Graphics

There is a new graphics set to the game, the ice planet of Aurelia. The graphics are tweaked from Dawn of War 2 and have been given an extra layer of polish both in single and multiplayer game modes. This makes an already good looking game into something that is truly spectacular when the battles start raging.

Animations

With the advent of the new units across all factions and the new faction of Chaos, there are some tweaks and new animations in the game. Once again, these are fine-tuned to perfection.

Physics

The physics have been tweaked a little, explosions are more spectacular and there are some new destruction physics in the game.

AI

The AI has been tweaked to accommodate new abilities, new units and new tactics.

Sound

The sound suite remains largely unchanged from the first game, there are new sounds for some of the bigger weapons and the Chaos faction has a whole new sound-set for various weapons and abilities, existing sounds have been tweaked and a couple of sound errors have been debugged.
Music

Once again Dawn of War 2’s composer brings the 40K Universe to life with a mix of stirring orchestral battle theme, choral elements and a dark ‘stalking’ feel to music when dealing with the likes of Chaos. It’s great.

Voice/Dialogue

The voice work in the game is top-notch with many of the performances conveying the urgency of the Space Marine’s battle against their foes, too numerous to full contain. Each voice actor does their part perfectly and it’s great to hear old favourites like Cyrus return to the fray.

Multiplayer

The Multiplayer has been tweaked and many of the tweaks have been already added to Dawn of War 2, including the new units and the Chaos Faction allowing cross-compatibility with the original, a great idea. Last Stand is included by default in Chaos Rising and brings a small multiplayer team into battle against insurmountable odds. There are two new heroes to use in this mode, the mighty Hive Tyrant and the Chaos Sorcerer.

There is also Free for All, and Team Free for All, one being a traditional style deathmatch with a victory point ticker and the other splits the players into 3 teams of 2. All the factions gain some new units and powers, along with some upgrades to existing abilities. There’s new Wargear and the Chaos Faction with its legions of servants ready to join the fray. Joining the Tyranids are the Genestealers...terrifying foes of the Space Marine Terminators and usually found amidst the ruins of Space Hulks. There are also 7 new multiplayer maps plus a host of bug fixes and improvements from Dawn of War 2’s core game – such as the inclusion of Observer and Referee modes for competitions and so forth. We gave DoW 2 9.5/10 and it would be a crime if we didn’t rate this excellent addition higher.

For the Emperor!

I’ve got to say that I didn’t think it was possible to add this much new content to Dawn of War 2 and I really admire Relic for doing so. They made a superb choice to add Chaos and the new units to the game and by providing an excellent amount of content this expansion is worth getting for fans old and new.