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Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Dark Crusade Expansion Pack DVD-Rom Review (continued)
More User Submitted Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Dark Crusade Expansion Pack DVD-Rom Reviews
Date: 2007-01-03
Another of the Best
I LOVE the Storyline alot I will only say that the gameplay was good the ai was tough but beatable. Also, the races provide a good setting for each player and allows you to choose your style of play. I play this game like 50 times every three days.
Date: 2006-12-15
Excellent expansion for an excellent game
"Dark Crusade" is the second retail expansion pack for Relic Entertainment's "Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War". If you've somehow clicked on this page without knowing what that is, it's a translation of the "Warhammer 40K" tabletop miniatures wargame into a PC Real-Time Strategy game. "Dawn of War" featured incredibly detailed graphics (with hundreds of bloodily animated, 3D-rendered troops on the field of battle at once) and innovative, fast-paced gameplay based more on strategic considerations than who can build their base the fastest or click on the most buttons (although micromanagement is still key in highly competitive situations.) It was one of the most award-winning games of 2004, and "Dark Crusade" follows in its footsteps.
Unlike a typical 'expansion' pack, you do not actually need to own the original "Dawn of War" game to play this -- and it retails for only $30, making it a steal. However, some features will be disabled if you do not own the original game (and the first expansion, "Winter Assault"). In particular, you will be unable to use the races from the original game and first expansion in multiplayer games -- you can unlock them in Dark Crusade by entering CD key codes from the original game and Winter Assault expansion. I believe you can still use them in the single-player campaign even if you do not own the original game.
The gameplay from the original "Dawn of War" game has stayed more or less intact. The primary features of this expansion pack are a new strategic-level campaign mode (playable with all seven races, unlike the single-player campaigns in the original game and Winter Assault), and two new playable races: the T'au Empire and the Necrons.
The new campaign mode has you leading your army around on a map of the alien planet Kronus, attempting to capture terrain and eliminate the other six armies. This plays much like the board game "Risk", except that instead of rolling dice, you play a skirmish match to determine the outcome of the battle (defensive battles can also be decided automatically). The more territory you control, the more 'planetary requisition' you get each turn, which can be spent to reinforce your defenses or to buy 'honor guard' units that accompany you on attacks (giving you an early advantage in battle). Some areas also give you global bonuses (such as cheaper defensive units, or the ability to move twice per turn.) You are also able to customize your team's leader, adding pieces of "Wargear" to enhance their abilities in different ways (a similar feature exists for army commanders in the tabletop miniatures game). When you attack the 'stronghold' of an enemy team, you play a special mission-based map (instead of just a straight slugfest where you must destroy your opponent's army and base). This mode is, in my opinion, significantly more replayable than the single-player campaigns in the original game and first expansion, although it has less of a plot.
The two new races are both unique and well-designed. The T'au Empire (or "Tau") are a technologically advanced race specializing in mobility and firepower -- but they are weak physically. This is compensated somewhat by the presence of mercenary aliens (the "Kroot") who are skilled in melee combat but have no real ranged attacks. They are also the only race with no static defense turrets, but they have a heavy infantry unit that can 'engage' and temporarily become a stationary turret with a powerful ranged attack (but that is highly vulnerable to melee assault or long-ranged fire). Their vehicles are fast and pack a punch, but are able to be shot down relatively easily. The Tau super unit is the 'Greater Knarloc', a giant T-Rex-like dinosaur that can crush anything else in the game in melee combat, and that has 11,000(!) hit points. The Tau forces are powerful if used properly -- but their units are relatively specialized, most of them are very weak at melee combat, and their anti-vehicle units are relatively fragile.
The Necron "race" is an army of ancient war machines bent on wiping all life from the universe. They are slow, tough, and nearly impossible to kill -- even 'dead' units can be returned to battle through the use of special abilities. They also have a totally unique economic system -- unlike the other races, they do not need to capture strategic points to gain requisition. In fact, they do not use requisition points at all! All their units are built using power -- however, there are drawbacks. Their supply of builders is tightly limited, power generators are very slow to build (and get progressively more expensive), and there is a limit to how many of them you can create. The power generator upgrade technologies are also *very* expensive. Also, all units are built from the main base structure, so unit production can be slow. They also do not have true vehicles -- their 'vehicle' units are heavy robotic infantry permanently mounted on hover platforms. While these 'vehicles' are fast and have strong ranged attacks, they are not as tough as armored tanks, and they do not have any dedicated melee vehicles or walkers. This is compensated somewhat by a wide array of slow-moving but incredibly hard-to-kill heavy infantry. But their forces are vulnerable to hit-and-run tactics or long-range attacks that can cut them down as they (very... slowly...) advance. Their 'super unit' consists of reactivating the "Monolith" structure at the heart of the Necron base -- turning it into a mobile fortress capable of teleportation and self-regeneration, and armed with a fearsome array of weaponry. Once this occurs, the Necrons' opponents are in big trouble.
There are also new units added to each of the existing races: Space Marines gain access to the powerful 'Grey Knights' elite demonhunters, the commander of the Chaos forces can summon a powerful 'Greater Daemon', the Orks get 'Flash Gitz' (a tough ranged infantry unit), the Eldar may field the hero-slaying 'Harlequin', and the Imperial Guard can requisition 'Heavy Weapons Teams' that can act as portable turrets to support infantry advances or act as point defense.
Some of the balance issues mentioned in one of the earlier reviews have been addressed by the recent game patch -- however, I have not personally played much in the online ladder system. The balance has definitely shifted relative to the original game -- stealth/invisibility is far more useful (units can now attack while stealthed -- and units that can't see through stealth can't fight back!), so anti-stealth abilities and units are now actually worth using. 'Super units' are generally easier to build -- but the units themselves are also somewhat less dominating. Limits were placed on the number of certain units/vehicles that you can field at once.
Overall, "Dark Crusade" is an outstanding continuation of the excellent RTS gameplay found in "Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War". If you are fan of the original game, or just like RTS games, I strongly recommend picking up "Warhammer 40K: Dark Crusade" and giving it a try.
Date: 2006-11-23
Awsome
The new definition of Epic:
-Space marines bringing holy justice, Chaos sowing terror, Tau laying raging fire, Orks persuing a great "Waaagh", Eldars moving like smoke and shadows, Impirials fighting valiently, and Necrons granting death.-
What more could you ask for?
Date: 2006-11-21
Push to the next hill!
I'm having lots fun with this game. Right now I have a saved battle
that been raging on for hours. It seems the new Dark Crusade
campaign (this is totaly cool) mode has made this more possible.
If my AI opponent is too easy or too hard, I get board. My favorite
race to fight with right now is the Imperial Guard. I was loosing allot
with them until I read up on how to use them properly. Seems this
is important as there are now 7 different ones to master if you also
own DOW gold. I also like the crazy voices and sound effects of
some of the warriors. There are so many games out there that try
to be too realistic. A mix of reality and fantasy is what makes a
good video game. However, this is only true some times, because
I also love Relics master piece: Company of Heroes.
Date: 2006-10-30
Great Expansion for a Superb game (4.75 stars)
This is by far one of the best expansions I've played for any game. It might actually be the best. It not only adds two races to the existing five, but also offers new gameplay modes. And get this: it's a stand alone expansion! If you don't own the original game, don't worry. You can buy this one, and it's like getting Dawn of War and Winter Assault free (though you can only play the Necrons and Tau online). I almost gave this game five stars, but couldn't quite get over some very minor flaws (which will probably be fixed with a patch). However, the Dawn of War series remains my favorite RTS game of all time.
Gameplay: It's stlll the visceral, animated combat, great voice acting, wonderful streamlined resource system, and gritty W40K universe that was introduced in Dawn of War. However, the game now has what it lacked previously, and that is a lengthy single-player campaign with lots of replay value. Now there is a strategic metamap of the planet of Kronus that you can conquer with any of the 7 races. The map has about 25 territories, and each race starts with a headquarters that must not be conquered, or else that race loses. It's a good story, and the gameplay also works out well. You can fight battles in real-time over each territory or let the computer auto-resolve it (I suggest fighting in real time to be safe). The difficulty of the battles depends upon how large the armies (or Honor Guards) of the attacker and defender are, as well as any objectives that you must complete during the battle. On the standard and hard difficulty settings, some battles are very easy and others are darn near impossible (I couldn't beat the "Hard" Orks at Hyperion Peaks for nothing).
The gameplay has been tweaked in a number of ways. The AI is decent and now will do things that it did not do previously (like cloak Eldar bases and make Sentinels for the IG--although it will not make Basilisks for the IG in skirmish or Fire Prisms for Eldar, which I hope will be fixed with a patch). Also, there is now a stealth element to the game that adds a new tactical layer to battles. Elite units such as Terminators, Obliterators, and super vehicles are now capped so that you can't have more than one or two of each. This is actually a good thing, since it makes other units more useful in the late game and limits the spamming of elite units, which should be rare units in the first place. The two new races, Necron and Tau, are great and have distinctive styles. The Tau are a ranged race which outshoots all others, but is weak in close combat and melee. The Necron are an "undead" race bent upon destroying all life. They are slow and methodical and are somewhat vulnerable in the early game. However, if they last long enough to get some of their powerful units out, they are a force to be reckoned with. Their late game is strong, especially if they get their Monolith fully operational. You can think of the Tau as specializing in riddling opponents with holes from afar, while the Necrons are content with slowly strangling their enemies to death. All together, these new races make Dawn of War an even better game.
Graphics: The game still looks great, even though the base engine is two years old. No RTS game sports better animations, and the new units look nice. It's just a good-looking game.
Sounds: The game has loads of personality, due to the excellent voice acting. The new races don't add much to this though, since the Tau have rather bland quotes and the Necrons have none at all. But the other races have great lines performed by good voice actors. Also, the music is quite good, and each race gets its own theme song, so to speak. All of the special-effects sounds are appropriate.
Replay value/technical issues: Because you can play the campaign as any of seven races, the game has the kind of replay value that the series has previously lacked. Also, the single-player skirmishes never get old to me, especially since there are seven races now. Furthermore, there are some talented mappers and modders out there who have greatly enhanced the gameplay over the past two years, and I suspect this will continue. On a technical note, the game, as always, has been very stable on my computer. I wish that the manual had included descriptions of all seven races, since some people will not have manuals for Dawn of War and Winter Assault. Also, there are a few minor bugs such as the Basilisk and Fire Prism ones mentioned above and an instance in which I saw a deployed heavy weapons team oddly gliding over the terrain. However, Relic has been good about patching the game, and I believe they will fix these minor issues.
Final Word: If you are an RTS fan or a fan of the W40K universe, you probably already have the original game. If not, there is absolutely no reason not to pick up Dark Crusade. It's one of the true bargains out there, since you get the equivalent of the original game and two expansions for $30 (as of Oct. 2006). I really look forward to seeing what Relic comes up with next for the Dawn of War license.
Rating: 4.75 stars (out of 5)
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Dark Crusade Expansion Pack DVD-Rom Reviews Page: 7 of 10 Prev<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next>>
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