Amazing games, get all of them. :P

If you want single player, get all three because by the time you finish Chaos Rising, you'll want to see how the Space Marine story arc wraps up. If you want multiplayer, go with Retribution, it runs much smoother and has all the races, and The Last Stand is a lot more fun.

Not even close. Where the fuck are my Dark Eldar? Tau = missing, Necrons = missing, Sisters of Battle = missing. I'm waiting for the next expansion.

I meant all the races as in those which has been featured in Dawn of War II :P I would love some Sisters of Battle though. Maybe if the rumors are true about new Necrons and Sisters this year, we'll get them and the new Dark Eldar in DOW 3.

Jervis Johnson has been promising new Dark Eldar since 2002. It's now 2011 and we have more Space Marine codex's than money. The Dark Eldar are the only 'evil' race in 40K and they deserve more love than a plastic Talos. Dark Eldar would be the perfect foes in DOW3.

Dark Eldar have some new models coming out soon. And I agree about the Space Marines. It should all be one codex and chapters like the Space Wolves and Blood Angels should just have some sort of special rules in the main codex.

Hmmm... it's been a while since I've played DoW II campaigns, so forgive me if I am mixing up the original DoW II campaign with Chaos Rising. What I remember was that there were a lot of optional missions that consisted of defending a Shrine or a factory. These missions did not further the story and, asides from the possible war gear that might be acquired, they were quite annoying.

On the other hand, Retribution had less of these kinds of missions. I was under the impression that most missions in Retribution actually furthered the story, or gave extra information about the character. That is exactly how I remember Retribution: better character development and a generally more exciting story (perhaps because of the inclusion of a new race) than the previous DoW II games.

I agree about the lackluster "choose your race" campaign. I'm disappointed that Relic went back to this style as seen in the original DoW series (Dark Crusage and Soulstorm). I'd rather have a single campaign that tells Relic's interpretation rather than multiple stories that play out almost the exact same way.

I don't think it's that bad. I played through as the Space Marines my first play through, now I'm going again as the Guard. The levels are similar, but occasionally the enemies are changed around. The stories tie together though. It looks like the Guard story is set two weeks before the Space Marine campaign begins.

That's good to know. I also went with the Space Marines as my first play. I started again with the IG story, but when the first level design were too similar, I lost motivation and stopped playing the campaign. I guess I'll give it a second chance.

I actually played all the races in Dark Crusade and Soulstorm. More or less worth it I would say. Hopefully the experience with DoW II Retribution will be better.

I can't stand all the wargear and race pack DLC on Steam. Is this the way their milking out money from their customer? Why they can't give those little things for free?

None of those race packs are necessary. They aren't super items, there are better items that you can unlock by playing Last Stand. Relic has said cosmetic type stuff with be paid for, but they'll still release maps for free.

Pretty much, you don't need any of the packs they are just bling and because of that they are free to charge for it. You would have to be a nutcase Dark Angels fan to buy that pack as it really is just a skinjob. It's a very nice one though and I have to admit I was tempted.