repeating missions, but they were avoidable for the most part. Great strategic gameplay, and I loved the loot and the abilities (SO! MUCH! LOOT!!!!).

The multiplayer modes seem well balanced, although I haven't touched them enough to give a rock-solid review on them. Last Stand is incredibly fun, constantly having me come up with new and interesting ways to slaughter hordes of enemies (although there's some loadouts that are clearly better).

Some may not like the squad based gameplay, and I was a little confused with it at first, but it grows on you. Instead of most RTSs where individual units are usually expendable, keeping units alive in this game is crucial (multiplayer). As long as one squad member survives, you can replenish the squad, so their upgrades and levels don't go to waste. The entire squad gets gibbed, you lose their vital experience. That's not to say that you can't beat higher level enemies, but it's certainly harder.… Expand

I'm a longtime fan of Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game. Dawn of War gave me the flair i loved of the stories from that game on my computer. And seeing the models I've painted for years coming to life on my screen was a thrill. Now dawn of war II comes out and I was excited to buy it.

I wish on the cover it would have said tactical RPG, because there is no resource management at all in the campaign. Go here, blow this up, go there blow that up. Use some abilities, mission ends. It is fun, but it is not a real time strategy. it's a fun game in it's own right, if you want more tactical play, get Company of Heroes or the original Dawn of War game with expansions.… Expand

Ein sehr gelungenes und spannendes Spiel, macht mir heute immer noch SpaÃ

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

For completely unknown reasons there are game designers who think you can never have enough generic 'zerg the world' games: And it seems they all worked on DoW2.
There is no strategy in this game; there are barely any tactics in this game; but if you're a 6 year old moron and can be entertained for hours on the strength of pretty colours and sparkly lights then you'll find plenty in DoW 2 to love.
A massive step backwards for the franchise and seriously damaging to the entire GW brand.… Expand

Hugely dissapointed, They took away everything that was great about DOW1 and pretty much screwed it up. The battles aren't epic, the lack of base building isn't fun, and the races are all the same and boring. I had really high hopes for this game, I seriously wish I could return this.

2 for graphics.

More diversity is in need for the music and the maps. The game music range from DoW 1 was quite excellent and more diverse in its subjects. Otherwise an excellent game. AND there is a bug with the Heavy Autocannon from the dreadnought, sometimes it doesn*t fire, but the ability is realoading without any enemies having recieved fire, quitre annyoing..

This game takes all of the good bits from CoH and the heroes and levelling up from an rpg mixes them together with some good old fashioned warhammer violence and comes up with something very special... Definitely the future of rts gaming

A very good game, reinvents RTS in lots of ways and removes parts that doesn't make much sense. Singleplayer was fun and different from other RTS games, though there was some parts of repetitiveness. Multiplayer is also very fun and allows for a lot of different strategies, where combined arms beats spamming any day. Multiplayer could use a bit more unit variety at the end game though. All in all the problems are somewhat easily fixed and there's a huge potential in what could be upcoming downloadable content and expansion packs. The future will only make this game even better.… Expand

As a lover of both DOW & COH I was delighted to see a move to the tactical aspect and the arrival of tyranids, but limited options to play skirkishes means I will be watching for the mods and patches that will hopefully come along, though the annoying way everything is tied into a windows live and steam account may preclude people with greater vision from helping us poor saps who just love to play. A resounding "well its OK", but worth £35? - I will definitely think twice before rushing to buy the next update ...... for now, I'll go back to DOW 1 and COH.… Expand

Imtro video 10,game 0. It's a crap.The original Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is far better.

Even without building elements this game is awsome!! All the battlesare really intense. If u like RTS, check it out

pretty fun like the multiplayer stuff and survival mode, main quest is fun though a little boring after a while

Great take on a tired genre. Not perfect, but heading in the right direction. I'm giving extra credit for innovation and taking a big risk, we need to reward this. Otherwise it's a solid 8.5 game with potential to get even better if they live up to their DLC promises.