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

In the 41st millennium, there is only war. Sub-Sector Aurelia, a system that acts as a recruitment centre for the Blood Ravens has finally seen a time of peace. Ten years after the Chaos Rising incident, the sector is still facing the ravages of Chaos. Along with the arrival of the Imperial Guard companies, all is not well in the system as the flames of war are reignited yet again…


Only War

The Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising campaign was concluded with the defeat of ‘Ulkair the Great Unclean One’. However, it left us with a cliff hanger ending that makes you wish that the story of the Blood Raven’s chapter would continue on a little longer. That’s where Retribution comes in. Set ten years after the Chaos Rising campaign, the Aurelia Sector saw a short period of peace with the arrival of more Imperial Guard regiments sent by the Imperium of Man from across the Galaxy. Its planets were reinforced with fresh recruits as well as new advance heavy ordinance (the Baneblade being one of them).

The new star map allows you to visit worlds without having to press another button.

This sets the plot for the Retribution campaign, which then splinters into six different races with their own stories and reasons for staying on in the Aurelia System. With that, everything that was supposed to go well, soon turned to ‘Chaos’ with the Black Legion gone from the Sector (except for the Stragglers which you can use in the campaign), the Alpha Legion begins their attack on the four planets governed by the Imperium. This leads to a sudden corruption of Imperial Guard regiments as well as the Blood Raven squads.

Soon, the horror stories from the sector, reach that ears of the Inquisition, a group known for verifying and purging any traces of Chaos throughout the Galaxy no matter how far and wide it has spread. This then brings the story to all six races in their struggle to achieve; honour, redemption, power and... Retribution.


Six Races, same old story

In the process of writing this review, I’ve to admit, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Dawn of War II campaigns as I was more interested in the multiplayer aspect of the series. However, from playing Chaos Rising, it did re-inspire my views on its storyline and how much ‘fluff’ or intrigue could be attached to the 40k Universe. With that said, the bar was set for Retribution to raise that bar even further.

Sad to say, the bar has not been raised with Retribution. With six new campaigns, (Eldar, Space Marine, Imperial Guard, Chaos Space Marine, Orkz and Tyranids) they all pretty much have similar plotlines.
The Eldar are looking for revenge, Space Marines (Blood Ravens) looking for proof to save their Chapter, the Imperial Guard has to investigate the Chaos uprising (as well as look for proof about the Blood Ravens innocence).

Behold my Power AXE! 50% psychic energy 50% more damage against any Xenos, 100% more Bling !

The only slight variation of story were with the Orkz and Tyranids campaign. Both of these factions have no real reason to stay in Aurelia except to find more loot (and wage alittle WARRGGHH!! in the process) or devour the sector. In conclusion, having so many new races playable in the campaign, the plot was most likely made simpler to accommodate this bigger cast of characters. (I hate to admit, while trying to review the campaigns for the six races, I fell asleep once due to repeating the same mission six times in a row)


Better them than us

Despite the weaker storyline, the gameplay experience from the campaign is more notable in comparison to Chaos Rising. This time around, the game offers more flexibility in completing each campaign, allowing you to choose whatever style of play you prefer.

This translates into a new form of gameplay mechanics never seen before in previous versions of Dawn of War II(in single player at least). For example; instead of just controlling a squad of heroes, you’re now allowed to summon additional troops like three Terminators squads and a Predator tank.

Additionally, you are given a choice to upgrade your army rather than unlocking wargear throughout the campaign. This adds a flavour of replayability to the campaign with players choosing which path they would like to use in order to complete the campaign.

There’s also the possibility of finishing the entire campaign without even using the commander units (except for the main character). For example, the Space Marines have a choice to swap out their three commanders for ‘Honor Guard Squads’. These are basically elite squads with special benefits given to them when levelling your other commanders and they don’t even need wargear.

With each race offering a unique experience in how they would be played in the campaign, things become all the more fun as you try and experiment with different ways to build your own unique campaign experience.
For example; The Tyranids only have a single hero unit which does everything from reinforcing squads on the move, to calling in additional squads of Genestealers or Raveners. Wargears not only upgrade his abilities but also act as a buff that increases the various squads effectiveness on the field.

The other races have similar game play mechanics, like the Orkz who can also call in additional reinforcements with their unique gear or the Imperial Guards which can get equipment which buffs the troops on field or provide medical support. Overall the game play has improved in different areas to make it more varied and open to different play styles.



Worlds of Sector Aurelia

Since Retribution is an expansion to the Dawn of War II game, all the different planets from the original game as well as Chaos Rising return with new environments and scenarios. The campaign features scripted missions such as one where you’re being chased by a Baneblade to escaping a planet on the verge of being destroyed. Relic has introduced new maps for multiplayer as well as the popular ‘Last Stand’ mode. As seen in Chaos Rising, only one new tile set was released with this version of Dawn of War II.

What's worse than facing a Baneblade? Having to face two !

Graphically, the game hasn’t changed much since Chaos Rising, with new texture skins which give the proud Guardsmen of the Imperium a much needed facelift. This also means that the current specs on your PC that you used to play Chaos Rising with won’t need to be upgraded to support Retribution. Very scalable to lower end systems too.


The Last Stand….again

With the release of the ‘Destroyed lands of Typhoon’ texture maps, Relic has also released another new map for the last stand mode. This map is located on the ashes of the once lush jungles of Typhon, now burnt to the ground. Players will find that this map is as harsh as its name implies (it’s called the The Anvil of Khorne), fighting 20 waves of enemies from all factions and races. This time, you won’t even have an inch of breathing space as the waves continue attacking one after another. It’s even harder to reach wave 14. With this new map, comes a new Hero as well. Introducing the Lord General, representing the Imperial Guard faction in Dawn of War II Retribution. With no abilities (except the power shot from the sniper rifle) to start with in rank 1, he later receives powerful ‘call in’ units in the form of turrets, infantry and heavy ordinance deliveries (aka the bombardment by plane).

Although playing the Last Stand mode is a change of pace from the competitive aspect of the multiplayer mode and the blandness of the campaign mode, its novelty will only last as long as you see the challenge in completing the latest map or beating the current highest score. (Last I checked it was 12,000,000+). It's still a fun experience playing coop with your friends while it lasts.


A Universe at War

The multiplayer in my opinion, is where the ‘real meat’ of the game lies, with the inclusion of the Imperial Guards (you can read my thoughts on the Imperial Guard here ), things have become even more competitive than ever. I won’t lie to you guys….this is where I spent most of my time in game.

Since the release of game earlier this month, there has been a multitude of patches, with each fine tuning the balance (both good and bad) implemented by Relic’s Retribution team (which is said to be smaller team than when they did Chaos Rising) . This is actually a good thing as back in previous versions of Dawn of War II, the issue with Microsoft’s Games for Windows Live client has caused delays that would put people off from playing the game.

Examples of these issues include dropping from games, high latency lagging ranked games, unfair match ups for players and the notorious ‘NAT Failed to connect to Host’ issue just to name a few. With the switch over to Steam, things have gone from bad to great. Games are a lot easier to join, issues regarding bad latency are still existent, but it doesn't make you want to pull out your hair out any more.

The balancing of the six races still needs to be fine tuned. The current incarnation of the game isn’t game breaking with only skilled players abusing ‘Shoota Spams’ as Orkz to building the overpowered Manticore as the Imperial Guards. Furthermore, with the inclusion of customisable badges into the mix, 40k fans (like me) can easily import your favorite pictures into the game and wage war with your enemies in style (the weirdest I’ve seen so far was a picture of someone’s mom holding what appears to be a chain sword).

The new Khorne's Anvil map for Last stand, just getting past wave 3 is a challenge.

The multiplayer portions can appear to be daunting towards new or casual players as there aren't any tutorials that explain the intricacies of the advanced strategies used in multiplayer. New players may often find themselves clueless as to what squads to construct or which build order they need to follow in order to beat their opponents. What's worse is that the community can sometimes be a little unforgiving (me included lol) when a ‘noob’ or ‘newb’ decides to join in on the action. Regardless of these points, there are various helpful souls which can grant some ‘war knowledge’ if you ask nicely.

Moving on from the community and back into the gameplay itself, as mentioned before in my preview of the multiplayer, the battles that you will experience in a proper match (where no one uses exploits to win) can leave a satisfying grin on your face after winning (or losing). So what do I mean by that ?

"Your last hope of winning finally appears on the field, wielding a single large demolition cannon capable of leveling an entire apartment building with 10 other mounted weapons enough to make your US congressmen cry ‘WMD"

Imagine you’re the Imperial Guard, you are low on resources and you have 50 points left on the victory counter, you notice that your enemy, the Tyranids has a bigger army than you currently have. With that clock ticking away, you notice that you have enough resources to call in a Baneblade but you just need that extra 50 seconds to have your strongest tank on the field. What do you do ?

Rally your men, move onwards and fight with whatever you have left. Just as your Lord Commissar captures the Victory points 4 seconds before total defeat. You then hear one of your Guardsmen shouts “Sir we just received word that the Baneblade has arrived”. Your last hope of winning finally appears on the field, wielding a single large demolition cannon capable of leveling an entire apartment building with 10 other mounted weapons enough to make your US congressmen cry ‘WMD’. From there on, the tides of defeat shifts towards the now crippled Tyranid army.



Hell, war has never been so much fun!


Overall, Retribution is definitely another great expansion for the Dawn of War II franchise. With two expansions on the market, one could only hope for another great expansion or DLC for the races that are still yet to be seen (Tao, Dark Eldar, Battle Sisters and Grey Knights just to name a few). It’s a little disappointing that this expansion does make the previous versions of Dawn of War II irrelevant as they don’t require any files from those games(you get all the races even if you don't own the previous games). Regardless, I’m sure anyone who’s ever played Retribution would even miss them (especially GFWL).


Pros:

• New Singleplayer Mechanics unique for each Race.
• Continuing the Blood Raven’s Story.
• The Introduction of the Imperial Guards for Multiplayer, Last Stand and Campaign.
• The Witch Hunter Inquisitor (Sexy, Black and Dangerous).
• Great support from Relic’s Development team on trying to balance the Multiplayer quickly and efficiently.
• Fun and Brutal Multiplayer experience.
• The Community (without them I think this game isn’t worth getting to be honest)

Cons:

• Bland/Boring Storyline
• Multiplayer maybe difficult to pickup
• Last stand has only two maps to play on and up to 3 players per game only.

Verdict: Its' not just an expansion, It's Retribution! Pick it up today!