Warhammer 40,000 Dark crusade Review

Relic's newest expansion called Dark Crusade for the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War franchise is a great experiment in persistent army mechanics. Given the teaser at the end of Dark Crusade showing several planets at war and a bold Relic 2007 tag, it's clear that this first attempt at persistence across a battlefield (they've been using persistent armies since their debut with Homeworld in 1999) is setting up something larger. This experiment comes off more polished than other persistent war RTSs that have been released but still manages to fall into some of the traps of the burgeoning sub-genre. Even so, this expansion adds a lot of content for those already familiar with Dawn of War and grants players that haven't ever experienced the franchise a terrific entry point since this is a stand-alone expansion that doesn't require the original game or the first expansion, Winter Assault, to play. At 30 US dollars, there's a good deal of gameplay for first time players and plenty of added fun for veterans.

Dark Crusade's most striking addition is undoubtedly the new single-player campaign. The fiction brings seven factions to the world of Kronus to slug it out in a cataclysmic melee for control of the planet. Rather than following character driven story as the original game and Winter Assault expansion did, Dark Crusade's fiction is presented as a history lesson. The "lessons" are voiced from the vantage point of whatever faction the player is using to conquer the world. The future history of the fiction was a terrific idea. Hopefully they'll expand on that idea in future iterations of the franchise.

The play style of the campaign uses persistence across armies, bases, heroes, and territories. Each enemy faction begins the war in possession of a home territory and a couple of others. From there all factions take turns (beginning with the player faction) attacking enemy territory in the hopes of securing a bigger foothold on the planet. Attacks can only be made with a hero unit on the world map into adjacent territories except if in control of a space port advantage that allows attacks anywhere on the map.

Heroes are persistently powerful units on the tactical map as well. As the game progresses and certain criteria are met (defend 5 times, conquer 15 territories, etc.) heroes will be awarded wargear which adds better attacks, health, regeneration, teleportation, cloaking, sight, and so on. By the end of the campaign as all the wargear is awarded heroes have turned into one unit wrecking crews. Not only are heroes powerful on their own, but they'll also be able to take an Honor Guard with them into battle through use of the planetary requisition points (the strategic version of the prevalent real-time resource). These honor guard units are more powerful versions of the normal units found in the faction. Coming into battle with 12 of these units running alongside a powerful hero can fight off some strong initial attacks (especially when attacking an enemy stronghold) or push quickly into enemy territory to crush an opponent when attacking. The hero and honor guard persistence is a rewarding system that can make a player feel powerful and accomplished but can make some missions towards the end of the campaign incredibly easy when they should become harder.

Each of the territories come with a number of planetary requisition points and either an honor guard or special ability (like being able to attack twice or set down buildings before attacking). It makes choosing which territory to attack more interesting since their shape and size is relatively unimportant to strategy. More than anything, it makes some territories more important to hold after conquering them. Any held territory can be reinforced with some units using some of the planetary requisition points gathered each turn. It means that territories aren't left completely defenseless once your main hero army moves into enemy territory. In fact, any conquered territories will retain any buildings that were created when battled over the first time. This can grant a huge advantage to players trying to defend their territories from invasion. With a base already built and the territory already reinforced with units, the push to drive out enemies and destroy their base can commence immediately.

Most of real-time battles that take place will be played across skirmish maps but the special ability territories and home territories of each faction will be structured like more traditional campaign scenarios with special objectives. The Pavonis Space Port, for instance, will challenge players to go out and collect a bunch of neutral Space Marine servitors and send them back to the home base whereas the Hyperion Peaks gives players a set number of units to destroy all enemy buildings with only very limited resources. The home territories will have several sub-objectives as well to create longer and more difficult missions. For example, assaulting the Eldar home territory will require taking and holding three giant webway gates. But in order to do that with any success players will have to eliminate a forward Eldar base, Chaos base, and Ork base first. These missions are fun and create a nice break in the skirmish action of the rest of the territory map.

The main problem with the campaign is that no other factions really make any headway in the war so there's not much challenge for veterans even with the game set on hard. The auto-resolve is effectively too equalizing. When AI controlled factions move in on enemy territory they're just as likely to lose as win. This means they don't really make any progress towards taking over the world. While this gives players the opportunity to make their own push towards dominance it means that there are never any nemesis factions that emerge or any real reason to take on one enemy compared to another. There also doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the AI to attack specific territories either. It would seem like factions would make a bee-line for the most important territories that hold the biggest strategic advantages, but they only seem to squabble over less significant zones. It's also curious that over the three campaigns I've played (two completely and a third most of the way through) I have yet to experience any attacks on my home territory. In fact, the first game I played on medium difficulty I only defended three times in a rampage where I took all 25 territories on the map.

Those that have already played Dawn of War games will find the real-time aspect of play unchanged. The capture points scattered around the landscape still push the action out into the field to create more proactive experience than your average RTS. The gameplay mechanics are still fun and definitely create a hectic environment.

The ironic thing here is that with the recent release of Company of Heroes, Relic kind of already trumped themselves. This can make Dawn of War real-time battles a little less interesting than they used to be for those that have played both. It's probably a little unfair to make a direct comparison considering the age difference of the two games and engines that run them, but similarities in gameplay mechanics is evident. This is especially true of the tactics and strategy when deciding what capture points to focus on. It's also tough not to notice how barren Dark Crusade's environments are compared to Company of Heroes. It's not necessarily disappointing since I knew what to expect, but those who have played Company of Heroes recently and are thinking about trying Dawn of War for the first time should understand what they're getting into before they plop their money down. Either way, anybody that picks up Dark Crusade will still be in for a great gaming experience in an awesome fictional universe
Relic has stuffed two more factions into an already crowded line-up of combatants. The Tau are the new ranged specialists. They have lightly armored infantry, but some seriously powerful weaponry that can decimate opponents until they're engaged in close combat. Their close combat allies, the Kroot, are the balance but are susceptible to ranged attack. The Tau acts as a great entry level race for new players. The Necrons are slow to start but pretty powerful once upgraded. Their ploddingly firm advance is backed up with a unique play style that makes even their basic units very powerful as they advance towards the end-game. They're also different because only their worker units can capture points, they only use energy as a resource (not requisition points like every other race), and units are created and reinforced faster as more monoliths are built on top of captured strategic points. In multiplayer and skirmish they can be tricky as their advance is definitely slower than most.

The existing five factions weren't left out either. Each receives a new unit on the battlefield. Space Marines acquire some hardcore melee fighters, Orks get much needed help with ranged specialists, Eldar receive some playfully brutal melee combatants, Chaos gets a new transformation for their Chaos Lord to turn into a demon prince, and the Imperials get a new defensive bonus with the heavy weapons team. Each of the new units enhance already stacked line-ups of units and come with limits on the number that can be created so these ultra powerful units don't dominate the playing field, which they likely could if enough were built.

Lastly, new players should understand that if they purchase only the Dark Crusade they will have access to all of the factions in the campaign mode and skirmish but will be limited to the Tau and Necron in multiplayer. Those who own all of the games will be able to access all seven factions in multiplayer.

Closing Comments
The basics of the real-time strategy game have remained largely unchanged. This certainly isn't a bad thing as the Dawn of War experience has always been a super-charged and exciting real-time strategy experience. Two new factions and new units for existing factions add even more variety to an already stacked package.

The campaign mode is absolutely interesting and fits wonderfully within the Warhammer 40,000 universe. It's a great beginning to something that we're sure will be bigger and better in the future and provides a ton of gameplay hours and exciting moments. More successful strategic AI could have made the campaign a bit more challenging but most of the features like persistent heroes, armies, and honor guard are rewarding and fun.

There may be better real-time strategy games out there, but none better in the sci-fi realm right now. If you haven't played Dawn of War before, now's a great chance to do so by picking up Dark Crusade. Fans of the series will likewise find a lot to love in this terrific expansion.

8.5 Presentation
A cool opening cutscene sets the stage for a brutal war across the planet Kronus. The historical presentation of the fiction is very cool.
8.5 Graphics
The new factions, units, and effects look very good. Environments are pretty bland at this point, even with the heavy scarring of war. Animations are still excellent.
8.0 Sound
Again, sounds are very appropriate. Not quite as strong as recent additions to the genre, but still fun to listen to the battles.
8.5 Gameplay
Lots of great additions to an already great game.
9.0 Lasting Appeal
With the new campaign, players can look into their distant future where there is only Warhammer 40,000.
8.7
OVERALL

Great 8.7
(out of 10)