DOW II: Retribution launched on March 1. As DOW II is the official game of fireandsonic.com I had it on day one. Once Sonic gets his spiffy collector’s edition in the mail we will have a more in depth review.
FyreHaar: started playing retribution last night
SonicRob: verdict?
FyreHaar: well, it runs a bit slow but doesn’t crash
SonicRob: huh. more demanding
FyreHaar: which is weird.
FyreHaar: the new character models really stand out against the old ones. They move a little differently there is a slight but noticeable difference in the art styles and the character illustration.
SonicRob: god, don’t let it be another Soulstorm
FyreHaar: I haven’t played IG in multiplayer yet but I have played against them
SonicRob: how broken?
FyreHaar: here’s my beef against sentinels: they go down like bitches. If it’s a vehicle it should have vehicle armour.
SonicRob: but they are so fast?
FyreHaar: I will have to play with one to really judge it. Also, no one is really skilled with IG yet since they are so new. The players I encountered were all using the grenade launcher for the command squad.
FyreHaar: I am a bit worried about the single player campaign. I started with Eldar and from what I can tell, every race’s campaign is basically the same.
SonicRob: I was a little worried that the campaign would be the same 10-15 missions over and over
SonicRob: balls
FyreHaar: They have changed the leveling so it’s not trying to get to powers, each level you get to pick a power. It’s cleaner. There is less character depth, there are four heroes but only three of them really talk
SonicRob: who doesn’t?
FyreHaar: the farseer doesn’t really talk and they are all bitches to each other! They are always sniping and picking at each other
SonicRob: weird
SonicRob: farseers usually you can’t shut em up
FyreHaar: well, there is an autarch
SonicRob: wait, the eldar are mean to each other?
SonicRob: that is odd
FyreHaar: totally
FyreHaar: bitches
SonicRob: those fucklers need to hang together or get eaten by the warp
FyreHaar: Well it’s like, the ranger is always fucking with the autarch when she says she can’t do something
FyreHaar: he’s like, I thought you were fucking prescient and awesome?
FyreHaar: and she’s like, – you don’t see far enough to know how stupid that is!
FyreHaar: they are fucking children
FyreHaar: In a way, they are like orks, they don’t rule the galaxy because they get distracted by internecine squabbles
FyreHaar: also, sad face, in canon
FyreHaar: poopus doesn’t make it (Ed Note: Poopus Max is the name of the commander in our DOW II co-op game)
SonicRob: D=
FyreHaar: they aren’t there in the victory screen, you’re Gabriel. This makes me very, very sad. I spent a lot of time with those fuckers
SonicRob: I am torn. Angelos is awesome, but Poopus, that was my boy.
FyreHaar: right?
SonicRob: what of Cyrus, Avitus, Tarkus, Thaddeus? Do they yet live?
FyreHaar: You’re going to invest the better part of 30 hours in these guys (that’s just one playthrough of the original campaign and chaos rising) and then we are going to kill them off
SonicRob: that was unearned
FyreHaar: I haven’t played that campaign, so maybe they show up
SonicRob: it’s Relic’s game, they can do what they want
FyreHaar: fuck you relic!
FyreHaar: I love cyrus
SonicRob: and it’s been 10 years, the odds of surivival were low but at least admit the guys were there, account for them.
FyreHaar: the eldar ranger has nothing on cyrus, nothing
SonicRob: man, I really wish my copy would arrive
FyreHaar: oh, new and awesome feature?
SonicRob: hey
SonicRob: RET is you
FyreHaar: all the abilities are power based, grenades included
SonicRob: oh, so if you have full energy you can spam ‘em out?
FyreHaar: yeah
FyreHaar: and you just get power and req for upgrades and additional troops
FyreHaar: I like that, it’s different
SonicRob: man
FyreHaar: and you don’t have to hoard your resources anymore
SonicRob: that could lead to some vicious alpha strikes
FyreHaar: hhe
SonicRob: oh oh oh I see
SonicRob: do they still have cooldowns?
FyreHaar: yeah
FyreHaar: they have cooldowns
FyreHaar: the autarch has a skill you can get, when she jumps into combat she drops grenades beneath her
SonicRob: is she a Swooping Hawk?
FyreHaar: she can get that aspect stone, or banshee or warp spider or fire dragon (Ed Note: There are eight aspect stones, one for each of the eldar temples)
SonicRob: nifty
SonicRob: I am kinda digging the sound of that
SonicRob: I gotta admit, I am kinda stoked to try IG, try out that inquisition chick, something totally new
FyreHaar: I am gonna kill Azariah Kyras
FyreHaar: I am gonna kill him dead
FyreHaar: I had to kill a baneblade but I had to be tricksy about it
SonicRob: Fuck Kyras, he needs killing, he fucking does. Angelos for Chapter Master!
FyreHaar: Azariah Angelos, they take that name I think, after Vidya
SonicRob: he as good as is.
SonicRob: Angelos was the guy who you controlled in DoW1
FyreHaar: yeah, we go way back, back when he was a commander
SonicRob: that game ends with him facing a major demon of Chaos who makes fun of him and then fucks off before it gets its face smashed in
FyreHaar: damn right
SonicRob: Whatever you want to say about Poopus, he was never that badass. Let’s admit it, shall we?
FyreHaar: the poop was tough, but he had homies
SonicRob: Tarkus’ intro in CR, that was kinda badass
FyreHaar: what did he do? oh yeah, run into the guns. Sweet.
SonicRob: cites the Codex to justify taking on a whole squad by himself
FyreHaar: heh, awesome
SonicRob: I kinda want to play a level with just Cyrus doin a Deathwatch kill mission. No other squads, no other scouts. 1 badass scout sergeant
FyreHaar: that’s the one character challenge. people do the whole campaign with just one squad
FyreHaar: and hell yeah
SonicRob: he’d prolly be the easiest to do it with. I bet Tarkus would be toughest