Introduction
For almost two decades, millions of geeks all over the world have enjoyed the famous board game created by Rick Priestley that is known as Warhammer 40,000. These fictional battles carried out in dark murky basements with the help of dice always had an untapped potential to be an amazing video game that was only realized in September 2004 when Dawn of War was released by the pioneering developers Relic Entertainment. Gamers everywhere instantly fell in love with the fast and refreshing style of gameplay that was unique to the Warhammer trademark and thus, it wasn’t surprising to see a new expansion one year later called Winter Assault, adding the notorious Imperial Guard to the already numerous amount of races. But of course, the Canadian developers didn’t stop there and as a result, we are blessed with their latest game based on the sci-fi universe; Warhammer 40,000: Dark Crusade.


History
Nowadays, there aren’t many gamers who’ve never heard of Relic Entertainment, and even less who haven’t played one of their games over the years. While Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is their most successful RTS franchise to date, one mustn’t ignore their past series such as Homeworld or Impossible Creatures, both of which completely revolutionized the gaming genre. Every title of theirs has introduced a new aspect that was rarely ever seen in strategy games, moving the industry forward even when it seemed impossible to do so. Company of Heroes, which was recently reviewed by Gaming Heaven, is a perfect example of Relic Entertainment’s innovative ideas, given that for the first time in a RTS game, each and every action you carried out had an adverse effect on the battlefield, constantly changing the landscape in real-time.

As for Dawn of War, while it may not have dramatically varied from other famous RTS games, what it did offer was a new style of gameplay based on the capture and maintenance of various Relic and Strategic Points. In addition, the four races originally available to Dawn of War (Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, and Chaos Space Marines) are all extremely different from each other, forcing the player to dramatically adapt his style of gameplay for every one of them. Then, with the first expansion being released a year after the launch of Dawn of War, the Canadian developers were able to bring a new race for the players to enjoy, along with much required gameplay tweaks that helped balance out the game, especially over the internet. However, nothing drastic had changed from the original Dawn of War and as a result, with their second expansion called Dark Crusade, Relic promised change and I can easily say; they’ve kept their promise.


Rusty
Obviously, being an expansion, Dark Crusade uses the same 3D engine as the original Dawn of War, albeit with several new features that increase the minimum specification:

• Windows 2000/XP,
• 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent AMD Athlon XP processor
• 512 MB RAM
• 980 Mb free hard drive space
• 32 MB DirectX 9.0b compatible AGP video card
• DirectX 9.0b compatible sound card
  

While the minimum requirements aren’t exceptionally demanding, they still require a decent computer for a smooth gaming experience. Despite the fact that my current gaming machine is starting to show its age (3.0 GHz Intel Pentium IV, 2048 MB RAM, X850XT PE, etc.), I can easily run Dark Crusade at 1280 x 1024 with all the graphical effects enabled, running effortlessly at 60 frames per second. In addition, seeing as the 3D engine for the game is now two years old, 99.9% of the bugs have been fixed and overall, you are left with a very reliable and robust gaming platform. But the real surprise is that Dark Crusade, even though it’s an expansion, is now a standalone product, meaning that you don’t need to have Dawn of War, or even Winter Assault installed to enjoy it.


Graphics
Of course, provided that Dark Crusade is based on an older 3D engine, the graphics are far from awe-inspiring. While they are still passable, even in the last few months of 2006, they clearly lack the polish and effects that newer RTS games like Company of Heroes or Age of Empires 3 possess. The textures aren’t that sharp, the models low polygon and everything feels bland, which is a pity seeing that the animations are among the best in the industry, as are the various effects and particles that fill the screen. Overall, there isn’t much to say except that if you’ve played Dawn of War or Winter Assault, Dark Crusade, at least on the visual front doesn’t offer anything new at all.


Sounds
Again, in view of the fact that Dark Crusade is only an expansion, the majority of the sound effects and music are reused from the previous installments. And trust me, that’s a good thing since Dawn of War had some of the best aural effects in any strategy game. The music is topnotch quality, as is typical with Relic Entertainment, adding to the drama and splendor of each battle, helping the player immerse himself into the game. The same can also be said about the sound effects as each gunshot or sword attack sounds authentic, again, conveying a sense of a living world.

But best of all is the assortment of voices in Dark Crusade, all of which are befit to each of the different races available in the game. The screams of the Chaos are blood curling and make them sound mentally unstable, which they are. The Eldar on the other hand are completely refined and subtle, again, perfectly conveying their general ideology and attitude within the world of Warhammer 40,000. To be frank, the Canadian developers have raised the bar for the standard of the sound department for all RTS games.


Art of War
With the gameplay staying generally similar to Dawn of War and Winter Assault’s, I’ve decided to concentrate on the two most important add-ons that Dark Crusade offers; the new campaign and new races. Starting with the campaign, while the previous installments of the Warhammer 40,000 series from Relic Entertainment always had the player follow a certain race through a story driven scenario, this isn’t the case anymore. Dark Crusade’s campaign brings seven different factions to the world of Kronus, letting them battle it out in a cataclysmic war for total domination of the planet. Unlike previous titles from the Canadian developers, the campaign is played in the same way as other strategy games, such as Medieval Total War or Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth. The various races use persistent heroes, armies, bases and territories to take turns at attacking each other in the goal of securing more land, consequently adding to their power and wealth. Additionally, some territories have different strategic advantages like the ability to attack more than once a round, or even to set down buildings before commencing an invasion. Therefore, the game quickly gets concentrated on a few specific regions of the map, forcing the player to continually adapt his game to the problems at hand, learning to defend and attack correctly. Evidently, each of these actions are carried out in real-time skirmishes, allowing the player total control of his armies for the intense battles. However, to break the monotony of generic skirmishes, some territories act as “special campaign levels” where you are given several objectives to complete, like the destruction of various enemy structures or taking control of webway gates.
             
The second add-on worth mentioning are the two new factions that materialize as the kind Tau and the evil Necrons. Starting the with Tau, this new race is extremely expensive as each unit costs a tremendous amount of resources, but, once completely upgraded, few armies can stand in their way as each unit is also very powerful. The exact opposite can be said about the Necrons that cost very little to build, however, require more numerous troops to overcome their opponents. Naturally, the existing races like the Orks and Space Marines weren’t left out either as they all received a new unit, helping further balance out the game. As a direct result, this renders the multiplayer battles even more tactful and passionate than before, meaning that you won’t be done with Dark Crusade for many moons to come.

Unfortunately, all is not great since three major blemishes ruin Dark Crusade’s appeal, the first and most significant being another Relic game i mentioned earlier called Company of Heroes. Even though both of these titles share comparable gameplay styles, the World War II RTS adds much more diversity and innovation than Dark Crusade, rendering it more appealing. Obviously, comparing both these games isn’t just, given that Dark Crusade is only an expansion based on a two year old game, but still, if you’ve tried out Relic Entertainment’s latest franchise, you can’t help other than feel slightly disappointed that the Warhammer 40,000 franchise doesn’t offer as much. Next, it’s worth mentioning that the during the campaign, even on the hardest of difficulties, the computer AI isn’t anything spectacular and you’ll rarely see one of the other factions try and gain control of the entire map since they usually seem content with only a couple of territories. Lastly, anyone buying Dark Crusade without either Dawn of War or Winter Assault should know that during the campaign and singeplayer skirmishes, all the races will be available to them but during the excellent multiplayer matches, only the Tau and Necron are available.


Aftermath
Without a doubt, if you consider yourself a fan of the series and want some innovation, Dark Crusade is a definite no-brainer, especially considering the fact that it’s a standalone product offering a brand new campaign with two additional races. While a couple of minor problems exist, like the less than spectacular AI or that the multiplayer is crippled without the purchase of the two other games in the franchise, Relic Entertainment has proven again that they know how to make good strategy games. Regrettably, they’ve also shown that they know how to make spectacular strategy games with Company of Heroes, which becomes the number one reason not to buy Dark Crusade. Given the choice in between both titles, I can only truly recommend the latest Warhammer 40,000 RTS if you deem yourself a true fan of the saga. Otherwise, spend a little bit more and take Company of Heroes for a spin.