Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

The Short


Pros
- Fast paced, intense RTS action that is both familiar and wholly unique
- Adds two more races to the already impressive roster of five, making seven total playable
- Each race plays unique, with the Necrons being especially different
- Single player is probably the best in the series, with a Risk-esque map combined with RTS elements
- Single player also has a hefty amount of unlocks for your "hero," turning them from a simple warrior to a total badass with entourage
- Graphics still look quite good, with executions and kills being well detailed
- Well trenched in its deep and interesting Warhammer 40k mythology
- Easy to pick up and learn, extremely difficult to totally master

Cons
- The Tau Empire, the other new race, is sort of total garbage
- Can't play any of the original five races online if you don't own the previous two games
- Maps all look "samey," mostly dull mixes of gray and brown
- Easy is way too easy, medium is fine, and hard is still not particularly challenging
- Like the sucky Tau, balancing seven races is an impossible task, making a few builds "broken"

The Long

That's right, you stupid Tau. Your "Greater Good" can suck it. 

I love, love, love the Dawn of War games. They were one of the first games I bought when I got a new, high power laptop back in 2007 (my first new computer since 2000) and I just loved the crap out of 'em. It is worth noting that this title is technically a standalone expansion pack; the first two games are Dawn of War and Dawn of War: Winter Assault. However, since this is "Dark" week and only this one has "Dark" in the title, you are getting a review of this one. Which is probably for the best, since the first two games had a pretty awful single player, while Dark Crusade's is absolutely outstanding. 

For those uninitiated: the Dawn of War games are a collection a very fast-paced strategy game set in the Warhammer 40k universe. Unlike most strategy games, where "turtling" (making a base and defending it heartily) can be a viable strategy, Dawn of War made its entire game formula around forcing you to push forward. You still have a base and build unit producing structures like every RTS ever, and you can build power plants to get more of the "power" resource, but in order to get Requisition - the most important resource in the game - you have to capture and hold points scattered around the map. Of course, these points are limited in number, meaning your opponent will also be trying to snag these for himself. What happens is a bloody war of attrition, where just holding one more point over your enemy can be the difference between victory and defeat. It's wild and really fun, with this slight tweak making sure games are quick, bloody, and intense. 

Plus you have seven freaking races to pick from. Crazy!

When it comes to variety, Dark Crusade has it in spades. You have your basic Warhammer 40k groups: the Space Marines, Eldar, Orks, Chaos Marines, and Imperial Guard (though Tyranids, which I figured would be a shoe-in, are weirdly missing). This one adds the all-robotic Necrons (one of my favorites to play) and the gun-toting Tau Empire, who are also heavy on robotics but also have weird feral animals. While each race (except the Necrons) rely on getting points for requisition, they methods they build units and structures can often differ drastically, meaning each is a wholly unique experience. They are also fairly balanced, for the most part, though I can't for the life of me play Tau worth beans. Maybe I suck, maybe they suck; whatever. I won't play them.

It's especially crazy considering the following (and final) expansion, Soulstorm, added two more races, bringing the final tally to nine (though still no Tyranids. WTF.), but this isn't a review of that game.

The single player for Dark Crusade is where I spent my most time (60+ hours, not counting the 40+ I burned in Soulstorm). You pick your race to start, and then basically you are playing an RTS version of Risk. You can move your leader and invade other races' countries, taking them over and earning an increased income. You can then use this to fortify owned places with buildings, units, etc. that will appear on the map when you are defending against an enemy attack (all invasions are done in the traditional RTS format as outlined above). As you capture more locations, the game has a sort of "achievement" system (such as killing a set number of enemies) which earns unlocks for your captain. Your captain starts out kind of a crappy weakling, but by the end of the game he's totally off the freaking chain (if you are Chaos he literally turns into a massive demon as his final upgrade). Owning certain lands also allows you to build an "Honor Guard" for your captain, meaning you can start a battle with a small army to escort you. 

If you are gonna capture Tarsonus, you'd better be good at keeping what you capture. 

This sounds simple, but it's mad addicting, especially with unlocking gear and a more powerful guard. Each race also has a capitol country, which results in a sort of "boss" mission that is more scripted than the others. These also offer mild insights into the story, with prefaces and epilogues based on what race you are when you crush them, though it's safe to say the story here is "light." I dont' care, though, because the game is so fun it could be about sending plastic toys ramming into each other and I'd still be all over it.

Which is what it is based off of. Whaddya know. 

That, in a nutshell, is Dark Crusade. It stays true to the damned near perfect formula established by the first Dawn of War, but improves the single player so substantially it's hard to recommend playing the previous games at all. The sequel, Soulstorm, was also pretty good, taking the country-based combat and bumping it up to planet warfare, but having nine races trying to share one map gets a bit crowded, and some of the capitol missions got a little...unbalanced. 

It's also worth saying that the multiplayer aspect of this game is also fun, though I personally preferred lanning with people I know rather than playing against people online. Also, in order to play as any of the other races, you have to have the previous Dawn of War games installed and your serial code put into Dark Crusade, or else you'll be locked to the Necrons and (awful) Tau in the multiplayer. Seeing as the Orks are my favorite race, and you can get all the games together for the cheap, if you plan on playing multiplayer (either with friends or just against the AI), it can't hurt to drop a few extra bucks for the first two games. 

Chaos ain't takin' any of your backtalk. 

Graphically, the game still looks pretty good. Sure, if you boot it up after playing Starcraft II or Dawn of War II, you'll notice the models are pretty polygonal, but it certainly hasn't aged to the extent of, say, Warcraft III, which looks straight up hideous in this day and age. This is especially aided by the awesome animations. Characters have finishing moves that will randomly happen when they kill another enemy, which is pretty dang cool to watch. Other touches, like ranged units actually looking up to shoot at enemies taller than them, and cool in-battle moves (like the Tau Commander will leap into the air and spray the ground as just part of his normal animation) are really, really cool. They did a great job adding tons of detail in this game, from all the unique buildings to the way they are built (Space Marines airdrop them in with precision, Orks just sort of throw them out of the back of a plane and let them roll into place, Chaos summons them from the Void, etc.) to the actual changes on your commander as you buy upgrades. It's a pity the landscapes and maps don't match the detail of the units: they look downright bland when placed against them. Most are usually just flat, empty space with greens, browns, and sometimes white, and it just doesn't look very good.

Still, that's a minor complaint when the whole packages looks fantastic, even years later.

There are tons of unlocks waiting for you, with each race's items completely different

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade is my favorite Dawn of War game. While Soulstorm technically has everything this game has and more, something about Dark Crusade's single player seems more refined when compared to its successor. As it stands, if you are an RTS buff and haven't picked up this series, shame on you. In a world basically ruled completely by Starcraft II, it holds its own by being both unique and accessible, and having both the Warhammer 40k license and seven freaking races certainly doesn't hurt.

You can grab the game for $20 on Steam, and if you aren't going to play the multiplayer you can just forget about the previous two games. If you are going to get the other ones, I'd suggest looking around more for a sale (THQ usually sells 'em for cheap on their site) seeing as all three at $40 is a bit steep. But again, this game is worth every penny, and if you want a game you can burn hours of awesome, Xenos-blasting fun with, look no further.

If I were to give a star rating, it would be five out of five.