Dawn of War II Multiplayer Preview
- December 15, 2008 15:59 PM PST
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Dawn of War II multiplayer hands-on preview by GamePro covers all the details on factions, control nodes, and tips on how to win.
Dawn of War 2 is a real-time strategy game by conventional standards. The action is seen from an isometric camera view, different unit types can be combined to form complementary battle groups, and each of the four factions can have one powerful hero unit, or commander, on the battlefield at a time. However, Dawn of War 2 strays away from traditional base-building construction used in many RTS games such as StarCraft and Command & Conquer, and focuses more on unit micromanagement.
Sans the Base Building
That's the biggest difference that struck us as slightly odd. Instead of constructing a barracks, supply depot, or vehicle factory, all the units and upgrades in Dawn of War 2 come out of the central command center. There are no other buildings that need to be constructed. This is why you're focused more on how you manage units in the heat of battle rather than worrying which building should be constructed next. You're going to get used to the buildingless Dawn of War 2 real quick, and you're going to realize that it's a lot faster and more fun this way.
War!
Dawn of War 2's competitive multiplayer mode is built for up to six players and allows for any combination of players and computer controlled A.I. That means you and a friend can be on one team against three computer opponents if you want. It also allows for teams to be made up of any combination of the four factions - Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, and Tyranid. Like all RTS games, the factions are the heart and soul of the game, offering the variety and rock, paper, scissors strategy that RTS fans crave.
The objective of Dawn of War 2 multiplayer is to capture and hold territory. In all the maps we played, there were three capture points. The more points you hold, the faster you will win.
How you get more units and upgrades is dependent on two different resources - requisition and power. Requisition and power nodes must be captured before you start gaining resources. Power nodes can be expanded upon to harvest more power resource.
Tips on How to Win
Unit types range from close-quarter melee fighters to long-range shooters to suppression groups. Suppression groups are the key to your success. With a suppression group selected, click and hold the right mouse button to paint an area for the suppression group to lay down heavy fire. Any enemy troops caught in this radius cannot fire and move much more slowly.
The best strategy to capturing nodes is to first move in suppression units and cover the node you want to capture. Then follow up with some ground units to capture the point. Leave the suppression unit at that node in case enemies attempt a takeover, and build more when you're ready to move on and capture another point.
There's plenty more action to be had in Dawn of War II. With more gameplay details than we covered here, such as hero/commander units, upgrades, and unit skills, a robust single-player campaign, and a cooperative multiplayer campaign, Dawn of War II looks to be the best RTS choice in 2009.
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- Dec 15 2008 at 06:49:17:PM PST
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