A new sun-rise on Dawn of War (Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade Add-On (PC))

Member Name: Rocketeer007

Product:	Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade Add-On (PC)
Date:	25/10/08 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Play as Necrons and the Tau Empire

Disadvantages: No new storyline

I bought this add-on as part of a "Dawn of War" anthology set, which also included the original "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War" game and the first expansion "Winter Assault"

Dark Crusade adds two new races to the game - Tau and Necrons - giving you up to 7 races to play as in both Single and Multi-player modes. To use all 7 in multi-player mode, you must have the original game and Winter Assault, but Dawn of War is unique in my experience in that you don't have to have the original game to play this expansion.

The single player campaign does not have a storyline. Instead, you are given a map of the world of Kronus, divided into a number of territories. The single player game consists of fighting battles to conquer each territory in whatever order you like - you win when you control the whole planet.
Conquering each opponent gives you a cut-scene showing the historical impact of your victory.

When I first installed the game, I found it rather un-balanced; the Necrons are far too powerful, playing as them made the game trivial, and playing against them was almost impossible.
However, a quick look on the Dawn of War website revealed a number of patches had been released that corrected the game balance, and after applying all the latest patches to get my game up to date I found playing as any race was far more fun.

If I'd had to buy this separately, I would have been disappointed with so little new content, but as part of the Anthology I am glad I bought it.

Summary: A good update, but best bought as part of the Anthology