For those that haven't gotten around to checking out Relic's Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2, a new singleplayer demo has now been released to give you a taste.

The 330MB demo can be found on Steam (As the game uses Steamworks copy protection), but you can also pick up the same package locally from AusGamers.

The demo reportedly offers a couple of sameple missions from the game's campaign mode. For more information about Dawn of War 2, check out AusGamers in-depth review.

I highly recommend this game. the latest patch has thrown the factions wide open. a major issue with the last version was the total dominance of Tyranids over all other races due to the power of their early units, with Space Marines following a close second with the power of tactical AT and assault marines.

Equally frustrating was the strength and rejuvenation of the various shields employed by Eldar war heroes if they were allowed to amass enough power. Orks are tough and competitive but haven't received the same criticism on balance issues.

The latest patch has been a deliberate attempt by Relic to change the metagame in particular by lengthening the game due to the cost of early startup units add-ons.

There will be more balance change to come but I welcome this interesting experiment.

As with most recent RTS, while the single player campaign is fun, the complexity of multi-player and the evolving metagame is where the real enjoyment comes in.

infi do you live/work at gamestop?

That would explain a lot

wtf is gamestop?

So... is the demo worth the download?

nope its s*** buy red alert 3 instead. trust me.

what the hell is metagame? dont pull words out of you anus infi.

red alert 3 is exactly like red alert 2 but better graphics... not different at all

metagame is the way the mutliplayer strategies develop over time as the top players learn the game mechanics and adapt to balance changes. why sound like such a dumbs*** all the time?

Haha you have no f***ing idea what it means.

Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game.

In simple terms, using out-of-game information, or resources, to affect one's in-game decisions.

You f***ing retard. Would you like to try again?

metagame is when f*****s have obviously spent a bit too much time trolling gamereplays.com instead of actually playing and testing s*** out.

"Adapt to balance changes". The players learn the new rules then learn to exploit them to their advantage. please don't be a dumbs***.

A great example can been seen from two replays i recently watched on gr.org where in the first an Eldar player opened with 2 guardians and one banshe then used warp spiders, which under the last patch were seldom used.

The second replay saw the Eldar player skip tier 2 all together and went straight to 2 fireprisms. Both openings showed great innovation and development of the metagame.

last edited by infi at 00:11:13 18/Apr/09

You know I never go into DoW 2 after beta but if they are doing a good job of keeping it balanced then I would be keen to check it out.

Haha infi you are a retard. Stop using the term if you don't even know what it means. Only after I quoted the definition did you realise what it meant but still not 100%.

I love to watch replays and discuss the METAGAME. haha suck s***.

I'll take that as a yes?

it's a demo, what can you lose?