On paper, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution sounds like the perfect package. It's a standalone game, which means you won't need to own the original game or its first expansion, Chaos Rising , to get in on the fun.

Imperial Guard is a great new faction; Regular units now available in campaign; Steamworks replaces Games for Windows Live

Campaign story is below average for Relic; Mission design lags behind competition; No replayability outside of multiplayer

Okay, they really need to do something about that title. It's almost like they're going for Capcom's style with its "Street Fighter EX Plus Mega Alpha Ultra Face Punch Nose Smash Edition 2 Turbo." Before we even talk about the game, let's talk about that price.

More intense battles; Use of all races; Value for money

Occasionally clunky UI; Repetition in campaign; Bad load times

CEO: No, I said an add-on pack. Nothing huge, you know, just a couple of re-skins, maybe the odd new map...

Great feel to it; Upgrades all balanced; Way more stuff than DoW2

SP maps are linear

Let it never be said that Relic, the developers behind Dawn of War II, doesn't understand the concept of an expansion pack. With Chaos Rising they upped the stakes, of both the storyline and the gameplay by introducing new gameplay elements, the story getting grander and introducing another faction...

Ability to play as six diverse races; combat is intense and action packed as ever; the Imperial Guard is quite a game changer in multiplayer; new Last Stand arena is hard as hell

Levels are reused in their entirety in single player campaign; campaign missions grow repetitive; slightly muddled narrative from first two games

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution is the second stand-alone expansion to Dawn of War II , a real-time strategy/tactical role-playing game set in the Warhammer: 40,000 universe.

Orks; Tyranids; Chaos; and Eldar finally playable in a campaign; More diverse gameplay than its predecessors; The Imperial Guard faction is a great addition

Some factions' stories are poorly fleshed out; Bugs mar the Imperial Guard campaign

Retribution is the third game in the Dawn of War 2 saga. It is the second standalone expansion and, as per all Relic Entertainments previous efforts, this one reeks of quality. Unlike most expansions these days, Retribution is a standalone product, so when you fork out R300 for an expansion you...

For all Retribution doesn't even attempt to fix, it tweaks, adjusts, and adds so much to the core that the system is still exciting and addictive. The campaigns might not be terribly different and are fairly linear, but they wrap up the storylines nicely and do a good job of getting the player...

Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II – Retribution is a standalone "expansion" for Dawn of War II. I feel that "expansion" needs to be quoted because Retribution is an entirely standalone and complete game in itself, and ownership of either of the prior two Dawn of War games is unnecessary, and,...

Dawn of War II has made a name for itself as being the unorthodox RTS game. Instead of focusing on base building and following your way up the tech tree like standard RTS games, Dawn of War II focuses on unit-specific tactics like cover, unit facing, and hero powers, and combines that focus with...

When I first tried out the Dawn of War 2 demo a few years ago, my expectations were low. I knew next to nothing about the franchise, thinking of Warhammer as the alternative to Dungeons and Dragons. In looking at the screenshots, the images of guys in fat red metal suits looked pretty silly.