Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising is a good game, but it does lack some necessities and the charm of the parent DoW II game.
The game is a nice addition to the series, but lacks the luster and charm of the original. The game includes the new, though extremely short, campaign, a new faction for multiplayer and two new playable units for 'The Last Stand.' I'd like to break each component down below.
The campaign includes the new feature focusing on alignment. Depending on your actions you can corrupt or keep faithful your space marines forces under the Force Commander. If you can import your save data from the original game I would definitely recommend it. You will retain some items (i.e. random items and Terminator armor) and will have the option to reassign all of your skill points to all units after the opening level. The campaign features what seems like a little over 10 missions, a huge disappointment for me. This includes 3 or 4 optional missions which, if you proceed along the plot before playing will disappear. I found I barely had enough levels to get my entire party to the new maximum level 30 cap. I've played through once keeping my forces loyal, but I never finished a second play-through corrupting my team. It feels like a third of a game in terms of missions. I sacrifice some repetition just to get some decent items and experience, but you won't find either here. Plot was pretty good, some twists I won't spoil but there was a cliffhanger.
The multiplayer will allow you to use Chaos Space Marines for online play, if you are into that. It's not really my thing, but I did try out the new faction. Don't worry, every team is balanced and there are some upgrades to all other factions.
The Last Stand was a pleasant surprise upon release, and you can now use the Hive Tyrant and Chaos Sorcerer. There is still only one map available, but I spent half my time with this game on the Chaos Sorcerer anyway. I still go back and play a few rounds every once in a while too.
As always, I am still a little peeved about Steam. I don't like having to be online to play a game, and the Steam application slows down my custom but older PC. I'd rather have the option to play the game online when I wish, and while playing the campaign be able to unplug my LAN and turn off my anti-virus apps. When I buy a game I feel like I should have the rights to use it my way (DRM software seems to promote piracy nowadays, but Steam isn't too bad compared to others).
If you enjoyed Dawn of War II you should give this game a try. I don't feel it was worth 30 bucks, but by now it's a decent 20 buy. I still look forward to Dawn of War II: Retribution, at least to see the cliffhanger plot to a close.