The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

I’m nearly done with the single player in Dawn of War II, and I think it’s safe to talk about how awesome it is.
Cause it’s awesome.

The gameplay reminds me most of a really extra awesome version of Freedom Force and its sequel, only without pausing and giving orders that way. You have 6 squads to pick from, and you can take 4 into any mission. (though you always have to take your “Commander” unit) You move them around the map, killing people and taking strategic points. Each squad has different special abilities you can employ to kick ass. There’s a cover system that you can use to keep your people alive better. If a squad dies, another can revive the leader of the squad, and the “generic” members of the squad can always be replaced by capturing a beacon and teleporting down new initiates to fill out the team. During a mission, I’m figuring out who to send my melee-based commander towards to smack down, where to set up my turmulent squad of Heavy Bolters for maximum suppression of the enemy, and sneaking my Scout squad behind enemy lines to use demolition packs to blow up the building the enemy is holed up in while my Special marines throw frag grenades to thin enemy swarms. It’s hectic, it’s strategic, and it is a ton of fun.

The real fun, for me anyway, comes from the RPG elements. Every squad in a mission gains EXP when I kill things, and all squads get EXP for completing missions. During the missions, enemies can drop “Wargear,” also known as phat lewts, which you take back with you. You also get wargear rewards for completing the missions themselves.
Between missions, you hook up your Squad commanders with a wide variety of this wargear, as well as level them up in 4 disciplines: Stamina, Ranged Aptitude, Melee Aptitude, and Will. Every five or so points put into a specific discipline gives the squad a new special trait. Since you can’t completely level them up, what you put points in greatly influences what the squad does. For instance, if I take Cyrus’ Scout Squad and level up their Will all the way, then they become the masters of their Stealth skill. It costs less to use, and they can use a wide variety of special attacks without revealing themselves. I didn’t do that, however, I put most of their points into Ranged Aptitude, making them able to use special weapon attacks, like special explosive shotgun rounds, and be able to mark any target they attack, which gives a huge accuracy bonus to any other squad attacking that enemy.
On top of everything else, the Wargear, too, is not just basic “now you have more defense!” stuff. Avitus’ squad is my Heavy Bolters and turmulents. However, if I equipped them with a missile launcher instead, suddenly they become an unstoppable armor-killing unit, instead of a “large swarms of infantry” killing unit. If I equip a unit with Terminator armor, they become much better shielded and much stronger, but can no longer use some accessories and special abilities because they can no longer have finer motor skills. They gain the ability to equip things like huge mounted rocket launchers, however.
Basically, the way my squads turned out might be completely and utterly different from how you built yours. However, just looking at it, it seems like it would be extremely hard not to make a viable and useful build. You would have to try to make a unit that isn’t effective in battle, it’s just switching around what it’s effective at and how it goes about it. This is awesome to me. So much customizability, and no danger to it? I am so there.

It’s these RPG elements, combined with the short, not time consuming missions which I have already talked about, that really make me love the ever-loving crap out of this game. This is without having played the campaign in co-op, which I assume will be even more awesome, and without having even booted up the multiplayer, which is like a whole second game, really, on top of this one. The RTS portion is strong, but I would bore of it easily without the promise of new Wargear, trying out my new builds and the new abilities of my squads, and just basically building up a team I think is completely badass. It’s such a perfect combination of the two genres, it makes Warcraft III’s heroes seem downright clunky in comparison.

I can’t wait for expansions to this game. I can’t wait for Brer to have a copy so we can play co-op. I can’t wait for the new, more RPG-focused Company of Heroes expansion, which I will grab up immediately to try. Relic has basically bought a free pass for several more game purchases with how awesome Dawn of War II is. If it even vaguely interests you and your computer can run it, you are doing yourself a huge disservice by not playing this game.