The campaign casts you as Blood Ravens trying to stop a Tyranid invasion. There are many stories and optional missions, all presented by great voice acting. Dawn of War II can also be very hard – it has only one save slot and failing a mission might lock you from retrying it or give time for the invasion to advance.

Your units all gain experience as they battle, allowing you to customise their skills and equip them with the Diablo-like loot you find. This aspect of DoW2 is extremely satisfying – there's a lot of freedom in how to build your squad so their abilities complement each other, and finding items such as Terminator armour and Power Swords will have any 40k fan grinning.

The first expansion, Chaos Rising, improves upon everything, especially the rather repetitive missions. Besides items and enemies, it adds a corruption system – optional objectives are presented and failing them or choosing the easy path will taint you with Chaos.

Those seeking to remain pure not only need to carefully approach each mission, but also refrain from using tainted equipment – which is far more powerful. Your corruption level also affects the game's ending.

The other expansion, Retribution, is a mixed bag. It features six factions: Space Marine, Eldar, Chaos, Imperial Guard, Ork and Tyranid. Unfortunately, they all must play the exact same dull missions and the RPG elements have been heavily cut. These campaigns now use the same system as the game's multiplayer matches, with resource-gathering and unit-building similar to a “lite” version of Relic's own Company of Heroes.

Retribution's big addition is the Last Stand mode, where three players pick a unit each and combine to fight waves of enemies, earning XP and loot as they play.

With Dawn of War III returning to its RTS roots, DoW2 remains a one-of-a-kind title, recommended for 40k fans and those seeking a quick-paced challenge.