Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution
7.7
10
7
7
Unbiased Review
Take this from an individual who is not really into RTS style games. Though I AM a Warhammer fan, I've never been into RTS games much, including the hotly anticipated Starcraft 2.
However this game does things a bit differently than your typical build/move/fight RTS game. Offering more focus on story and character development/advancement. I feel like I get a more personal gameplay experience because I'm not just moving around a horde of unnamed units.
I get to develop my commanders via leveling up with new abilities, passive perks, weapons, armor and accessories. Combine this with the fact that you can play the campaign with multiple races/factions for different experiences, and you've got some depth and replayability.
In an effort to keep this brief, let me just continue to hit on the stuff I really enjoy about the game.
The Last Stand mode is a ton of fun. It's a "horde" based, co-operative enemy wave mode. Here you and two other players online side together in an arena to fight off over a dozen waves of progressively more dangerous and intimidating enemy armies.
You pick a race/faction to play as, with each getting it's own set of learned abilities and equipment, much like the single player game. Only this time you're not only fighting to stay alive, but also in an effort to ensure your team stays alive.
This comes in reviving your downed allies, helping them with overwhelming odds and relying on the synergy of you and your co-op partners character's abilities to keep your team ahead.
Excellent game with a ton of replayabity and things to keep you occupied. Including competitive multiplayer as well. This was my first game in the Dawn of War series, but now it will most certainly not be my last.
8/10/11
Fun Fun Fun
The ability to switch between races is a great feature. Also the gameplay is very clear, the special actions add a bit of flair
7/11/11
Great, but with a few caveats.
Dawn of War 2: Retribution has been a blast to play, and I've really enjoyed it thus far. I had a number of friends playing the sequels and when this version came out the developers announced that it would be able to run stand-alone. With this running stand-alone and being able to play with the older expansions, I decided to pick it up.
Well, this game is hard, almost brutally so at first. The community that plays it doesn't seem very large and as such the match making can be a bit....off at times. You'll see yourself getting paired up against much stronger opponents (as indicated by their "Army Level" or relative experience with their chosen faction) and wondering why the match making would do such a thing. Later on things even out, but it is not kind to the beginners. Luckily you can play the computer to hone your skills, but don't be surprised when humans pull strategies and moves you never saw coming.
To remedy this Relic has thrown in a cooperative game mode as well as the single player expansion, both of which are very fun. The coop play pits you and two other humans against waves and waves of enemies, and although that may sound uninspired, the variety and pacing of the game is addicting and fun. The campaigns are for the most part very well thought out, and other than the Imperial Guard (the newest faction) having a few glitches at first very enjoyable. The story lines are coherent and engaging enough that you might just end up playing every race's campaign through to the end, and leveling up your hero in said campaigns is very fun.
Overall I'd say that Dawn of War Retribution is a very enjoyable game, especially if you can find a friend to play some Last Stand and 2v2 battles with. Even without a friend going in, it's not hard to met someone online to play with, with Steam making it easy to invite each other to games. The community has been good so far, a tad bit elitist at times, but overall much more mature than something like Xbox Live.
4/1/11
If you played this before good not not good
Ok its not worth 30$ if you have played games like this before and if you have played games like this and this one then buy it enough said
3/16/11
Another great addition to Dawn of War
This game is perfect for any type of gamer so long as you enjoy a good RTS. I know the other reviewer says it isnt stand along, and i guarantee you that if Relic and THQ say it is then it is. There will always be initial bugs to work out but then that is true of all games. If it doesn't work stand alone for you go to THQ/Relic's forums and lodge a complaint, they cant fix what they dont know is broken.
That all being said, the graphics are great, the gameplay is fun, i would say this is even better then Dawn of War 2 but it takes away from the power of the Space Marines in my opinion, going from 4 squads to 4 hero's that can be traded out for squads to increase your squad cap making it so you can build more squads. In DoW2 and Chaos Rising you get a chance to feel the full power of just a handful of Space Marines, showing that just a few of these super soldiers can infact turn the tides of thousands of xenos and chaos, lending credit to the books who make these hero's into all powerful beings that would smash the Master Chief and kill the entirety of the Covenant without so much as breaking a sweat. BUT! in Retribution you have the ability to recruit more squads, more over your original team is now just Hero's they do not have a squad of their own, as far as i got in the game, i have only managed to locate Cyrus and i am begining to think that Thadeus, Avitus, Jonah , Thule, and the Force Commander are not making a reappearance. Sad face i know, but it does lend credit to the fact that the where declared renegades though as to why Diomedes didnt kill Cyrus on sight is beyond me, and they do make hints that some of the other men under Captian Angelos were sent to Diomedes, and that he did not execute them like his gut had told him to do.
3/10/11
This is NOT a $30 game!
Dawn of War is an extremely entertaining game for those who have been following the storyline through the past few games. However if you DO NOT OWN Dawn of War II or Chaos Rising you CANNOT play Retribution. Even though it has been claimed as a "Whole Game" It is really just an expansion. In reality, if you wanted to start your Dawn of War Adventure here, you couldn't. Dawn of War II Retribution requires you to own previous Dawn of War games. So spending another $30 on a game you won't even play just to play the game you wanted isn't such a bright idea. In reality Dawn of War Retribution is a $60+ game. So if you're looking to start a new adventure into an unknown universe, look somewhere else. This game isn't for new-comers. Also Steam's system for user's is extremely inefficient. Support usually takes 30-1hour for assistance of any kind.
3/3/11
Can't Wait
I've never been much for PC games. I've always been a console gamer and Mac user, that is until recently. Now I've got a true gaming rig and I'm loving it. The first game I purchased was DoWII Gold edition and have loved it since day one. Retribution looks like it's going to be even better and I can't wait. Bring it Relic!
1/31/11