Dark Crusade                    9.2

Relic’s lasted addition to the Dawn of War franchise, Dark Crusade, expands upon the original DoW release and then some.  After the somewhat disappointing release of Winter Assault it seems Relic wanted to make up for lost ground with Dark Crusade.  In this newest expansion they added two new races the Tau and the Necrons, and an all new style of campaign play. And just in case you are really disappointed by the Winter Assault release they made this a stand alone product. 

            The Necrons are an all around strong race, great for players who like to rush and newbies alike.  New players will like the Necrons because of their simplistic tech tree.  It is much more streamlined than the other races and has only one resource to manage to boot.  This tends to limit the amount of strategy you can employ early in the game.  But don’t worry their shear brute force makes up this in the early game.  In the mid to late game you get vehicle type units on skimmer bodies with significantly broaden the strategy spectrum.  Necron warriors move slowly on the map but they seem to have lots of hit points- they just don’t like to die.  In fact, if they do manage to get killed there is a chance they will come back to life!  This makes them great for rushing as a squad of them seems to be more than a match for any of their counterparts.

            Experience strategists will like the Tau.  They offer a complex mix of ranged firepower, stealth, and melee units.  In addition, they offer a new twist with two available tech trees: the Kroot and the Tau.  The Kroot are primarily Melee units offering meat-shield type units early one and a strong front line later.  The Tau on the other hand offer very little melee, if at all, but make up for this with unmatched ranged firepower.  Protect these units well as they make juicy targets for any melee units which manage to close on them!  All in all Tau are great for gamers who like to keep their opponents off guard with a mix of strategies.

            Don’t like linear campaigns with linear story lines?  Dark Crusade mixes up the traditional campaign mode by allowing you to choose your path to victory… literally.   In “risk-style” game play the campaign allows you to conquer Kronus one territory at a time.  Depending on which you choose to conquer you may pick up new units to add to your honor guard which accompanies your commander as he conquers the map or you may pick up special abilities.  And, all territories allow you to gather more resources for you to fortify your position further.  With seven races to choose from, campaign mode offers a unique story line for each race.

            If you’re a DoW fan, Dark Crusade won’t disappoint.  There is plenty of new gaming to satisfy your appetite for hours.   Although there are some minor bugs which take from the game play a little but not enough to keep you from enjoying it.   It’s a great game and for under $25.00 at www.madmikesgaming.com  it won’t blow your gaming budget.