“We wanted to speed the action up more,” says John Capozzi, and he’s not lying. Capozzi is the Senior Designer of Relic, who is producing the next in the hit RTS Warhammer 40 000: Dawn of War games. If you haven’t played them, imagine the Catholic Church thirty eight thousand years from now has joined the army to beat up Orcs with missiles and kill grotesque beasts the Zerg were ripped off from, while committing hate crimes on elves - all in beautifully animated 3d RTS fashion.

“We wanted to keep the iconic elements of the first Dawn of War, the armies, the Synch Kills and add some Company of Heroes. Shake it up, that’s Dawn of War II.”

DoW II is rather different from its previous game, why make the break from huge armies to smaller scaled group combat?

“The RTS market is either stagnant or dying,” he replied. “We’re all fans of RTS the way they were, so we’re not saying if we think that’s a bad thing but we had to recognise why that genre’s not in such great shape when the rest of the industry is so strong. We came up with some ways to address and answer those issues with Dawn of War II.”

Which were?

“We got rid of base building entirely in this game. Resource management? Also gone. We shifted that, to an extent, to the Battle Barge, were you handle and equip the loot you accumulate over the course of the game. You have squads that level, stats that you allocate. That’s our tech tree and our resources. Resource management doesn’t get in the way of the action when you’re on the ground.”

The Battle Barge is part story telling device, part meta-management system. The Space Marines, in the game’s story, are basically jumping from crisis to crisis in a big spaceship, running down the crafty Eldar, savage Orks and endlessly vile Tyranids over planets and systems.

“We moved entirely away from large armies. You’re an elite strike force. You have four to six squads. All the squad leaders have names, faces, back stories and histories. You’ll want to keep them alive. They’re your guys, not just disposable Space Marine 101.”

So how will smaller squads effect a change in game play?

“The missions themselves we’re trying to keep faster. Ten to fifteen minutes per mission. A quick, snappy, fun mission then its back to the Battle Barge to play with your toys. On the Barge, you’ll need to equip and pick your next missions, which is a pretty in-depth metagame. There’s no long time commitment but everything you do has consequences, is persistent. Some missions you’ll want to skip for now and come back when you’ve got better wargear.”

All of this looks good, of course. But some part of me is missing watching those huge armies of weird 40K beasts and warrior and armour go up against vast hordes. I asked Capozzi why they decided on such a radical downscale to a winning formula. His answer was a bit distressingly mercenary.

“This brings us back to market issues. The kind of person who’s comfortable managing huge armies, or even moderate size armies, like in Dawn of War, were kind of rare. We’ve recently seen a lot of RTS games that were supposed to be ‘the next big thing...’ But we’re not even really an RTS. It’s not RTS-lite. We’re just hanging that name on it for now. But we’re not an RPG and we’re not a hybrid. Well... we are but not like people have seen. When people see what we’re about, they’ll understand. It’s a gateway drug to the RTS. That’s what we’re in the business for. To get people to something they’d enjoy.”

Truth to tell, the game does feel like a very small-scale RTS with RPG hybrid elements involved. But that leads you to make comparisons with Warcraft 3 at best, Kohan at worst, when neither is true. Capozzi is correct, while you can recognise elements of those games, and easily, it feels like something fairly new.

“If you want to indulge in more complex gameplay you’re rewarded for it. That effects your campaign/mission scores, that effects your metagame, you’ll get bragging rights by playing better. If you’ve got two fingers on the mouse, another on the beer, you’ll still be able to complete it. The depth is there but it’s not necessary to master it to play it.”

So, you can micromanage if you want to. Micromanage what?

“The RPG stats, tactics, taking advantage of cover, learning what’s a sufficient blocker, can I ambush these guys. What kinds of attacks and strategies will the AI respond to? You can just chop sh*t up and eventually win but quick finishes are a strong part of scoring. There’s also secondary objectives you’ll want to accomplish. You can do a really good job if you micromanage your game and understand the synergy of your squads.”

Alright, enough chatting. It’s time to get hands on. I asked for a walkthrough of the units.

“Here’s the Force Commander. He’s a melee specialist for the most part. You can give him ranged weapons if you want but out of the box we suggest melee because there’s a lot of it in the game and you need somebody to counter it. Your Tactical Marine squad leader is the Jack of All Trades. He also has the largest amounts of ‘redshirts’. He has access to a lot of special abilities, most of them ‘tanklike’ so he’s the meat shield. He takes a lot of damage and he can taunt.”

So all the squads have individual powers like that?

“Yeah! Then you’ve got attribute points to spend and we have unlocks. Our Tactical Marine, Tarkis, is a ranged guy, so we can include greater ranged attacks. You can give him extra health, or make him a grenade specialist, where he’ll get extra frag grenades, which is huge. He can get extra accessory slots to carry more wargear.

“Your Devastator is the only guy who can carry heavy weapons, except for the Force Commander. You can equip him with the best weapons, give him extra health, then he’s really scary. Unkillable Devestator!

“Our scout is, to use more MMO terminology, is a caster. He does high powered burst damage using the Sniper Rifle with the high powered shot does. This does a huge amount of damage but it has a slow recharge and limited ammunition. You’ll have to choose your fights carefully. Demolition charges are good for taking out buildings and large groups of enemies. That works best if you sneak in, plant it, then sneak out, or use it for ambushes. Set it, uncloak, and lure enemies into the field of fire.

“Thaddeus is our Assault Marine. He always has a jump pack. He’s a melee specialist but he has a few ranged weapons like Flamers or Bolters. He’s pretty meaty. He has a nice ability that when he lands from a jump he has ten second invulnerability. That’s useful as he’s often far ahead of the rest of the team.”

Capozzi changes gears then.

“Of course, while you’re playing a small group of elite forces, your enemies are not so constrained. Especially Orks and Tyranids. It’s strength in numbers with those guys. So when you’re suddenly getting charged by a ‘nid horde, you really feel like you’re playing Starship Troopers. Or, you know. Warhammer.

“Eldar are a little more tricksy. Their AI is different and the way they move rapidly around the field is quite cool. The Howling Banshees leap around the field, not quite Harlequin-style. They’re taking cover to flank you, falling back. They’re a pain in the arse but a blast to fight. Fighting Tyranids are different. You can mow them down; they’ll just run at you. Unless they have a Synapse Creature. They’re like brains. If they’ve got a Synapse creature nearby, they get smart. Smart as the Eldar in some ways. The Synapse Creature is an asset and vulnerability. If you kill one, the ‘nids all take damage through psychic feedback. That being said, they’re pretty tough. Pound for pound, they take on any Space Marine.”

Then it’s time for a hands-on.

I’m given four squads and told that they’re hot-keyed, 1-4. A Devastator Squad, Scout, Tactical Marine and the Force Commander. Then it’s time for the mission intro. It’s the usual bombastic and darkly baroque kinds of 40K dialogue that might be a bit over the top if it wasn’t so note-perfect. “We face an enemy who uses life itself as its most twisted weapon. Space Marines are armed with death!” That sort of thing.

Then I’m dropped into a green hell. All around, twisted viridian foliage pules and writhes. Tyranid country. I have to get out of this place, while taking out Tyranid biostructures along the way. Capozzi informs me “Some of the missions are procedural while some are a hundred percent cinematic.”

My guys are merrily walking through the jungle, while I’m vaguely nauseated by the disgusting landscape when weird doglike beasts run out at me from the underbrush. The Marines effortlessly gun them down. I continue walking and am again ambushed. So far, so good. But when the hideous little beasts actually get towards me, they’re quite vicious. Nevertheless, the Force Commander deals with them effortlessly. The game feels a lot more violent, visceral. It’s less about shooting guys, or even running armies into combat and more about genuine thuds and impacts on individual characters. Some of the squad commands are still a bit shaky but Capozzi assures me that these are just cosmetic fixes.

As I march, I’m given an extra mission goal, to take a sample from a pool of... matter when I’m ambushed by a towering, multi-limbed beast and my commander screams out a warning “Tyranid Warrior!” The thing is on me and tearing up my Scouts before I can even react. I quickly pull them out but the damage is done. My Devastators lie down fire and my Force Commander takes it in the rear and the monstrosity falls but three Scouts are dead. Luckily, I can rez a few of them. With that mission done, I decide it’s time to get out of there. “If I play the whole campaign like this, just rushing through to main objectives, what’s the consequence?”

“You won’t get as many mission points, you’re more likely to have to defend areas you’re captured in the past and there’s an increasingly slippery slope for failure. Score does matter as for what defensive options are available.”

On the run with suppressing fire, the squads load up another map and surely I’m home and hosed. No. You see, the Tyranids are very good at ambushes and have one more ace in their sleeve. Hive Tyrant!

Unwilling to risk the remaining Scouts, I cloak them and run them away from the creature’s scything claws. The Devastators immediately are assaulted by a wave of what I assume are Gaunts and suddenly my heavy weapons are tied up. No choice. I load up the Sniper’s heavy shot and take aim. Boom! The thing is rocked and damaged but not enough to down it. It’s making mincemeat out of my Force Commander. I’m faced with a sudden choice. Use the Tactical Marines to help the Devastators or keep fire on the Tyrant? Things look grim. Until... Dreadnaught! The huge walking gun-platform/coffin has arrived to help me out. Soon, the beast falls. No loot on this build sadly and the old WoWer in me seethes with anger.

So there you have it. It looks great of course and it does take a little bit of rethinking the nature of the game in comparison to the first Dawn of War. It’s less a sequel and more a reimagining but the emphasis on small squads, quick tactical thinking and fine balancing acts between mission goals and speed runs is turning out to be exciting and interesting. I disagree with one thing Capozzi said. Dawn of War II isn’t a gateway drug to RTS, it’s the other way around. Get excited because if everything promised comes true, this one will be an instant classic.