UK Exclusive: Dawn Of War II - First Look Preview

"Nothing goes in the game unless it's amazing!" It's quite a way to begin a demonstration of your next title, throwing down the gauntlet in no uncertain terms that every aspect of the project has been planned and designed to knock a gamer's socks off - but that's exactly how Relic Entertainment's Lead Designer, Johnny Ebbert starts the unveiling of Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II. The follow-up to the 2004 action-RTS and its trilogy of expansion packs, Dawn of War II was announced several months ago with a teasingly short trailer debuting at THQ's recent Gamers Day cranking up the anticipation further.

That was then, and this is now. After staying largely in the shadows, Relic is ready to show off what it sees is the next evolution of a sub-genre they practically forged single-handedly. So what does the Canadian studio have in store?

'Blood Pinata 2.0'

There's little doubting Relic's intentions to deliver the next true iteration of the Dawn of War franchise. Last year's SoulStorm expansion to the original may have graced the pinnacle of the PC gaming charts for two weeks on release, but it was little more than an appeasing gap filler. Dawn of War II is promising to climb to the next level. Not content with resting on their laurels, the Vancouver team have been hard at work on the sequel for over a year; but with the deadline of 'Spring 2009' it comes as no surprise that the game remains firmly 'hands off' - for now at least.

Dawn of War II continues to take Relic's 'action-RTS' approach, which has already become successful through the original DoW and Company of Heroes, but they also describe several significant objectives. Naturally, the over-the-top abilities of units and the core gameplay of ranged and melee combat remains at the heart of Dawn of War II, and even after seeing just a snippet of the game in action, it's clear that Relic aren't shying away from developing that further. The franchise has never been about resource gathering and base building, and Dawn of War II continues to keep those two rather archaic elements of old school RTS on the 'back seat'. Instead, rewards and objectives are core to the missions, helping to create a sense of progression.

During the course of the demo, there's no shortage of Space Marines trampling Ork units virtually underfoot, in a display of frontline warfare not seen since the Barbarians decided to wreak havoc across Europe. Set on the Imperium planet of Meridian, both melee and ranged attacks are shown, each as devastating as the other, as the two factions come under intense fire from all sides. The implementation of destructible environments, and the introduction of environmental kills, also aims to embed gamers into an immersive world. The terrain also forms the basis of covering and flanking manoeuvres, with squad and enemy AI aware of their surroundings so they can use it to their advantage.

Regardless of the high-spec machine used for the demonstration, it's hard to question the epic visuals of Dawn of War II, thanks to Relic's development of Essence Engine 2.0, which is optimised for multi-core PCs and all that extra grunt they offer. They'd be stunning in any genre, but considering the game is an RTS, the detail in the gameworld and its blood-thirsty characters is all the more remarkable...and this when Dawn of War II remains about twelve months from release. Featuring more lighting and shadowing effects than a 1940s avant-garde movie, Dawn of War II is already looking visually polished. Even the smallest details, such as heat hazes and trails from weapons fire, to the way that Ork skin is lightly highlighted and the Space Marines' armour glistens (thanks to the use of HDR) are already in place. The Imperium structures look imposing and gothic too, with smoke highlighted as it rises from the lower levels below, and that's before they get blown to smithereens during the course of battle. There's just a deep and foreboding visual atmosphere already in place, which permeates through the game, and that's without the extra lustre that's usually added closer to a title's release.

Taking a lead from Company of Heroes, Dawn of War II also hopes to create a strong sense of attachment between players and the five squad commanders they'll follow throughout the course of the campaign. Not stopping at just naming the commanders (with powerful and fantastical names like 'Lucanus' and 'Tarkus'), Relic is also building back-stories and battle chatter into the campaign, strengthening the attachment. There's also a strong level of customisation heading into the squads, allowing new armour and weapons to be added as the fight against the Orks builds to even more epic levels. We're not talking tens of pieces either; Relic are literally having hundreds of new variants of armour and weapons, so much so that they're getting Games Workshop to green light whole new weapon sets.

These extra level of RPG-style character development seems to be a natural path for the RTS genre to take, guiding players away from the more traditional tank-rushing gameplay that's been largely stifling the genre for the past ten years. Not only that, but it's all part of Relic's attempts to tap into elements used by the more successful titles on the PC platform (like MMOs). It seems like the current mantra for the game at the Vancouver studio is 'No more toy Space Marines'; these guys are bigger, badder, and all the more brutal when they're given a name and a face.

But then again, the same can be said for the Ork forces too.

What's also quite intriguing is how Relic is trying to inject at least a sense of cause and effect into Dawn of War II. The idea that a player's performance in a mission, and the decisions made during the course of battle actually affect the outcome of the game (and the fate of the galaxy, of course) is something that will no doubt be relished by fans of the series to date. Not only a way of establishing a stronger sense of immersion over the entire course of the campaign, but as producer Mark Noseworthy explained to TVG: "We want the action you take as a player to be meaningful, we don't want to just build up a big army, fight over some meaningless patch of dirt, and nothing carries forward."

Taking one mission can mean that another, which had previously been unlocked, will become unavailable, reinforcing the cause and effect of player's decisions. Completing one mission could lead to the discovery of high-level loot for the Force Commander, however by choosing to fight through that instead of taking a mission to save a war factory from an Ork attack, certain other rewards will be missed.

The Battle Lines Are Drawn.

So far, only two factions have been officially revealed by Relic, the cornerstone forces of any Warhammer 40k battle: the Orks and Space Marines. But more will undoubtedly be revealed as the marketing machine gets into full swing during the coming months; Noseworthy even hinted at additional races when he spoke to TVG about how AI is being developed for each of the races: "What are Space Marines like versus Orks versus maybe other races 'if' we have them in the game."

Whichever additional races Relic has in mind for Dawn of War II, the combat will certainly be incredibly brutal, especially for an RTS, where every melee attack feels weighted and critical. A demonstration of the close combat in the game was given, resembling a Warhammer 40k version of the Battle for Rourke's Drift. A veritable swarm of Ork forces charged the desperately defending Space Marines, which were outnumbered (but never outgunned). Thankfully for the Imperium's finest, not that they ever show fear, a second unit of marines made a timely appearance, pretty much decimating the Ork forces in one fell swoop. Additional Dreadnaut Space Marine units also helped the cause, picking up trampled Orks and throwing them into a small band of their green-skinned colleagues as if they were toys.

The demo culminated with a final battle against the Warboss of Saints Square, where the hard-edged, futra-gothic architecture of the Imperium remained imposing, all the more when Relic's Space Marine Force Commander made an appearance. The expected climax to what was an impressive showing of the game, with the Space Marines launching an orbital weapon that literally decimates the Ork horde, ensured that the mission felt every bit as epic as you'd expect from the true follow-up to Dawn of War.

It's clear that Relic are looking to push on hard with the Dawn of War brand. Already an important franchise for the studio and its parent company THQ, the franchise looks set to make another fresh jump in 2009, helping to no doubt establish another set of expansion packs that bring Games Workshop's original sci-fi fantasy universe to life, and bridge the gap ahead of the Warhammer 40k MMO that is currently in development. It's certainly looking like the blood splat melee action and awesome ranged attacks will be returning in all its gore-spilling glory within the next twelve months.