As I mentioned earlier this week, I had a chance to head down to San Francisco to check out some of THQ’s upcoming games. Along with Metro 2033 I also had a chance to preview the latest instalment in the Warhammer franchise for the PC; “Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising”.

After previewing Metro 2033 a day earlier, THQ split us up into two groups with a morning session and afternoon session in order to preview Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising. I took part in the morning session. Before I get into the nuts and bolts of this expansion game, you should be forewarned; Real-Time Strategy games have never been my forte. When EA’s Brutal Legend is the closest thing to an RTS you have played in the last couple of years you know you are truly an RTS ‘noob’. So keep that in mind when you are reading this. As we gathered for our preview time I really knew I was in trouble when the developers told me I would be playing online against others in a multiplayer session as part of the preview event.

As many of you may already know, the Warhammer franchise has a huge following and several of the journalists on hand to check out the game at this event were big fans. For those not fully aware of the franchise, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising is an upcoming real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment. It is scheduled to be released in March for Microsoft Windows. Although it is considered an expansion it is much more then that as it includes new single-player and co-op campaigns, a level cap increase from 20 to 30, more powerful war-gear, and a plethora of multiplayer options.

In terms of the games storyline, Chaos Rising is set one year after the events of Dawn of War II and the defeat of the Tyranid invasion of sub-sector Aurelia. The campaign marks the return of the Blood Raven heroes from the previous game, the Chaos Lord Eliphas from Dark Crusade, Derosa as the new governor of Meridian, and the heretical Vandis. The missions I played were set on the Blood Ravens' homeworld of Aurelia. Planet Aurelia was once a vibrant and lush world, home to billions of humans and the jewel of the sector. Unfortunately, the planet fell to the corruption of Chaos, causing the fertile world to become a frigid wasteland which led it to ultimately becoming an ice planet. Many of the Imperium soldiers and Space Marines have returned to reclaim the planet and its cities. And so the story begins.

One of the biggest and more noticeable additions to the franchise is the new Corruption System. In campaign mode, you will come across multiple objectives during any given mission. Depending on the path you choose, which is essentially a good or evil path, the objectives become more or less corrupted. Corruption basically describes how close the player's Marines are to turning to Chaos and betraying the Imperium of man. The Corruption System ends up affecting both the ending of the game as well as what missions are available throughout the campaign for the player. During our preview of the campaign mode we came across a couple of instances like these which made for some memorable moments. THQ was smart and did not let too much out of the bag in terms of all the things that are affected by this new Corruption System, and it really left me wondering what was in store for the whole game. There is no question fans of the franchise will enjoy this new twist to the Warhammer franchise.

According to Relic, two new environments will be available in Chaos Rising. We had a chance to give one of the environments, Planet Aurelia, a spin. Visually, the level was slick looking. It really hit home how I forget how visually stunning PC games can really be. Chaos Rising is one of those games where everything from the destructible buildings to the characters themselves look solid making it a great looking game. For the full gamut of visuals I think the game will require a somewhat powerful gaming PC, but that being said, I think that the game will be playable on a lot of different configurations.

Gameplay wise, Choas Rising plays out like so many RTS games accept it is much more action and battle based. In other words, you don’t spend an eternity building, positioning, and maneuvering units. Yes, many of the missions consist of securing areas in the map and destroying your opponent’s assets; however Chaos Rising seems to limit the creating units portion of your typical RTS in favour of a more action based game. I found the balance to be pretty good this way.

What surprised me the most was how intuitive the game is. As someone who is definitely considered an RTS noob, I managed to pick-up the game fairly quickly with a little timely advice from THQ and Relic representatives. Getting a handle on the controls was a challenge’; however for RTS veterans all of the familiar left click, select all, and right click features will be simple to pick-up. I am not sure if the game will come with any kind of tutorial, however Chaos Rising clearly has a target audience and fans of the franchise will find the game a snap to pick-up and play.

Overall the online gameplay was enjoyable and many of the journalists playing with me thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I personally had my butt whooped; however those RTS veterans on hand were able to seek and destroy with ease. For fans of the franchise you will be pleased that the online portion of the game contains new items, characters, and abilities. It is fast paced and the variety of ways you can take down your opponents is endless. Overall I think that Chaos Rising is a great addition to this franchise and that any RTS fan, especially fans of the Warhammer 40,000, will really be appreciative how well that THQ continues to support the franchise.

- Trevor H