Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade |
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Developer(s) | Relic Entertainment |
Publisher(s) |
THQ (former) Sega (current) |
Designer(s) | Jonny Ebbert |
Composer(s) | Inon Zur |
Engine | Impossible Creatures Engine (modified version) |
Platform(s) | PC |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Aggregate scores | |
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Aggregator | Score |
GameRankings | 87% (based on 41 media outlets) |
Metacritic | 87% (based on 34 reviews) |
Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
GameSpot | 8.8/10 (great) |
IGN | 8.7/10 (great) |
PC Gamer (US) | 79% (good) |
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion to the PC-based RTS game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's popular tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dark Crusade was released on October 9, 2006. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Dawn of War's first expansion pack Winter Assault, this means a total of seven playable races in this expansion.
Unlike Winter Assault, Dark Crusade is a standalone expansion that does not require prior installation of Dawn of War or Winter Assault to play, allowing the user to play as all seven factions in both single player Skirmish and Campaign modes.
Parallel to the release of Dark Crusade, THQ also released a triple pack of Dawn of War, Winter Assault, and Dark Crusade, dubbed Dawn of War Anthology. The case is embossed with images of all the faction leaders of the campaign dressed in their respective wargear.
As with previous Dawn of War titles, Dark Crusade is focused on the conflict part of gameplay; in order to obtain more resources players must fight over them. Each player starts off with a base and wins by fulfilling mission objectives. There are multiple tiers of technology, with each allowing for more powerful units and upgrades.
The number of units a player may field at one time is determined by population and vehicle 'squad caps'; these limit the number of infantry troops and vehicles a player may have on the battlefield. Squad caps may be increased using methods differing between races. Most units have a melee attack and a ranged attack. Units are often specialized to be better using one attack type. All units also have stances; these affect how the units respond to enemies. There are six types of units: commanders, infantry, heavy infantry, daemons, vehicles, and Titans.