Product Details
 | Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II: Gold Edition |
| List Price: | $39.99 |
| Price: | $38.73 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details |
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Product Description
Enter the grim darkness of the far future where there is only war, in this ultimate collection of the acclaimed real time strategy franchise Dawn of War II. Defend the galaxy from the traitorous Chaos Space Marines, ravenous Tyranid swarm, brutal Ork horde, and enigmatic Eldar warhost. Fight for survival over a variety of destructible environments, from the jungles and swamps of Typhon, to the frozen wastelands of Aurelia, and the urban landscapes of Meridian.Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #5230 in Video Games
- Brand: THQ
- Model: 49460
- Published on: 2010-03-02
- Released on: 2010-03-11
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- Platform: No Operating System
- Format: DVD-ROM
- Dimensions: .25 pounds
Features
- New features of the expansion include: 15 new missions, new units for all factions, moral based corruption mechanic and the new playable multiplayer faction, the Chaos Space Marines.
- Contains both Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II and its expansion pack Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising.
- Classic real-time strategy gameplay that focuses on the need for strategy in the absence of endless reinforcements and resources.
- Simplified entry point into games allows both veterans of RTS gameplay and newbies to get into the action quickly and easily while learning the game at their own pace.
- Online multiplayer allowing you to play through both the single player campaigns included cooperatively with a friend, or go it alone as any of the five factions against online competition.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Product Description
Customer Reviews
Copy Protection Stinks, But At Least Doesn't Ruin This Game
Since it is the number one
consideration I make in choosing if I'm going to buy a game, I have to
talk about the copy protection. Yes it's not the game, but it is a part
of the overall product. If you can't play the game, then it's of no use
to you. Dawn of War 2 is more intrusive than the CD keys of the old
days. Those keys were perfectly reasonable and fair, but nowadays I
can't understand why companies punish their paying customers with
annoying activations. I purchased Max Payne 2 and the protection
couldn't recognize my CD drive so I couldn't use it; their response was
tough luck. I have almost entirely stopped buying PC games because the
protection adds risk.
That said, the protection scheme that Relic
went with is at least not as bad as it could be. You have to install
Steam by Valve software and there is a CD Key too, but as far as I can
tell Steam isn't evil and it doesn't do anything to screw with your
system. You do need to have an Internet connection the first time you
install the game, but after that you can put everything in offline mode
and not connect. While this isn't as bad as it could have been, if
you're a US Army trooper stationed in a country without access to the
Internet to validate your copy or if you just don't have a connection,
you're out of luck. You also have to have a Games For Windows Live
account, but you can create an offline one. When playing single player
it's slightly annoying to be asked/reminded multiple times if you want
to be in online mode.
So, on to the game. The first thing you'll
notice is that this is NOT Dawn of War. The first game was kind of like
StarCraft or most RTS games where you build a base, then units, then
fight it out. At least in single player, Dawn of War 2 is more like
those StarCraft levels where you had a small group of soldiers and your
goal was to reach the other side of the map. Whether you like this
change or not, well that's a matter of taste. I kind of like not
worrying about the base development. At the same time, it does make the
game a little less interesting because you lose that base defense and
resource management aspect.
The characters are great. You get a
little bit of RPG angle to things because you can customize the armor,
weapon, and special bonus that each squad gets. This isn't all that
deep, sort of like X-Men Legends 2 character tweaking. There is an
interesting touch where you can gain certain bonus skills if you reach
milestones adding points in certain areas. For example, if you add
points to the scout's "will" (mana) attribute you can get a skill to not
drain energy if concealed while standing still. You get the idea. I
liked it since you get to choose whether to round out your squad or take
a risk and get some benefits for focusing in on one or two areas.
Dreadnoughts
are back and just as fun as ever. They'll still pick up the bad guy
sometimes and toss them around the map. Plus, they don't need cover;
they ARE cover. In single player, he's about useless until you get the
"self repair" ability. Unlike your normal characters, he won't heal over
time. Once you get that ability, he'll can fix himself and becomes a
major player. You can revive fallen comrades if you have at least one
guy left, but I couldn't ever get him to revive anybody so it's probably
a limit to balance the abilities of this unit type.
Controls are
tight and the characters will generally do what you want them to. I
occasionally had problems selecting all units at once, though. Graphics
look good. Sounds fit the game nicely and the voice acting is quite
good. You've got a good story and entertaining Multiplayer. Overall
though, to me it just didn't meet what I was expecting. I do enjoy it,
but I'd have rather had more of an enhanced version of the previous game
with some levels like this thrown in. As with the first game, you only
get Space Marines campaigns. Too bad. I probably won't stick around too
long after I finish the single player campaign, but I'll have fun until
then.
This package is perfect because you can import your DOW2
campaign into CR and start off with your earned skills and some of your
equipment. DOW2 and CR differ signifigantly in their mechanics. DOW2 is
easier; you have a lot more chance to play random missions to level up
or for goodies and supplies boost everybody's special equipment. Chaos
has fewer random missions and throws in tasks that leave you more pure
or more tainted by Chaos. It's an interesting idea, but does make things
annoying at times when you have to use a specific character or replay a
mission just to avoid corruption. Supplies are type specific so you get
fewer uses. Both games are fun.
Check the system requirements
well before you buy it. It requires significantly more power than Dawn
of War did. You also need a decent video card. My system beats the
suggested specs, I have an Athlon 5600+ CPU, 3 GB of RAM, and a GeForce
8400 GS video card and it's a little jerky at times. The game has a cool
feature that rates your setup and can automatically configure for best
performance. My card apparently isn't up to snuff even at the lowest
settings, so I can still play but it thinks I'd lag out of online play.
Just as well, I have no interest in that.
I did find one trick
that can help a little in Vista. Right-click the Steam icon (since Steam
has to run to play the game) and choose Properties. Now go to to the
Compatibility tab and check to Disable desktop composition. This will
shut down the Aero features and should give a little bit of a graphics
boost. If you have a nVida card you can go into nVidia Control Panel,
view Advanced Settings, manage 3D settings, and change the "Texture
filtering - Quality" to "Performance". Do a search online if you need
more detailed instructions how to change that setting. Those seem to
have helped a bit for my setup. Really though, you need a decent card if
you want to play online or if you care about it being super pretty.
War it's fantastic!
I enjoy RTS games a lot.
Especially a fun campaign to wreak havoc upon with my bottomless
wellspring of love and rage lol. I have found the first dawn of war to
be well worth the money for the fun returned. When I finally had a
chance to play Dawn of War 2 I found that yes you could reinvent the
wheel. Everything that made the first series fun to crush the zeno and
the heritic with was improved. The overall graphics and the online
options had a notable improvement. The Campaign story for both the Dawn
of war 2 and the expansion where very enjoyable. Overall I have and
would recommend this game to friends and family.
A bundle is not always good
I like game bundles but the
individual games are listed for $8 and $15 so the bundle is kind of a
rip-off
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