14 DAY TRIAL // As I was writing my review of Dawn of War II, I kept putting off taking up the missions that close the campaign and I took all the side ones that opened up, dealing with the Eldar Avatar and with the Ork WarBoss, which had been manipulated into fighting on Calderis. Those were rather tough missions, but allowed me to equip all my primary drop squads with Terminator armor. I usually went into combat in the last missions with my Force Commander, the Dreadnought, Tarkus and Thaddeus.
On Saturday, I sat in my gaming chair and decided to end the Tyranid infestation. I chose the “Last Stand” mission and wondered whether it would invalidate one of my earlier Dawn of War II stories. I didn't. There were some tense moments, as waves after waves of enemies streamed in, determined to stop me from delivering the bio toxin to the Hive Mind.
But it didn't feel as heroic as it should have, basically because I was decked out in near impervious wargear and because of the help the Imperial Guard provided. The final battle, with the Alpha Tyrant, also felt somewhat easy, especially given the invincibility given by the Warcry of Gabriel Angelos, who joined in the fight. I'm certainly replaying the game on the Primarch difficulty in order to see whether it feels significantly tougher or whether Dawn of War II becomes pretty much impossible to beat.
I liked how Relic offered the player a snapshot of how well he/she did during the campaign in two categories as part of the ending screen but I didn't like the fact that, a la Fallout 3, you can't mop up the remaining missions on the three planets once you have taken out the Hive Mind. It somehow makes sense, but the players obsessed by loot would have appreciated that chance.
Last battle or not, I really enjoyed Dawn of War II. I will probably be playing some skirmish games against the CPU and then more multiplayer with some of my buddies. I really look forward to trying out the Eldar, Orks and Tyranids, although I have grown immensely attached to my Space Marine squads.