Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
| Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio |
 Relic entertainment
|
||
| Publisher |
 THQ
|
||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
 February 19, 2009 February 20, 2009 |
||
| platform | Windows , macOS , Linux | ||
| genre | Real time strategy game | ||
| Subject | Military science fiction | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Mouse , keyboard | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
|||
| medium | 1 DVD , download | ||
| language | German | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
Dawn of War II is a real-time strategy game from Relic Entertainment , located in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It was released in Germany on February 20, 2009 by THQ for Windows . On September 29, 2016, the game was released by Feral Interactive for macOS and Linux . It is the sequel to Dawn of War from 2004.
action
The human-inhabited space sector Aurelia, in which there are three important sub-sector main worlds, is under attack by three alien races: the orcs , the eldar and - for the first time in the Dawn of War series - the Tyranids . The latter come from outside the Milky Way , invade the sector with their swarm-conscious, organic swarm fleets in order to consume all available biomass and represent the greatest threat to the human empire. The Space Marines of the Order of the Blood Ravens come with the threatened worlds to help a small fleet to fight the aliens. These three planets are the recruiting worlds of the order, where important facilities of the arms industry are located and from where they have been recruiting new friars for ages . While the public order on the planets is collapsing due to the Tyranid invasion and the planetary defense forces and the Imperial Army are constantly involved in fighting, the orcs seize the opportunity to plunder while the mysterious Eldar pursue their own goals.
Gameplay
The player sees the 3D game from a rotatable and zoomable, isometric perspective . It is controlled by mouse and keyboard . A typical primary goal of the game is, as is usual in real-time strategy games, to achieve victory over one or more opponents through superior strategy and tactics . Compared to its predecessor, it is more about tactics than numerical superiority, which requires more micromanagement of the few units. The tactical aspect was completely taken over from the PC game Company of Heroes , which was also developed by THQ and Relic Entertainment. It is important to control the units strategically, that is, to use cover in the form of barricades or ruins and the weaknesses of the opposing units. Suppressive fire from stronger military units, which slows down and damages opponents, also ensures more tactics. Also, each race has a type of hero with special skills. Mostly the hero has an attack, support or healing function. In the multiplayer mode, the players have different special abilities to choose from, depending on their race and hero, which can be unlocked by killing enemy units and using the respective technology. These skills range up to weapons of mass destruction, which in turn can completely turn the game around.
campaign
The campaign consists of a main thread that is mainly about fighting the Tyranids, as well as many optional missions. The latter can elapse over time, while others are available. The aim of the missions is usually to kill certain enemy leaders or special units, destroy bases and defend special buildings ( shrines , communication systems and automatic foundries ) that bring bonuses or cities. The locations of the missions are on three worlds; the desert planet Calderis, the jungle world Typhon Primaris and the urban macropole world Meridian. Between the missions, depending on the urgency of the missions, you can move your fleet to the orbit of one of the other planets and continue from there. The campaign can also be played through with other players in cooperation mode (in short: co-op mode ) by inviting acquaintances or friends via Windows Live or by helping them with their campaigns. However, you can only control the Space Marines and you have to divide up the available units. The units can be upgraded with purchased equipment, seals , weapons and armor. The starting point of the missions are not bases, but manned landing pods, which are dropped from the mother ship onto planets and compensate for losses of the troops if one is in their vicinity.
Multiplayer mode
In multiplayer mode , all four nations are playable. Before you play a game, you choose a race and one of three associated heroes. The heroes are usually divided into strong melee fighters, supporters, commands and healers. The game modes are optionally the victory point control (at least two to a maximum of three victory points must be captured and held for a while) or the destruction of the enemy base and, if necessary, that of his allies. The player equips his headquarters, in which faction-dependent infantry and combat vehicles or monstrous beings are trained, built, requested or hatched. Improvements can be researched in the base to unlock stronger and more advanced units. There are also infantry and vehicle limits. As in the predecessor, two resources are used: Requisition points and energy (points). Both must first be captured and held on the battlefield. The energy points can be expanded and upgraded with additional generators.
Compared to the first part and its add-ons, there are fewer infantry and vehicle types to choose from and there are no more flight units as in Dawn of War: Soulstorm . The base building from part one has been replaced by a single headquarters.
You can choose your own color combinations in the "Army Designer" for each faction, but you can also create your own color schemes to adapt their appearance.
people
The playable races:
- Eldar ( multiplayer mode )
- Orcs ( Multiplayer )
- Space Marines ( Campaign & Multiplayer )
- Tyranids ( Multiplayer )
Non-playable faction:
- Imperial Army ( Campaign )
Soundtrack
There is an official Dawn of War II soundtrack that can be downloaded for free from the online platform Steam and various other websites. It contains 20 tracks and has a total running time of around 84 minutes.
reception
| ||||||||||||||
The reviews were mostly positive and the game was rated as “good” to “very good”. The AI in multiplayer mode, the lack of campaigns for the other three races and the forced online activation of the game via Steam and Games for Windows - Live were criticized . The harmonious atmosphere, the graphics, the tactical part and the role-play elements of the campaign were praised .
"The strategy game hope inspires with brutal battles, role-play loans and the fast multiplayer mode - but the mission design, story and balance disappoint."
Extensions
The Last Stand
On October 14th, 2009 Relic Entertainment published free downloadable content (as part of the 1.8.0 patch ) on Steam called The Last Stand (German version: The Last Resistance). The player and two other human players take control of a hero, such as the Space Marine Captain, the Eldar Runic Prophet or the Ork Mekboy, in order to defy enemy hordes of enemies controlled by the AI that come in waves. The goal is to survive as long as possible. You only collect experience points for waves you have reached and unlock useful items after you have reached a level. When the three heroes get to the final wave, they have to against a Chaos Terminator, a swarm of demons, the "Bloodletters" (Engl .: Blood Letters ) Chaos Blood God Khorne and again the six heroes who they had defeated since shaft 16 to compete. These new units also appear in the Chaos Rising expansion.
The Chaos Rising add-on added the Chaos Sorcerer and the Tyranid Swarm Tyrant as a playable hero class.
On March 10, 2016, five years after the appearance of Retribution and about four and a half years after the "Commanders of the Tau", the "Necron Overlord" was released as the new hero for the mode. At the beginning of its release, the DLC was offered free for five days before it was officially released.
Chaos Rising
An expansion ( standalone add-on ) called Chaos Rising was announced on September 18, 2009 by the US website of the PC game magazine PC Gamer and officially confirmed on September 21, 2009 by THQ Entertainment. In the USA the game was released on March 11, 2010, in Germany on March 12, 2010.
In the campaign, the Space Marines of the Order of the Blood Ravens have to defend the imperial space sector Aurelia again, because the ice planet Aurelia, which has resurfaced from the warp space after a thousand years, harbors Chaos Space Marines and demons on its surface. In addition, during the course of the campaign, a huge Tyranid-occupied Space Hulk ( an ancient, abandoned human spaceship wreck that drifts in space and warp space ) emerges from the warp room, which must be boarded in order to better understand what is happening with the chaos on Aurelia to be able to.
There is a new corruption system that gives the player the choice of either letting chaos corrupt his Space Marines or remaining loyal to the Emperor. Both ways of playing have advantages and disadvantages and affect the special abilities and equipment of the Space Marines. The level limit of the squads has been increased to level 30. All previous races from the main game also get new units. The Chaos faction can be played in multiplayer mode. Two new heroes have also been added for The Last Stand. On the one hand, a swarm tyrant of the Tyranids and on the other hand a Chaos Sorcerer are used.
Press review Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
Reviews in PC game magazines:
Retribution
On August 18, 2010, Relic Entertainment and THQ announced at gamescom that they would launch another expansion called Retribution in Q1 2011. This date has been specified on March 1, 2011. From February 1 to 25, 2011, the online platform Steam made an open beta of Retribution's multiplayer mode available. New to Dawn of War 2 is the Imperial Army. The Imperial Army relies primarily on infantry and armored vehicles, and plays defensively in comparison with the other peoples (or factions). All other races also receive a new unit each. New maps are available for multiplayer mode. Retribution's single player campaign can be played from the perspective of the now six races. The story of the single player campaign takes place ten years after the events of Chaos Rising . For The Last Stand game mode, the General Field Marshal can be played on the side of the Imperial Army, as well as the Commander of the Tau as DLC. Retribution can be played as a standalone add-on without the main program.
Press review Dawn of War II: Retribution
Reviews in PC game magazines:
- GameStar : 86%
continuation
The series was discontinued under THQ. With the bankruptcy and breakup of the publisher in 2013, the developer Relic became part of the Sega group. Finally, under the new owner, work on a successor was resumed. Dawn of War III was released in 2018 for Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
Web links
- Official website
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II at MobyGames (English)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c gamestar.de
- ↑ feralinteractive.com
- ↑ store.steampowered.com
- ↑ store.steampowered.com
- ↑ looki.de
- ↑ Kevin VanOrd: Test "Dawn of War II". In: GameSpot . CBS Corporation , February 20, 2009, accessed August 3, 2014 .
- ↑ Charles Onyett: Test "Dawn of War II". ign.com, February 17, 2009, accessed August 3, 2014 .
- ↑ pcgames.de
- ↑ gamezone.de
- ↑ a b gamestar.de
- ↑ gamestar.de
- ↑ pcgames.de
- ↑ looki.de
- ↑ gamestar.de
- ↑ gamestar.de