Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution

 PC
  • Publisher: THQ
  • Release Date: Feb 28, 2011
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 280 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 181 out of 280
  2. Mixed: 73 out of 280
  3. Negative: 26 out of 280
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  1. grammarye
    Oct 16, 2011
    4
    Oh how far we have fallen. My summary of Retribution: Stagnant, soulless & without merit. I'm not even sure it has any of the S in RTS left.

    Lets' recap. The original Dawn of War was straightforward old-school RTS. You had one or two hero units, but the meat of the game was base building & wave after wave of attacks of disposable peons. Strategic slaughtering unadulterated fun. It was    Oh how far we have fallen. My summary of Retribution: Stagnant, soulless & without merit. I'm not even sure it has any of the S in RTS left.

    Lets' recap. The original Dawn of War was straightforward old-school RTS. You had one or two hero units, but the meat of the game was base building & wave after wave of attacks of disposable peons. Strategic slaughtering unadulterated fun. It was epic in scope if not in story. Even then, the developers made an effort to engage the player and I loved the characters & the glimpses into the W40K universe. Fast forward to the original Dawn of War II. Gone is the epic in scope, but instead we are treated to an in-depth viewpoint on the Space Marines, a tight RPG-like focus on heroes, wargear, upgrades, and tactics, as well as an engaging story. Again, I couldn't help but fall into the universe, and shepherd every marine as though they were my own children, considering it a personal failure if one died (I exaggerate slightly but you get the idea - I got immersed).

    By comparison, Retribution feels like a game thrown out on the basis that fans will buy any garbage with W40K on it. It lacks the tight RPG focus on heroes, because now you get those same disposable waves of peons to work with should you screw up. It lacks any meaningful story - indeed the wonderful exposition by Gabriel Angelos in the intro ... is about it. There's less pithy back and forth, no sense of evolution of heroes, almost no visible changes in them - it's a thoroughly spartan effort, as though the soul of the game got devoured in Warp transit, replaced with a little points counter. So, unlike the preceding Chaos Rising which was pretty much more of the same DOWII, it has nothing really going for it.

    It's not epic in scope like DOW or Supreme Commander, it's not epic in story, it's not got any decent characters so far as I've played. It doesn't pick up where Chaos Rising left off in terms of your heroes' development, and the laughable 'six races campaigns' translates to the same campaign (with identical voiceovers and maps) repeated with a different race. The missions aren't even well designed. They make no practical sense when played as some of the races, and are depressingly linear. About the only thing the expansion got right was to ditch GFWL.

    If you are an addict and can't get by without watching W40K units blow up, and Youtube just isn't enough for you, you will find more here. Anyone looking for actual gameplay may have to look elsewhere.    … Expand
  2. timo788
    Apr 20, 2011
    4
    game play i found wasn't much different from the first 2 DOW2 games. can't comment on the mulitplayer as i didn't play it over than a few goes on last stand which soon got boring playin the same map. As for the campaign i didn't appreciate the fact that all the effort i put into the first 2 games upgrading my squads was chinned off, sure it gives a few more races to play in the campaigngame play i found wasn't much different from the first 2 DOW2 games. can't comment on the mulitplayer as i didn't play it over than a few goes on last stand which soon got boring playin the same map. As for the campaign i didn't appreciate the fact that all the effort i put into the first 2 games upgrading my squads was chinned off, sure it gives a few more races to play in the campaign but it was pretty much the same campaign levels and missions just using different people.… Expand
  3. Flash_Over
    Jul 3, 2011
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game play is really fun at first. But, soon you are hampered by limited variety of units, base structures, defenses that other games provide. You also become heavily reliant on 'Hero' units which is just irritating. The 'Last Stand' mode is just and ONLY Hero units instead of using or building an army or defenses to strategically fight off waves of enemies. This system of game-play is different, but too simple. The singleplayer campaign and maps are really linear, every planet seems to be forked by bottomless grand canyons that force you to move your army in specified directions adding to your foes ability to predict your movements. Further more, by the time you beef up your army, you find yourself at the last level of the campaign unable to even allow you to replay missions for fun or to continue the leveling your army. This limits your ability to play around with your new army and perks. This game also is missing a 'skirmish mode' were you can create and play against computers enemies in multiplayer maps for practice and fun or for non-competitive/ranked game play. This game has a lot of potential, but falls short of game-play and variety.… Expand
  4. Ritchie
    Jul 18, 2011
    1
    Im a fan of dow series, but this expansion sucks.
    Campaings are all the same...boring, nothing new, less items and stats than dow 2. Multiplayer is the best thing in the game have more bugs than the first dow 2, have epic imbalance nids and ig are ultra overpowered. There are some bugs that a lot of times can make you loose a match, the ia works like an anti ia cause units have no    Im a fan of dow series, but this expansion sucks.
    Campaings are all the same...boring, nothing new, less items and stats than dow 2. Multiplayer is the best thing in the game have more bugs than the first dow 2, have epic imbalance nids and ig are ultra overpowered. There are some bugs that a lot of times can make you loose a match, the ia works like an anti ia cause units have no priority when they are shooting, per example infiltration units shoot power nodes and there is nothing you can do.
    The best of all is that developers dont fix anything they dont give a f.
    Thanks god i only paid 15 bucks for this.    … Expand
  5. Argowal
    Dec 8, 2011
    4
    "I'm a bit disappointed with this one. Don't get me wrong it's still good fun and has some good challenges but they have taken away some of the things that made Dawn of War II so brilliant. Instead of just having a few heroes to upgrade (which I loved) you now focus on bigger groups. The upgrading is also changed for the worse in my opinion . For me Dawn of War II was just a bit better." I"I'm a bit disappointed with this one. Don't get me wrong it's still good fun and has some good challenges but they have taken away some of the things that made Dawn of War II so brilliant. Instead of just having a few heroes to upgrade (which I loved) you now focus on bigger groups. The upgrading is also changed for the worse in my opinion . For me Dawn of War II was just a bit better." I fully agree with the above comment. Too many changes to a good format. The shift from dedicated characters to basically churning out units like an RTS was a shame.… Expand
  6. suneater
    Dec 13, 2012
    4
    Was really hyped to hear about every faction having their own campaign until I started another playthrough with a friend and it turns out each race is just C&P'd into this mostly-boring campaign. There are a few really good missions but most are tedious and/or too easy. Uneven difficulty and a short campaign makes it hard to justify playing on higher difficulties. Besides that, youWas really hyped to hear about every faction having their own campaign until I started another playthrough with a friend and it turns out each race is just C&P'd into this mostly-boring campaign. There are a few really good missions but most are tedious and/or too easy. Uneven difficulty and a short campaign makes it hard to justify playing on higher difficulties. Besides that, you basically have Chaos Rising's MP modes and units. Unless you are a big IG fan I would recommend getting the original and/or Chaos Rising (which I loved but I'm a huge Chaos fan) instead.… Expand
  7. cmstorm
    Jan 18, 2015
    0
    Very bad game, one of the worst I've ever played, do not play it if you live, the game sucks, graphics 0, 0 gameplay ..... one word crap
    I'm a bit disappointed with this one.
  8. blackdragon190
    Jan 28, 2012
    3
    This game is highly overrated. For one, it's nothing more than bloated DLC packaged as a standalone expansion in an effort to squeeze as much money out of the DOW2 franchise as possible, before they move onto DOW3. The biggest indicator of this is the actual DLC for retribution; extra gear for the last stand and campaign missions, and new skins for multiplayer - priced at $7.50 (the skinThis game is highly overrated. For one, it's nothing more than bloated DLC packaged as a standalone expansion in an effort to squeeze as much money out of the DOW2 franchise as possible, before they move onto DOW3. The biggest indicator of this is the actual DLC for retribution; extra gear for the last stand and campaign missions, and new skins for multiplayer - priced at $7.50 (the skin DLC packs are *very* minimalist. They don't even bother to add new unit avatars to reflect the change in appearance!). So a few new skins could end up costing you as much as the game itself. Whilst making money is obviously why Relic/THQ (and anyone, for that matter) is in the business, they have resorted to offering scraps of content in the hope that if they call it a "standalone expansion" or DLC that nobody will notice how lacking it really is. Why do I say that it's just bloated DLC? Because the campaign missions are the same for all races, with some minor alterations. It probably could have been done in less than a month, and that's a generous estimate. It just feels like a copy-and-paste job to artificially increase game content. The storyline is boring. The dialogue is crap (where they have bothered to even put any in), and for the few imperial guard missions I forced myself to play through, it was actually painfully embarassing to listen to. Also, multiplayer hasn't changed much. They just added a few new units, a new race and a few maps. But they haven't bothered to fix any bugs that have been in the game from day one of the original DOW2. For example, there's STILL the random bug that sometimes causes a multiplayer game to freeze when a player drops out. There are also a few new bugs as well, some of these game-breaking. e.g. it is possible in multiplayer for your mouse curser to stop being able to issue certain commands, such as capturing victory points or attacking enemy units. The only merits of the game are that it's so similar to DOW2: Chaos Rising, which was great. While the game may now be cheap enough to make a purchase worth your money, it's not likely to be a good investment unless you own Chaos Rising and wanted more of the same multiplayer, but with more bugs. The bugs, combined with the boring campaign, make this game a definite no-no to anyone new to the DOW2 series. Buy the original or Chaos Rising instead.… Expand
  9. Chowjust
    Dec 5, 2022
    3
    Average stand-alone expansion. Can play different races but customisation has been greatly cut down. RIP.

Awards & Rankings

48
#48 Best PC Game of 2011
74
#74 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
92
#92 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 52
  3. Negative: 0 out of 52
  1. GamingExcellence
    Jun 6, 2011
    80
    Beyond that though there isn't much to say about Retribution. It builds on and enhances many aspects of the previous games while still using the same game engine. The graphics and sound quality are the same as they've ever been so it's really all about the gameplay changeups. The game unequivocally succeeds in giving people more of what they love but there is the real danger of stagnation here. The next games are going to have to do something impressive if they want to continue wowing gamers with each release.
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  2. AusGamers
    Jun 6, 2011
    80
    Developer Relic also seems to be having a lot more fun with the loot this time around, as players can even equip some of their heroes with rare items that sound ridiculous but in practise turn out to be quite awesome. Like a machine gun that has a chance to call in an artillery strike.
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  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    May 22, 2011
    60
    It is surprising how fun it can be just dull mouse clicking, lots of violence, blood and death mingle in shadowy battles with soundtrack of stunning explosions and endless exchanges of energetic projectiles. [Issue#203]
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