[10/18/2006] Warhammer 40k: Dark Crusade

[Smilee]

Game: Warhammer 40k: Dark Crusade Expansion

System: PC

Developer: Relic

Rating: Mature

Type: Real Time Strategy

 

Relic returns to the Dawn of War franchise with its latest expansion: Dark Crusade. With two new races, new units for existing races, and a single-player over-haul added to the brutal warzone, Dark Crusade seems very promising as an expansion to the original game released in 2004.

 

Note: Some of the images are taken in widescreen format.

 

Story:

Set in the planet of Kronus, the seven races gather and prepare armies and strategies in front of each other's doorsteps. Each race has its reasons for being on this forsaken planet, however they only have one goal in mind: To purge the land of opposition. As time progress you can take command of the army of your choice and proceed to purge the planet of your enemies.

The necrons are one of the newly added races to the DoW series. They are sluggish race built on relentless pursuit and durability. Their units are able to take more hits than most races and are able to actually get back on their feet if slain. It's very hard to put a necron squad down for good due to their tendency to resurrect themselves and with the help of the necron lord is almost unstoppable. However they are very slow and are prone to rushing from other races due to their slow build time. Late game however they obtain massive strength with the use of their restored Monoliths that devastate entire squads with it's guns and powerful particle whip.

 

The tau are a conglomerate of other races fighting under the mantra: For the Greater Good. They have a distinct style to them as being the most technologically advanced yet youngest race in the Warhammer universe. Their most prominent race is of course the Tau themselves, however they utilize troops from the Kroot race and the Vespid race. The Tau are probably the "shootiest" thing in DC as they are able to unleash tremendous amounts of firepower. Their close corner combat abilities are horrible and will get demolished with melee oriented units. This when the Kroot come in, a barbaric race that excel in close quarters tying up melee units for the Tau to shoot at. Vespids are good shock troops able to jump around the map doing damage to buildings.

 

Gameplay:

Like the previous games the DoW strategic formula is still easy to get used to and requires only a short time to master. Company of Heroes expanded DoW's gameplay design and put it to good use, it's too bad that this expansion is a little bit overshadowed by how well Company of Heroes was done. With new patches continually being produced new gameplay elements are implemented with each new patch to balance the game.

 

All the races have a unique play style to them. Orks for example favor melee over range attacks, whereas the tau rely on range firepower to stop their enemies from filling the gap between their guns. Some races are a combination of both and give the player and army that reflect his/her playing style. The introduction of the new races follow their army backgrounds while retaining some elements from the tabletop game. The necrons have durable forces that refuse to die while moving slowly than all the other armies. Tau armies are like "glass soldiers" meaning they can unleash massive firepower but must be kept out of close combat due to their low health.

The inclusion of new units to existing armies enables them to more strategies. Flash gitz give the ork's some very needed covering fire while charging into battle and are quite powerful. Grey knights are melee monsters helping space marine squads gun down opponents tied up. Eldar Harlequins give them another hero to play around with that can knock down squads and kill some units immediately, however they are very frail and must be utilized with other squads. The Deamon prince gives chaos space marines another tier 4 uber unit that can devastate squads yet can succumb to concentrated power and costs quite a lot of resources. Heavy weapon teams enable the imperial guard to hold checkpoints with turret like defenses.

 

The thing that brought the DoW series down was the single player. This time Dark Crusade completely redoes the single player as races wage war across the planet of Kronus. The singleplayer acts like a game of Risk where the player starts at a location and is able to attack another section of Kronus and gain that territory and it's perks. To conquer 25 territories and 6 strongholds is no easy task, as it usually takes several hours to complete the campaign once with your chosen race. The singleplayer also focuses on customized commanders as the player is able to outfit their commander with stat-enhancing wargear only available in single player.

 

Controls:

While utilizing the brilliant game play DoW has capitalized (some from homeworld though) Dark Crusade continues to play smoothly from Winter Assault. Resources are collected easily (e.g. building power gens and capturing points) while most the gameplay is concentrated on building an army and micro. Dark Crusade slightly strays from the original formula of the hard-counter system from DoW and the mass tier 3 unit spam from Winter Assault. This time relic has input hard caps on powerful units so they can't be spammed and is more focused on utilizing tier 1 and 2 units. A new stealth system has been implemented giving more emphasis on sneak attacks and surprise ambushes.

Unit path finding is still an issue as moving a mass of units through a small space or moving a giant unit through a mass of smaller units tend to give players frustration for mobilizing their army. This isn't a big issue in open maps but maps containing limited space often succumb to path finding issues. The player can also use this to their advantage however...

 

Graphics:

Graphics are the same as they were with Dawn of War however they were considered very good when the original game came out 2 years ago. Warhammer 40k is a dark, gritty, and brutal universe filled with blood, gore, and "flashy" weaponry. Battlefields are kind of bare with open spaces however some are filled with bombed out buildings, lush jungles, and most are filled with a dark and gloomy atmosphere.

The military units themselves are a real treat to the game as they are well detailed filled with countless amounts of animations giving them the personality as well as looks. Due to the age of the engine it can't render unit textures and models as well as Company of Heroes, however they still look very good despite the age of the engine.

 

Sound:

The loud drums and overture of trumpets are back. In Dark Crusade each race has their own style of music pertaining to their background or personality. Tau for example have an oriental asian style of music while the imperial guard and space marines have an epic style signifying their honor. Some songs have been retained from previous titles giving Dark Crusade the same dark gritty universe feeling.

The sounds of battle are defining and simply improve the feeling of being in a massive battle with guns blazing and bombs exploding everywhere. Voice acting is very well done (although I wish they kept the sorcerer voice from WA) giving each race their defining personality and characteristics. Unit responses are quick and can easily be understood with random quotes being emitted from attacking or defending units in battle. Necrons however have no voices but make mechanical sounds (this follows their army codex).

 

My custom Chaos Space Marine army.

 

Recap:

Pros:

*Two new races added to the existing 5 races.

*New units for existing races.

*Revamped risk-styled single player that takes hours to complete.

*Retains simple yet effective Dawn of War formula.

*Relic's steady stream of patches fixing balance between 7 races.

*Does not require original Dawn of War to play, however you can only use the two races online.

 

Cons:

*Graphics are the same as they were 2 years ago.

*Gameplay path finding issues for units.

*AI tends to be extremely aggressive or quite passive.

*Some bugs dealing with Heavy Weapons Teams.

 

Controls: 8.5

Gameplay: 9.0

Graphics: 8.0

Sound: 8.5

 

Total: 8.5

Grade: B

An excellent expansion crammed with a lot of content completely overshadowing the Winter Assault expansion with minor bugs and gameplay issues.

[Agozer]

I should probably get this and also seriously start playing Dawn of War. Excellent review btw.

[Sybarite Paladin AxL]

I agree, great review. Although I don't understand why you're complaining about 2 year old graphics when it comes to an addon . I wouldn't hold it as a con.

 

I'm seriously thinking of rolling out the dough and buying all 3 warhammers for online delight . I've played thru DoW and WA and I've been waiting for DC with high anticipation can't wait to try it out.

 

Is it possible to attach a custom picture on your soldiers? that "OBEY" logo seems foreign.

[Smilee]

I agree, great review. Although I don't understand why you're complaining about 2 year old graphics when it comes to an addon . I wouldn't hold it as a con.

 

I'm seriously thinking of rolling out the dow and buying all 3 warhammers for online delight . I've played thru DoW and WA and I've been waiting for DC with high anticipation can't wait to try it out.

 

Is it possible to attach a custom picture on your soldiers? that "OBEY" logo seems foreign.

I guess I've been kind of jaded by Company of Heroes high level of graphics.

 

Yes, you can add custom banners and badges to your units.

[Wizard]

Too bad Company of Heroes sucked in compairison to DC. That was 15 Missions of GOD DAMNIT.

[Sybarite Paladin AxL]

Is Company of Heroes another game?

[Agozer]

Is Company of Heroes another game?

Yes.

[Lucandrake]

Yes company of heroes is another game, but it's basicly DoW with X360 graphics in a WWII setting.