The battle moves onward to demonstrate use of buildings. Orks are forced out of a building by the application of a few grenades and some flamers, then, as the battle surges, the interior of the building gives out and parts of it collapse with incredible realism. Any side will be able to make use of the extra cover afforded by buildings, but holding off an enemy that is equipped to take on such structures will be tricky indeed. The destructibility of the world is further in evidence as the demo continues: orks hurl grenades onto a bridge spanning a vast abyss. The explosions take it down, and a squad of space marines with it. The jetpack-wearing assault marines jump backwards as the bridge falls, landing safely and no doubt smugly on the far side.

The denouement is a battle against an ork warboss. He’s a ferocious beast and a far more powerful adversary than anything the marines have faced previously. He easily destroys what is on the field, thumping the ground and causing columns and arches to collapse with the sheer power of his frame. There’s only one way out of this: to call in the commander again. He has, thanks to the wargear picked up in the previous mission, now been armed with shiny power armour and an electrified thunderhammer. Initially the warboss makes good ground, smacking the commander backward into ruins with heavy blows, but the tide soon turns and the commander beats the giant greenskin to death, blow after ferocious blow ringing out shockwaves from the thunderhammer. It’s a glorious crescendo and a stunning victory.

All this illustrates what Ebbert has said about making players powerful from the outset in their game. Dawn of War 2 is going to focus less on the “gather resources and build” tradition of this kind of game, and more on simply delivering powerful units to the field and then using them. The precise way this will work in terms of how and when your forces arrive in the game isn’t quite clear, but you can expect far less static base building antics than you’ve encountered in previous games.

The demo has raised many questions, most of which Relic aren’t yet willing to discuss. How will the ‘death’ of characters be dealt with in the game? How does all this wargear stuff factor into multiplayer? Indeed, will the destructible scenery and other such cleverness really play a role in multiplayer? Exactly how will the territory system that has dominated both Dawn of War and Company of Heroes make itself known in Dawn of War 2? What other races will there be? Relic aren’t saying.

Nevertheless, we do get one other, vital fragment of information. Noseworthy says that on top of everything else that’s going on, and all the work they’re doing on the as yet-undisclosed multiplayer aspect of the game, the entire campaign game is going to be playable in a co-operative mode. Yes, you and a friend are going to be able to take on the xeno hordes at your leisure or team up to let blood for the blood god... we can hardly imagine a more satisfying announcement for this game.

Apr 17, 2008