Relic Entertainment made a series of bold claims during the development time of Dawn of War II. While the game may have set out on a glorious mission to revolutionise the RTS genre, its single player component borrows heavily from hack and slash RPGs, and is complimented with a number well known MMO mechanics such as grinding, the collection of loot, and a number of very similar missions across a limited selection of maps.

This doesn't mean that Dawn of War II is a bad RTS – it means that it is a highly unconventional RTS, with a lot more traditional RPG mechanics than RTS ones. In the single player campaign of Dawn of War II, players are placed into the shoes of a newly promoted Force Commander from the Blood Ravens, a Space Marine chapter who, in the midst of battle and their long history have all but forgotten their 10,000 year heritage. As a result, they fight with unwavering loyalty for the glory of the Emperor, and to protect the human populations of worlds innumerable.

Thus, the game opens with reports of difficulty against the Orks in the Aurelia Subsector, where you are called to arms to assist a fellow Space Marine commander in driving the Orks back. The game begins slowly, with the first few missions establishing the plot and easing the player into the unique single player mechanics of the game, which differs greatly from what is on offer in multiplayer (which I will discuss later).

Your Force Commander is a hero akin to the many heroes of the Warcraft III campaign – in that as he faces the enemy in battle, he gains experience points, which contribute to levelling up. In fact, each of the squads at your command has a unique personality and each gains their own experience as they fight the enemy. As units ascend to higher levels, they become stronger, are able to equip more weapons, and unlock special abilities that can be used to more easily crush the enemy.

A typical Dawn Of War II mission involves one of the following objectives – secure an area, flush out the enemy, defend an outpost or embark on an assassination mission behind enemy lines. These four different mission formulas are repeated ad nauseam throughout the single player campaign, but are broken up by some mighty fine scripted missions where objective-based gameplay takes a stranglehold on the generally bland and repetitive “filler” missions which dominate the campaign of Dawn of War II.

Don't get me wrong – the missions are fun – but once you've played your first defensive mission, or by the third time you've assassinated a high level enemy warrior, it starts to feel old. This could be attributed to the limited number of maps that are available in the campaign (spanning a total of three planets) where individual territories are constantly contested by the Orks, Eldar, Tyranids, and the Space Marines.

Once you get through the first few missions, the campaign mode is unravelled in a style similar to that present in earlier title Soulstorm, with travel between planets and a selection of combat regions achieved through a fairly intuitive interface. As you conquer combat zones, you are given the ability to capture a number of strategic resources on the map (as secondary objectives) – which give you the chance to attain combat bonuses when fighting on that planet in the future. These can be simple things like the ability to deploy turrets, or flashier, more explosive things like the ability to call down devastating artillery bombardments.

The missions are at the very least short, sharp and shiny with the longest and most difficult missions generally not exceeding a play time of twenty minutes. Most missions are easily completed within five to ten minutes, which does make the grind tolerable. It doesn't make it right though, and I found myself frequently frustrated at the story being abruptly put on hiatus for the defence of a strategic asset on another planet – while some of these missions are optional, the incentive to complete them is great, with powerful weapons and armour able to be unlocked for successfully completing a mission.

At the end of each mission, these can be equipped to various squads once certain traits are unlocked through levelling. There is a large amount of customisation to be had here, but any RPG mechanics are fairly shallow, with superficial stat increases and the unlocking of new abilities making your Space Marines more useful as the game progresses. One flaw in this system is the inability to equip weapons and other war gear as you collect them on the field – which would enable you to get a quick strength boost or some more HP in order to more quickly tear asunder the foes between you and your objective.

Despite all these tiny flaws, there is so much that is fun about Dawn of War II, but the issues are frustrating due to the greater potential that the game could have had, which is left unpolished. My major gripes are with the highly repetitive missions, a lack of map variety (there are just over forty missions in total, which take place across eight or so maps) and the placeless plot of the single player game which is constantly riddled by samey defence or assassination missions.

In essence, I'm disappointed, because having finished the game in one lengthy sitting, and now sitting writing the review some hours later, I've already blocked out the names of the characters, knowing only that my rag-tag bunch of elite Space Marines have killed in-excess of 8,000 foes while constantly proclaiming their loyalty to the Emperor and their ruthless obsession with combat.

The strength of the game is also its greatest weakness. The Space Marines depicted in the game are essentially centuries-old warrior archetypes with shallow personalities. It doesn't make them any less fascinating (with the voice acting and writing of dialogue ever so fitting throughout the game) but it feels as though Relic could have spent some time personifying the other races (or indeed individual squads) in a little more depth. The Space Marine mentality of kill, kill, and then kill some more is satisfyingly portrayed throughout the campaign, but a mission or two from each of the perspectives would have gone a long way to deepening the Dawn of War II experience.

Personally, I would have enjoyed a shorter game from the perspective of each of the factions – Eight missions from each race would have lead to the potential to craft a finely interwoven narrative as opposed to a monotonous drawn-out epic from the sole perspective of the Space Marines. Some notes from both Warcraft III and Supreme Commander would assist here, with both games weaving a memorable narrative, while at the same time being comprised of a variety of mission objectives.

Dawn of War II is sure to appeal to fanatics of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and borders on fan-service for collectors of Space Marines, but a number of annoyances are bound to be had by purists. Space Marine squad sizes are tiny (a Tactical Squad is comprised of four men with a single type of weapon) and the Dreadnought is fairly useless in the single-player campaign (with an Assault Squad and the player's Force Commander being far more useful in melee combat). For all these grievances, Dawn of War II remains stable and a solid title, but one which is frustrating due to a number of tiny issues.

Technically speaking, Dawn of War II is a ground-breaking single-player game with a number of well known elements thrown into a blender and left on high for several hours. What results is an unrefined, but somehow satisfying sludge that is unconventional and unique, with a dash of frustration and daring.

This makes it difficult to come to a final conclusion for Dawn of War II, with the retail version of the game ticking all the boxes when it comes to performance and stability on an increasingly less-supported platform. Integration with Games for Windows LIVE and Steamworks (both with their own annoyances at their own times) are done well and are somewhat unobtrusive, but there is definitely room for work. The game even features a co-op campaign mode, which lets you progress though the single-player campaign with a friend. Unfortunately, only the host gains achievements, so if you're hunting for achievements, you may have to play through twice to satiate any inner achievement hunting desires.

In terms of graphics and audio, Dawn of War II is an admirable effort, with Ork giblets and Tyranid juices complimented with engaging animation and gratifying audio that Relic Entertainment should have a dot-point about on the box – the voice acting, explosions and bolter fire sound great and there is such immersion in the battle that you don't even notice that you're not playing a “real” RTS, but instead a genre-breaking half-RTS, half-RPG hybrid.

While the single player has been the main focus of this particular review, there is a far more traditional experience to be had in the multiplayer component of the game, which also includes co-op, 1v1 and 3v3 game modes. As is always the case with RTS titles, new maps and a number of balance changes are likely to eventuate. The change-list is highly welcome, with the most notable of changes including a nerf to the Hive Tyrant's Venom Cannon, and a number of fixes to other minor issues.

Dawn of War II is a game for the adventurous. While it is fun, it can be considered marred by issues of repetition. There is bliss to be had, frustration to be had, but ultimately, there is a good old Waaaaaghhh! to be fought – both online and off. Highly recommended if you are frustrated by the inability to micro-manage an economy and units at the same time. Dawn of War II has great tactical depth, and a lot of potential to continue delivering an exciting gameplay experience – if you can get over the repetition present throughout the single-player campaign.