Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Exclusive Hands-On - Early Single-Player, Story

While the typical real-time strategy game begins with lowly peon units gathering resources so you can eventually spend them to build up structures and gradually start churning out an army, Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II goes in a completely different direction. The new game's single-player campaign will be an intriguing experience that's more focused on tactical elements from Relic's own award-winning Company of Heroes, as well as hack-and-slash elements of some of the best action RPGs. We had a chance to hunker down and try out the early part of the single-player campaign, and we have much to report. Please be advised that this preview may contain minor spoilers.

Dawn of War II's single-player campaign picks up in the wake of the events from the first game, and once again puts you on the side of the fanatical Space Marines, a faction of genetically enhanced humans who wear huge suits of power armor and carry heavy-duty weapons in order to exterminate hostile aliens in the name of their emperor.

Unfortunately for these supersoldiers, the deck is stacked against them in Dawn of War II, because there appears to be not only the threat of a "Waagh!" (a massive invasion force of the stocky, ferocious, green-skinned Orks), but also indications of a sinister plot to direct the Orks to knock out certain target planets that appear to be the key to taking over the galaxy. What's worse, at least two other hostile alien races appear to be involved in the plot--the mysterious Eldar (a nearly extinct race of space elves who possess psychic powers and highly advanced technology) and the noxious Tyranids, a race of insectlike aliens that appears to exist solely to infest all planets in the universe and destroy all other living things.

Dawn of War II's single-player campaign takes the unique approach of sending you on a series of branching missions on different planets with a handful of specific Space Marine squads. Each squad is led by a named commander unit that will advance in experience levels and can be outfitted with new weapons, armor, and miscellaneous items. Although each commander brings along a squad of unnamed followers with similar abilities (and these followers can fall in battle and be replaced at specific reinforcement points that you must capture during your travels), the commanders themselves are less like traditional real-time strategy units and more like party members in a role-playing game. Fortunately, when they are killed, they can be revived at reinforcement points, though losing all of them means you fail your current mission.

Relic's intention seems to be that players will become emotionally attached to each commander unit, especially since you'll be developing each one's abilities along four different attribute paths (melee combat, ranged combat, overall unit health, and special abilities) that will unlock different skills along each path for each character. Because you'll only gain a certain, limited number of experience points throughout the campaign, and because you'll be able to bring only a handful of your entire pool of different companies into battle, you'll need to make some tough choices on which squads you bring with you to potentially gain more experience and better rewards.

As it turns out, the majority of the single-player campaign's missions will have plenty of extra content in the form of side quests (which appear on the same maps as the regular missions) that may include hunting down additional pockets of enemies guarding "strategems"--emplacements that provide bonuses for your forces in the form of healing areas and reinforcement opportunities. Chasing down every last little side quest will net you more rewards and more experience points, but it will also greatly lengthen the time you spend in each mission--and you'll be awarded bonuses on completing each mission not only for how many enemies you've killed ("zeal"), but also for how quickly you completed each one ("speed"), and how few of your forces fell in battle ("resilience"). Much of the campaign's replay value will probably come from the many different ways you can complete each mission, the different side quests in each one, and the many ways you can develop each commander character (and your choices to stick with certain commanders over others).

Our play session began with a handful of rudimentary missions on the world of Meridian, a Space Marine stronghold that has come under siege from Ork hordes to which we deployed our forces from our battleship. The battleship view is one of two main interfaces you'll be spending time with in the game (the other being the unit-outfitting view, where you can swap in new weapons, armor, and items for your units as well as assign skill points to your units after gaining levels), and it lets you choose which site you'll rescue next, as well as which units you'll bring into battle.

You begin the game with your primary force commander unit (a powerful melee attacker), and gain the services of Tarkus, the tactical marine squadleader whose troops are well-rounded gunners; Avitus, the devastator marine squadleader whose troops are equipped with heavy miniguns that require a moment to emplace, but can then spit out damaging heavy fire; Cyrus, a scout squadleader whose entire squad has the ability to electronically cloak itself, while Cyrus himself is a crack shot who can later be equipped with powerful sniper weapons; and Thaddeus, a hotheaded assault marine squadleader whose jumpjet-equipped troops can leap great distances instantly and come crashing down on your foes. Throughout the game, you'll come upon new characters who will join your cause as a part of the unfolding story, and you'll be required to start making choices as to which squadrons you bring into battle, since many missions will cap how many you can deploy.

Our force commander unit proved himself on many occasions as a fine melee powerhouse whom we developed to have as many melee skills as possible, eventually picking up a stunning attack that briefly knocks all nearby enemies off their feet. The tactical marines are standard infantry gunners, though their commander, Tarkus, can carry a great variety of useful items, including explosive grenades and a remote control to call in spectacular orbital strikes from space. The devastator marines are excellent heavy gunners who are great for capturing and holding areas against encroaching enemies, though their heavy weapons make them slow on their feet--which is a problem when enemies lob grenades or other area-affecting explosives their way. The scouts are extremely useful units whose stealth abilities make them invaluable for recon--by investing as many skill points into their "special ability" skill tree, we were able to unlock an enhanced version of their stealth ability that let them continuously move while hidden.

Much of the gameplay in Dawn of War II revolves around tackling individual challenges on each mission map, such as entrenched encampments of enemies or constantly spawning waves of them, as well as the boss battles that take place at the end of nearly every mission. Because you're controlling smaller squadrons of troops with special abilities, you'll most likely pick up on your troops' abilities--how powerful they are, how long they last, and when best to use them--quickly enough, and begin almost unconsciously applying these skills to the challenges that face you (many of which are open-ended). Do you toss a TAC marine's grenade into the building with the Ork "shoota" gunner with the mounted minigun, or use your that powerful sniper rife you just recovered for scout commander Cyrus and creep out into line of sight while hidden and pick off the brute with a single sniper shot? Given that you'll command, among other things, powerful close-range melee troops, powerful ranged attackers, and jumpjet-equipped troops that can instantly close distances, the challenges seem surprisingly open-ended, and each one presents itself almost like a puzzle to solve.

The first few missions were more or less easy training missions against a growing Ork invasion on Meridian. Meridian is the gothic, metropolislike world that has already been shown in earlier screenshots and footage, and serves as a good entry into the game. The majority of the game's missions will actually be relatively brief--many taking only 10 to 15 minutes from start to finish--and the earlier missions seem even shorter. Nearly all missions culminate in a tough boss fight against an enemy with its own special abilities; the Ork warbosses, for instance, have many powerful melee attacks that tend to send your troops flying off their feet. All boss fights will require you to be nimble and ensure that your troops aren't clustered too tightly together. The game's story is tied together with between-mission briefings that consist mainly of terse dialogue between your characters and their commanding officers...and on Meridian, it's revealed at about the same time both that the normally random raids by the marauding Orks seem like they're being corralled along specific strike points, and also that the Eldar have landed on Meridian. You'll actually engage them in a single battle and get a sense of their prowess. Like in the previous Dawn of War game, they tend to have smaller forces, though several of their units have the ability to "phase"--that is, to instantly teleport themselves a short distance away--which makes them extremely good at dividing your squadrons' attention and keeping you from focusing your fire on a single target.

After clearing Meridian of the initial Ork invasion, we were given the option to hop to a different planet, Typhon Primaris, which, as you quickly find out, has become infested by Tyranids. The Tyranids appear on the planet in multiple stages, including floating, exploding spore mines, burrowing raveners, and "synapse"-driven Tyranid units that act with a hive-mind-like artificial intelligence that can be disrupted with very precise firing.

Dawn of War II's single-player game is a bold new step in a new direction of focusing on small-scale hack-and-slash battles, character development, and an unfolding story that's central to the game--elements that you might be more likely to associate with a traditional single-player role-playing game. Yet it also seems to have all the elements of a solid real-time strategy game after Relic's particular style of quick-starting, fast-moving, action-packed gameplay with tactical decisions that include morale, cover, and smart use of mixed forces in action. The sequel has looked more promising every time we've seen it, and now that we've gotten our hands on it, we can say that we're really looking forward to it. Dawn of War II is scheduled to ship in early 2009.