A truly great expansion pack should do two things, widen the game's world and fix the issues of the original. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution, the second expansion pack for the second Dawn of War game does the former in spades, with new playable classes and a ton of new options. The fixes though, that's debatable as the new pack suffers from some of the same nagging issues earlier editions had. Still though, you shouldn't let those issues stop you -- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution is easily the best the series has seen.

The major draw of Retribution is easily the campaign. Set on the suffering planet of Aurelia, the region is now scheduled for complete and utter destruction from the Holy Imperial Inquisition as a result of generations of warfare and demonic possession, at least that's what the people are meant to believe. At the core of the region's troubles is famed, and utterly evil space marine Azariah Kyras, and stopping him may mean the survival of Aurelia. Just how you do this though is up to you. While the game's main campaign obviously pushes the space marine class, each of the story's other five factions are playable, which offers a different play through each time.

"...filled with plot holes and head scratching moments."

Here's the problem with that though, not all of the campaigns feel as fully fleshed out as they could be. While care was obviously devoted to the Space Marine class and their tale, the others are filled with plot holes and head scratching moments. Plot ideas that should be major are introduced, only to be dropped and never heard from again, as are characters. It's not uncommon to find yourself not caring far into some of the campaigns.

It's a good thing then that the core gameplay of Retribution is so well done. Coming off as some kind of weird mix between a Dawn of War game and a more traditional real time strategy title, your objectives are much more varied this go-round than before, as are how you go about completing them. Boss fights tend to have the most leeway of all the missions. For example, one boss fight had me taking on a pretty bad ass tank, which was tough to take down with normal artillery, but then when I figured that I could use the surrounding explosives to assist me, it opened up a world of possibilities.

While Retribution doesn't offer much in the ways of new modes or features, it does offer several new gameplay twists that make it a worthwhile package. First and foremost, the entire Games for Windows user interface has been scrapped, allowing for a much more easy to manage game. There's new maps and new classes to play in the highly recommended skirmish mode. Perhaps the coolest feature is that regardless of which version of Dawn of War II you're playing, each of the game's maps are instantly accessible, not only encouraging the community, but encouraging new players to jump into the fold at the same time.

"The environments are lush, highly detailed and most importantly destructible."

Much like the previous editions of the series, the production levels in Retribution are definitely top notch. The environments are lush, highly detailed and most importantly destructible. On top of that, the voice acting is some of the best I've heard in quite some time. Unfortunately, the game also suffers from some of the same technical issues that earlier games were plagued with. Certain moves and cut scenes always seem to trigger bugs that cause units, or worse entire fleets to be literally stuck in certain points in the map. It can be incredibly frustrating when you're diving deep into a mission only to have it halted by bugs.

It may have its fair share of bugs and be light on new features, but thanks to a nice set of tweaks and some cool new additions, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution is easily the best of the series yet. It's great for fans yet it's also accessible. It's simply the standard for the Dawn of War fan.