Friday, April 23, 2010

Fun New Addiction

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of base building strategies. I bought Dawn of War because, well, I'm a GW addict and it seemed like fun. Besides being able to field Space Marines and Baneblades, it really isn't all that different from Age of Empires. . .the first one. My preferences for strategies tend to go more along the lines of the Total War series, especially Rome: Total War. Seriously, if you like strategies and not having to rush and build faster than your opponents (in other words, taking time and planning crap out), seriously check the line out. I've been a fan since Rome, and while I'm not crazy about Medieval II or Empire (although the naval battles are fan-friggin-tastic!), there's LOTS of good stuff there.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. Earlier today, I was out and about spending birthday giftcards, and on a stroll through Best Buy, my eyes beheld this:
I was a little low on the funds when Dawn of War II released, so I skipped this one at the time. But with a new, shiny gift card, I thought I'd give the sequel to the series a try, as I had heard it was vastly different from the original. I've only played it for a few hours, and I'm only on the second mission, but I can tell already that I much prefer this game to its predecessor. For starters, no more base building, so it's not a rush against your opponents, computer or otherwise. Through the first mission, I definitely took my time. I would send the scouts out ahead, snipe artillery spotters, and then set up my devastators and tac marines.

Again, not being that far into the game, I can't really speak with a great deal of knowledge on the XP and levelling systems, but what I've glimpsed so far is definitely interesting and seems decently well done. I also hear tell there's a corruption system, which I eagerly await to experience firsthand. It'll be a tough call, though. . .whether to stay true to the Emperor or fall into the blissful agony of Chaos. I tend to think going the evil route will always be fun. But then I start doing really bad things and feel guilty. Not sure what I mean? Well, play Fable or Knights of the Old Republic and you'll see what I mean. You can do some really mean spirited things. I used to think it was hilarious, but without my old college roommate egging me on, I just feel bad now. Then again, I don't think killing servants of the Corpse God would be too guilt-intensive. So more on this game as I play it further, but thus far I'd definitely say it's worth considering. You can buy Dawn of War II and the Chaos Rising expansion for about $30.

7 comments:

  1. Get Dawn of War 2 the first part and you will love it! It really is much closer to the table top, and no base building BS to work about.

    I love the game and find it a lot more enjoyable then the first one

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  2. Based on my experiences with DoW II: Chaos Rising, I'm definitely going to look into getting DoW II. From what I can tell, the XP/levelling system is exactly the same. However, for CR, they throw in a Corruption system. Equipping certain items of wargear, as well as making certain battlefield decisions, will effect your squads' corruption ranking. I always play through as a "good guy" the first time I play any game where there's a good/bad system (think Knights of the Old Republic or Fable), but I'm looking forward to beating the game, and then playing back through and falling to Chaos.

    I would agree that it's MUCH better than the first Dawn of War.

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  3. I have yet to play the expansion but I heard that it is really tough to play a complete "good guy" through the whole campaign. As far as the good vs evil thing in most games the problem I have is only a few really get it, and include the gray area that most of us live a daily life in.

    Yes we are good people, but you know that not every decision you make is always so good vs evil, sometimes it is just a lesser of two evils.

    Wow *kicks the soap box away* sorry about that :) yes game rocks glad your enjoying it hehe.

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  4. I second J's remarks on the first DoWII installment. No basebuilding was a big plus. The missions weren't overly difficult to accomplish (yet challengeing) and tactics versus just running and gunning made for a more intense experience. I also liked being able to upgrade my characters more along the lines of my play style.

    The only downside is that it is in an online environment and I don't think you can play without an internet connection to validate your account. The opening scenes were neat too.

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  5. Well, I played through it as a "good guy", and I have to say. . .there are no "tough" choices at all. They're pretty obvious, actually. Let the guardsmen die and gain corruption. Kill the traitors and gain redemption. The most obvious (and kind of stupid choice), is destroy the shrine to your chapter's heroes and gain corruption. Really? Because my guy with zero corruption would randomly choose a flagrant, a-hole act like that to start being bad. C'mon. . .they shouldn't even have that option!

    Still, the game was a lot of fun. I'm about a third of the way back through it as a bad dude, and so far, it hasn't seemed to effect the plot of the game so much. Although the dreadnought did warn me, "Not to become my enemy", which I thought was cool. Dreadnoughts are so BA.

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  6. Well, I picked it up last night and instead of doing homework, slogged through a couple of missions..

    Not too bad I must say.

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  7. It's definitely enjoyable.

    I will say this, though. . .I played all the way to the last mission, fully corrupt, and it didn't change the plot line at all. I actually found myself harder pressed to beat the final boss, partially because I didn't have the dreadnought that you lose for being corrupted! The game was still fun, and it was funny watching lots of Guardsmen die, but it didn't seem to change, well, anything.

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