Not the sequel most people were expecting, but still a solid entry in Relic's catalog of excellent games.
There are four playable races to start off DoW2, and of course more to come in future expansions. Not surprisingly at all, you have the Space Marines, who are the poster children of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and once again the only race that gets a campaign. Then you have the green tide, a.k.a. Orks, who really seem to be filling the roll of generic bad guys in 40k games now. The Eldar, who are as ever, the glass cannons of the bunch. Then of course the much anticipated Tyranids, who strangely enough seem like they could have been implemented just fine into the original DoW's engine, despite what Relic has said in the past. Balancing has been smoothed out over the last year or so since DoW2's release, and even if you haven't purchased the latest expansion, Chaos Rising, you are still able to use the new unit that each race received in skirmishes via an update.
Story-wise, the single player campaign is more involving than those of the last two expansions for DoW. Gone are the pointless skirmish battles that stand between you and enemy strongholds, which were the only times where story was relevant. While you still choose missions through an over world map, the banter between your superiors, enemy commanders and those under your command keeps things entertaining. I found the characters that round out your team to be a little cliche, with the dark, brooding sniper who dislikes speaking of his past. The heavy weapons specialist with a short fuse. The young, optimistic sergeant, etc. Despite that, the game does have quite a few dramatic moments, and the characters are not at all unlikable. Their personalities are fleshed out little by little as the campaign plays out.
Where gameplay is concerned, the single player campaign itself is actually more of a tactical RPG-RTS hybrid. In between missions you level up your characters and equip them with gear that you've found along the way. You'll usually be in control of just your commander and the 3 squads you chose to deploy with you. Missions typically play out in two ways, get from point A to point B, accomplishing side objectives should you see fit, and fight a powerful boss unit at the end. Or, defending territory from waves of enemy attacks for a period of time. This isn't the construct, amass, and destroy style mentality you'd expect from an RTS, but you'll either love it or hate it.
Now, where I invested the most time in the original DoW was online, in the 1v1 scene. This is where I can say I kept a optimistic attitude with DoW2, allowing myself to accept the game on it's own terms, and really give it a chance to see if it was for me. I'm a huge fan of Company of Heroes as well, and for the most part, while I found many of the additions from CoH worked well for DoW2, the inability to lock down points after capturing them became more and more of an issue for me as time went by. Games boiled down to a frantic game of King of the Hill spread over the entire map. Since points are typically located close to each other (compared to most CoH maps), you're hard pressed to feel any real control until you've literally backed your opponent all the way into their HQ. With DoW, gaining ground felt slow, deliberate and solid. In some way, I find DoW2 much less forgiving, as small lapses in concentration could turn the tide of the fight dramatically. Units can die especially quickly if caught suddenly in the open. This is offset by the Retreat command, which causes your unit, even if it's suppressed, to sprint back to HQ for reinforcing. Gaining ground, or gaining the upper hand just never feels quite solid, and perhaps that was the intention of Relic. I enjoy 1v1 in CoH a lot as well, but somehow DoW2 just failed to keep me hooked. In any case, 2v2 and 3v3 games are what most players seem to gravitate towards, last I checked. And the few games I've played with friends were enjoyable.
The game's engine is solid, and I've never had any problems with crashes, or slowdowns. The graphics are excellent, topping most other RTS even now at the end of 2010. The combat is every bit as brutal as you'd expect to see from a game based in the 40k universe. Kind of a funny side note, but when it rains in the game, I've always found that it really amps up the atmosphere, and the weather effects are just really well done in general. Units in close combat are still dynamic with their attack animations, as they were in the original DoW, and some boast some really wicked kill animations. The sound is spot on, and every bit as visceral as the carnage on screen. The soundtrack is orchestrated, and while it is good and serves it's purpose well, it is ultimately forgettable. None of the songs ever quite hit the really dark, warlike, or heroic feel of some of the songs in the original DoW campaign.
You're still able to create your own custom colored armies, though the customization is much more limited than before. For better or worse, they've also removed the ability to add your own banner designs and decals. I'm not entirely sure why either, but not only do they require you to authenticate with Steam, but with Games for Windows Live as well. Steam I can deal with, but having to sign on to two separate networks to play online is a little annoying. I find GFWL rather clunky, but this method is much more preferable to DRM, limited activations, etc, which I know is a deal breaker for many people, myself included.
Dawn of War II really is a solid game on it's own. It's just not entirely what I had wanted. Relic's takes on the RTS genre are always worth a look, and fans of 40k in general should not miss what they have to offer, as good 40k games tend to be a rarity.