Hands on : Dawn Of War 2 (PC)

After overcoming the belief that Relic had ruined one of my favourite RTS franchises, I decided I would chin-up and give it a chance...

And I am glad I did, while the new Dawn of war is vastly different to the original (and its 6 million expansions) the game still has its own charms, while base building and the large number of units have been removed, the RPG elements and use of cover add a new angle to the game.

Pros:

Ability to make use of cover - The ability to make use of cover allows you to plan your defense, it also means a bit more thought is required when attacking a stationary enemy that is in cover.

RPG element - The RPG element of the game allows users to customise their squads with different weapons, armour and a variety of special abilities, this means different players can approach the game with different tactics. The fact that I seem to be the only person using the scout leads me to believe that I may just be playing the game the hard way.

Fast multi player - I find multi player much faster paced than the previous Dawn Of War, i believe this is largely due to the lack of HQ's. Resources are still based around capturing points, but with a limited number of units defending them it can be a lot more difficult, the player must constantly move their defensive squads in order to repel the enemy.

Cons:

Lack of base building - I suppose this is more of a personal preference, but I enjoy building a base, and personally think this has been the biggest blow to fans of the game. You are unable to build more units, but are able to resurrect your named characters instead. This changeup removes a large amount of challenge from the game as all that is required to revive them is to have another named unit stand next to them for a few seconds (or in the case of a leveled up scout, instantly).

Lower number of units - As you can only have 4 squads I find it is almost always necessary to keep them all together, this removes the ability to distract an enemy while destroying an objective elsewhere.

Overall I do not think players of the original Dawn Of War should be put off by the changes, they do make it a very different game in its own right. Players will either love it or hate it depending on which style of RTS they prefer.