By Jim Rossignol on October 8th, 2008 at 6:30 pm.
I’ve posted an oddly low-key GameTrailers game trailer after link: Dawn of War II‘s Space Marine campaign walkthrough. It’s narrated – in a manly way – by the game’s commanding lead designer chap, Jonny Ebbert. Ebbert is very tall, and he also knows a few things about making things explode in a manner which entertains the exploder. In this trailer he discusses DoWII’s unique squad abilities, the use of cover, and the role of the heroes units in the game world. It’s impressive stuff. But not as impressive as the orbital bombardment.
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will be out in Spring 2009.
Thanks, GameTrailers! (We haven’t forgotten.)
08/10/2008 at 18:40 arqueturus says:
Want.
08/10/2008 at 18:42 Dorsch says:
I am one of the ignorant part of people who are interested mainly in the single player aspects of RTS Games, so this is very exciting to me.
08/10/2008 at 18:44 Optimaximal says:
Haroo… Dawn of War 2′s Artillery is just Company of Heroes Artlillery with extra shiny boom…
Liking the close squad focus though!
08/10/2008 at 19:24 CrashT says:
Shit. Go. Boom. Me. Like.
That is all.
08/10/2008 at 19:24 andy says:
looks shiny and spiffified.
08/10/2008 at 19:27 Mono says:
If this were to be the only PC game shipping in 2009, I’d consider it a great year. Can’t wait.
08/10/2008 at 19:30 eyemessiah says:
Looks crazy awesome. Quite a bit more like WC3 this time round with the RPG elements and the small character driven squads?
08/10/2008 at 19:30 Ging says:
I quite like the reduced focus, but the HUD wasn’t doing much for me in those vids, maybe it’ll grow on me when I actually play it.
08/10/2008 at 19:31 mike says:
Throwing a bomb in an area filled with both enemy and friendly troops and yours get away unharmed? Come on.
08/10/2008 at 19:39 yns88 says:
Dawn of War was very much lacking in the campaign department, so this looks like a definite plus. I’m just hoping they put in more campaigns than just plain old SPESS MEREENS.
08/10/2008 at 19:46 Calabi says:
I hope they have an ork campaign, and it involves them building a machine, which makes walking, faster.
Looks good and at least theirs a use for cover now.
08/10/2008 at 19:48 TooNu says:
WANT WANT WANT
08/10/2008 at 19:51 Fumarole says:
Looks sexy as hell.
08/10/2008 at 19:54 Sp4rkR4t says:
This video has really highlighted just how different DoWII is from the first title and it makes me want it even more, though they better hurry up with the expansions if they are just going to give us one races campaign at a time.
08/10/2008 at 20:11 Carra says:
Use of cover sure reminds me of Company of Heroes…
08/10/2008 at 20:14 burny says:
@yns88 & Calabi:
I haven’t been following discussions in relics forum too closely, but from what I read so far it seems you won’t be able to play anything except for SMs in the campaign. :-(
I’m sad to say this, but I’m really unimpressed by the trailer, as I don’t care for the explosions in the slightest. The levels I’ve seen here and in screenshots however seem really uninspired from a visual point of view. They look somehow like a more shiny version of what DoW offered with added destructible objects and I wouldn’t consider this a compliment to relic.
The focus on customisation and smaller squads/heroes in SP can only mean an improvement over DoW and its addons but Ebert’s commentary sounded… unenthusiastic at best.
08/10/2008 at 20:22 Zeitgeist says:
If it wasnt for the Tyranids i dont actually think i would be that interested, i dont like any of the changes i have heard of, the gamne doesnt actually look very fun anymore with the small squads and needing cover…
08/10/2008 at 20:25 Excalibur says:
I was really excited at first, but it just looks boring now. No building, squads, slow and small scale gameplay make it completely unappealing. I’ll give it a shot, if there’s a demo. If it’s not fun, I’ll be at a Winter Assault LAN on launch day.
08/10/2008 at 20:39 rocketman71 says:
Looks like a Company of Heroes Total Conversion.
Anyway, I’m not giving money to Relic until they drop SecuROM, from this and from CoH. Putting SecuROM in the 2.x patch for CoH vanilla was a satanic movement that I still haven’t forgiven them.
08/10/2008 at 20:44 Lorc says:
Deviations from genre convention must be punished, mercilessly.
I’m being unfair. Sorry. I’m not trying to trash people for not liking the things they don’t like. It just makes me think about the problems of sweeping genrelisations.
How the standardisation of RTS games alienates people who might want something that isn’t sending peons to mine credits to build a barracks to make soldiers to shoot the enemy construction yard.
And so when something different comes along, it’s villified for failing to be what the genre devotees expected it to be (ref: Ground Control), while the people who might be interested have long since learned to interpret “RTS” as a stagnant dead end.
The same kind of thing happened with first person shooters (“System Shock 2 was the worst FPS ever”) oks to be happening now with MMOs.
(Was “genrelisation” indulgent? I hope so.)
08/10/2008 at 20:45 Tom says:
The units are to small, they look just like CoH’s.
But US-Marines ARE actually smaller than bloody Space Marines, somebody should go and tell them. And don’t give me crap about being to zoom in. Its not the same.
08/10/2008 at 21:03 Andrew says:
Moan moan whine moan.
This looks great although the tiny window that I watched it in means that some of the subtleties and details are lost. I’m frankly bemused by some of the criticisms in this comment thread.
08/10/2008 at 21:13 Gylfi says:
I doubt whether the ability to simply revive squads is gonna make things too easy and disgruntle the tactics-craver
08/10/2008 at 21:32 Radiant says:
That looked awesome.
But why just after you emphasise cover do you send your squad to stand 1mm around the giant thrashing machine with claws?
I love small squad RTS games. I’ve been playing through Act of War and disposability of your units just doesn’t sit right.
08/10/2008 at 21:33 Radiant says:
edit please!
“I’ve been playing through Act of War and the disposability of your mass units just doesn’t sit right with me.”
08/10/2008 at 21:44 Dizet Sma says:
I’ll wait for the non Space Marine expansions, I think. I like the Tau, there’s a better focus on tactics rather than that unpleasant rush to close quarters with the attendant stabbing and slashing.
Also the use of cover is “really important and you’ll need it to survive”… unless you can just rocket jump over the wall and knock over 20 opponents. Nice to see that a little outcropping of bushes have the ability to reflect a shed load of damage, I suggest the Orks make the leaves into armour!
And the big bad robot thing, who’s really mean? Yeah, we’ll hand to hand him and get mashed, it’s not like we have some freaking great ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT weapon at our disposal or anything, is it?
08/10/2008 at 21:45 Weylund says:
It does look pretty boring. I was expecting bigger battles. I’m all for small-scale tactical games, but I’m not sure the term “tactical” applies to a game in which ten Marines can cluster around an Ork Dreadnought and beat on it for thirty seconds while it’s completely unable to kill them, and they apparently it.
They faded away from that scene because – you guessed it! – it was boring.
I want BIGGER Dawn of War, with Tyranids. I don’t want Chaos Gate with crappy RTS controls and recycled meant-for-larger-scale-viewing DoW graphics.
I’ll go play Final Liberation again.
08/10/2008 at 22:01 Radiant says:
lol ur gme make no snse.
We Pc uzrs r smart.
wud like more xplosions
08/10/2008 at 22:06 Radiant says:
Is this going to be capture and hold gameplay?
I love the idea of c+h but the reality in single player games, is that it very rarely recreates the back and forth you get with multi-player.
Admittedly I do find the scenarios were a loss is inevitable [see company of heroes hold out for x minutes] a bit deflating.
It will be interesting to see what exactly relic have in store to expand the genre.
08/10/2008 at 22:16 Klumhru says:
Wow, a PC only game.
Cue GFWL logo.
Oh.
08/10/2008 at 22:42 Jochen Scheisse says:
OMG I TINK I JUST CUM
08/10/2008 at 22:48 Bema says:
Mmm. I think i’ll get this purely because I enjoyed the original, but what i’ve seen so far hasn’t really sold it for me.
08/10/2008 at 23:04 BabelFish says:
This is a edited version of the demo they showed off at PAX (to an absolutely packed theater I might add) and apparently game media outlets. Watching them play through the entire level was incredibly impressive.
If I had to describe it, take CoH’s gameplay mechanics, add in 40k’s over-the-top atmosphere, and shrink the scale down to being very focused on a few very powerful squads and you get DoW2. I personally can’t wait.
08/10/2008 at 23:12 BabelFish says:
Oh, @Gylfi:
When you revive your squad leader, only he comes back, the rest of the squad stays dead.
You have to either re-supply them at points in the mission (such as the shrine they showed), or call in a drop pod with the squad leader (one time per mission.) And if your wondering, yes, the drop pod acts like a really big assault marine (the jetpack guys) when it lands: things go flying.
Also, for all those complaining about the scale: We’ve seen nothing about multiplayer yet. All this stuff is the singleplayer mission. Relic is keeping the multiplayer really close to their chest, although they dropped hints at PAX that they’ll release more details in early 2009.
08/10/2008 at 23:19 Legandir says:
Looks distinctly meh….I’ll reserve judgement until it comes out and i see some reviews but i dont expect to buy this one. I loved DOW but this seems to have gone in a completely different direction and looks to be DOW in name only
08/10/2008 at 23:50 CrashT says:
Reminds me of Ground Control. Which is amusing as the original reminded me of Ground Control 2.
08/10/2008 at 23:54 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
Still waiting on news about the IG. Are they gonna wait for an expansion first?
09/10/2008 at 00:24 Gylfi says:
@Babelfish: Uhm no i didn’t mean reviving the squad LEADEr, the demo shows that those marines went to the dreadnought to get, uhm, incapacitated, to show the squad LEADER ability to revive ANY marine, clearly stating that there’s no “perma” death of a marine.
Now, I like (hope) that every “encounter” can be solved in many tactical ways (cause choices today are just too important), but if you’re succesful at the encounter with even only one leader standing and you can revive any marine, isn’t it gonna make every encounter way easier since just one “reviver” is enough to proceed, eliminating the risk of having too few survivors to complete the map?
And im thinking of Bungie’s Myth, here.
09/10/2008 at 00:42 Ginger Yellow says:
“Looks like a Company of Heroes Total Conversion.”
Which is exactly why I’m so excited.
09/10/2008 at 01:14 Jochen Scheisse says:
The IGz won’t be in teh original, same as Chaos. There’s just Eldar, Nids, Marines and Orks.
09/10/2008 at 01:15 Jochen Scheisse says:
And let me say, I like how they’re taking this in a new direction, and this might enable us to play with preconstructed armies for point value in MP. From what I’ve seen up to now, I urgently need a new PC.
09/10/2008 at 01:53 The Hammer says:
Oh god, yes please!
09/10/2008 at 03:01 Okami says:
looksh nice… though it doesn’t feel 40k.. concept sounds good, it’s relic, so gamplay bound to be good. but the thing.. the thing is – nobody’s ever done a true 40K game. I want the artwork of John Blanche to come alive. I want fascist ultra religious brainwashed nazis in space imperium and not heroic us marines in space with funny sound samples.
give me the inquisition! give me billions of people killed by viral bombing, because one guy on a planet read the wrong book!
This ain’t true 40K – this just a good RTS with a few new ideas with a games workshop paintcoat on all the assets!
note to self: domnt post wehn wdrunk.
09/10/2008 at 06:43 TheDeadlyShoe says:
The GFWL in DOW2 will have all the gold features without having to pay for them. Microsoft has apparently decided that the old GFWL model is a failure.
It is only the sergeants that get revived. They’re permanent characters that gain experience and abilities; guess it would be weird if they died. You can only reinforce squads from certain capturable objective structures. IIRC there’s also a drop pod ability which lets you reinforce in the field but it only works like once a mission. You might not even be able to save in mission, as the game is constructed so you can lose every mission and still reach the end point. (You’ll be weakass and your score will suck i think.)
09/10/2008 at 07:38 fanciestofpants says:
Looking forward to this mainly BECAUSE it’s deviated from the standard base-building, resource-nabbing, tech-tree-expanding formula.
Also I’m a GW nutcase, but aren’t we all?
09/10/2008 at 08:30 Alex says:
@Okami – Wod brother….word. I recon every bit of your comment. Even when I´m not drunk atm.
09/10/2008 at 09:19 MonkeyMonster says:
Ahhh, nice bit of orbital striking – just the thing to get you all excited in the morning. Am liking the upgradeable characteristics therefore allowing you to take your team a certain way and play type – giving nice replay value too. Wasn’t too sure of the slightly retarded send 3 to a two person house, 2 of the 3 man squad sneak in and the numpty of the group goes round and shows himself off to the orkz and sets it all off…
But still – wheeeeeeeeeeeee Can’t wait!
09/10/2008 at 10:14 Nallen says:
Veeeery nice
09/10/2008 at 10:20 Bobsy says:
@Lorc:
I invented the word “genrelisation” about four years ago. YOU’RE A THIEF! A WORD-PIRATE! Pay me royalties!
In other news, listen, listen, listen. I was never interested in Warhammer as a kid. I didn’t grow up with it at all. I’m sure I’m not the only one. So believe me when I say I don’t auto-care about anything Warhammery and none of these games are doing much to sway me. I’m sure I’m not the only one.
09/10/2008 at 11:32 rocketman71 says:
God, I’d forgotten about that.
GFWL + SecuROM = Fuck Relic
09/10/2008 at 14:47 Gylfi says:
@TheDeadlyShoe:
Ooh! Ok i got it. Pretty clever.
09/10/2008 at 16:09 theleif says:
rocketman71 says:
GFWL + SecuROM = Fuck
RelicTHQThere, that’s better.
09/10/2008 at 16:10 theleif says:
No edit? Ouch.
Well, i think you get my point.
Cheers
09/10/2008 at 16:32 Hmm-hmm. says:
Still pretty excited about this game. Although I prefer the DoW setup wherein it’s larger groups fighting instead of the semi-rpg thing they seem to be going for with DoW2.
09/10/2008 at 20:17 mujadaddy says:
Did I see a Beakie?
09/10/2008 at 20:48 Svenska says:
So, why is it that the commanders don’t die?
09/10/2008 at 21:20 Jamie says:
This looks awesome!
10/10/2008 at 01:01 Jochen Scheisse says:
So, why is it that the commanders don’t die?
Because if these characters gain experience and then you lose em halfway through the campaign, that means people will just save and load a lot, and we can spend time better than waiting for the load screen to vanish.
10/10/2008 at 02:09 zombu says:
I haven’t played 40k in about 10 years, but from what I remember an RPG system doesn’t really fit the game that well. Even a really powerful marine like a commander is only as tough as a handful of basic grunts, so having characters become so levelled-up that they’re irreplaceable is not really in the 40k mechanics. Plus, the game fiction is one big Normandy landings style slaughter where whole planets are disposable, so the direction they’ve taken seems pretty odd.
Another RTS with CoH-style cover and physics is definitely welcome though.
10/10/2008 at 03:37 Zyrusticae says:
The negative responses in this thread strike me as… a little disheartening.
The way I see it, DoW 2 is just getting closer to the actual tabletop game, wherein you always have a finite number of units in any battle and there’s – shock and awe! – no base building! Really, I look forward to seeing just how much more engaging (or unengaging, as the case may hopefully not be) the single-player campaign is than the first, and particularly how they’re going to handle the multiplayer. Could it be the real-time equivalent of the tabletop game? Who knows, eh?
Dawn of War 2’s Artillery is just Company of Heroes Artlillery with extra shiny boom…
…Um… what else did you expect? I don’t see how else artillery can work, unless you just wanted it to disintegrate everything in its blast radius or something…
11/10/2008 at 23:34 Tims says:
RPS is getting close to needing compulsory dramatic readings of comments before they can be submitted.
Sigh.
12/10/2008 at 18:20 eu says:
yeah no base building is what took me to play rts games again, coh and wic did this and i liked.
19/10/2008 at 14:37 40k fanatic says:
no base building is crap, i play DOW so i can do stuff the tabletop wont let me do like making a massive fortified base with tau broadside smashing eveything that comes at me.
every1 is talking about the game like theres no skirmish,is there no skirmish?if there isnt DOW2 is just a sad 40k imitation of mark of chaos except with less guys.
19/10/2008 at 14:41 40k fanatic says:
also i personally play space marines on tabletop and i know what they can do; they cant destroy walls with jump packs or face up against a killa kan/deff dread.thats like dying,going to heaven(or hell, they are marines after all) and saying i want a refund.i havent played it yet but from what i’ve seen relic has really let us down.
19/10/2008 at 15:14 Fullbleed says:
There’s still base building in multiplayer alright, I think it looks great and what ever my feelings about Securom and GFWL no other decision about the gameplay has upset me.
Also Spessmerines could go up against a killa kan, melta bombs, krak grenades, if you out number it enough you can automatticly cause a glancing hit or something.
I don’t know for sure as I don’t play any more, fucking rules updates.
19/10/2008 at 18:17 downz says:
im not impressed at all i was expecting much more, oh well…
04/11/2008 at 21:57 ExiledRed says:
Zyrusticae,
I’m all for finite armies and no base building but if you’ve played the tabletop game then you’ll know there’s a bit more to it than a ‘few squads’ using cover to defeat everything they find.
40k battles, and epic battles are usually quite intense with squads, vehicles, artillery and everything that the original DoW let you command plus more.
Skinning it down to ‘ten men versus whatever opposition from the 40k universe they come across’ is dumber than a bag of hammers, I mean small squads versus tyranids? wtf is the point of that?
This game looks more like a version ‘space hulk’ or ‘advanced space crusade’
They might as well make it turn based like X-com and laser squad, which seem to be the influences for this game.