Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
DateTime:7/8/2009 5:21:12 PM

Stepping into the shoes of a Blood Raven Chaos Marine commander, we were immediately tasked with defending a territory on the world of Calderis. One of two main Blood Raven recruiting worlds, Calderis had recently come under attack by a surprisingly organized group of Orks. Those familiar with the Orks know that organization and tactical planning isn't exactly one of their strong points, so suspicions were raised. A Chaos Marine is less about talk and more about action, however, so the point wasn't dwelled upon for very long. Our troops hit the ground and went to work routing the Ork incursion over the course of the first few missions. Of course, nothing beats proper hands-on time with the game itself, so when Relic offered us the chance to go toe-to-toe with Orks, Eldar and Tyranids, we jumped at the chance.

Rather than jump to some random mission in the game (as previews so often do), we started right at the beginning and played the first portion of the main campaign. While this meant we didn't get to see some of the more powerful late-game maneuvers, it gave us a great introduction to the basics and a grounding in the story that will be driving Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II.After a series of expansions, THQ and Relic Entertainment are finally treating us to a proper sequel to Dawn of War. We took a peek at Dawn of War II earlier this year, but that was a strictly hands-off affair.