The game feels properly dropped into the Warhammer universe, with Marines loyal to Emperor unto death, Orks with plenty of groan-worthy lines, and lots of in-battle death. This might be a small squad strategy title, but the body count is impressive. About the only thing off-chord is the fact that your squad leaders have a bit too much personality.It uses concepts such as loot dropped on the field of battle - both temporal health and ammo replenishments as well as more permanent armour and weapon stats upgrades - with only scant regard paid to resource gathering or point capture. It could have made for a distinctly unimpressive game, but Dawn Of War II pulls it off, if you’re a fan of the source material. Space Marines are gruff, Tyranids are scary, and Orks are just plain awesome. We won’t hear otherwise.

Dawn Of War II’s strategy is distinctly light - in the single player campaign it’s certainly possible to  romp through the first few missions essentially just spamming the Stimulant pack healing abilities of one of your squad leaders and blasting at anything that doesn’t look much like you.Somehow, we doubt that RTAOC is going to take off as an acronym, but it’s arguably a good representation of how actual Warhammer 40K battles are meant to take place. That being said, its also one of the game’s biggest drawbacks. It’s initially a lot of fun, especially for genre fans, but it’s so light in application that it’s not a title you’re likely to return to for any great length of time.