Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1218 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: THQ
• Released on: 2006-11-02
• Platform: Windows XP

Computer Shopper
One of the best and most accessible RTS games of recent years

Manufacturer's Description
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade will feature two new playable races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons, bringing the number of totally unique races to an unprecedented seven. In addition to the two new playable races, Dark Crusade will feature an all-new single player campaign centering on the conquest of a "meta-map," with each territory captured giving tangible rewards to the occupying force. A greatly expanded multiplayer component and a completely unique economy model for the Necrons will present gamers with the most compelling Dawn of War game to-date.

Customer Reviews

Dark Crusade
I'd just like to start by saying that they should have had a story based campaign. I really don't think the whole non-linear thing works at all. There's just no variation in the battles at all. It's just skirmish after skirmish until you reach an enemy stronghold where you'll have to kill someone instead of blowing up their headquarters. You don't "customise" your commander, you just give him some new bits of equipment when you unlock them. Also, the reasons they give for the Space Marines fighting the Imperial Guard are rubbish. Admittedly, they needed to think of something, but they could have, and should have, come up with something better than "they fought them because they wouldn't leave the planet".

Sloppy if you ask me. They don't really have their own unique storylines either. Each one wants to take Kronus, basically. They're not there for any special reason other than killing everyone else.

However, the two new races, necrons and tau, are good choices. The tau are excellent at long range and the necrons can just absorb tonnes of firepower. Both are fun to play.

Each existing race also gets a new unit. I think they should have given the Space Marines something else other than the Grey Knights (who, in Warhammer 40,000, are of a completely different chapter and even organisation altogether). Still, they're quite good. The Guard get a heavy weapons team, which are useful for defending and mowing down enemy troops. The eldar get the harlequin, which I think was a bad choice. They should have got other aspect warriors, like the striking scorpions or something. Still, the harlequin's good at disrupting infantry and can be quite irritating if you're on the recieving end of her blades. The orks get the flash gitz, which I think are just too good. If you combine them with a big mek or mad dok, they pretty much become unstoppable and can take down anything. Chaos get the daemon prince, which is a good choice.

There aren't really any new maps as such, they've just put all the campaign maps (minus the stronghold levels) into the skirmish and online multiplayer. Still, some of them are pretty fun and can make for some exciting battles.

Again, like Dawn of War and Winter Assault, the unit pathing is still terrible.

I found it a little disappointing, and to me it seemed like there was even less effort than in Winter Assault. Parts of it were just sloppy and could have been made better. It had the potential to be a really great game, but to me Dark Crusade just didn't really make the grade.

But if you've bought the others, you should still get this.

Brilliant!
This is a brilliant game for all those of you that loved the last two 'Dawn of War' games. The two new races (Necrons and Tau) are very fun to play as well as the new things added to the other races. There is one slight problem though. There is now a limited number of each structure and unit that can be built. But this is not too much of a problem. I would recomend you buy this game.

War is Hell, But This Is Fun
Being a fan of the other two games I bought this one hoping for something new to add something new to the other games.

It was just as I expected, new races, new additions to the existing races (still no Bikers for the Space Mariens though) More campaigns.

The ever expanding Warhammer 40,000 game universe has a grat new addition with fingers crossed for a fourth.