The Dawn of War series kept amazing me back in the day, and Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade did not disappoint. Yet again, it got a completely new way of playing with some fresh ideas, new races and, in this case, more freedom to play and a break from the linear path from the previous installments. This one is also standalone and does not require the original Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War game.

In Dark Crusade, your objective is simple: Conquer the planet Kronus and take full control of its resources. You are not the only one that wants this and all available factions in the game have set up a base of operations from where they will expand their influence over the planet. You need to conquer all the territories and strongholds of the enemy and claim your place as ruler of Kronus.

Although the core game play on the battlefield is the same as the other games, now you can choose which territory you want to attack in every order you like. You can make one attack/conquest per turn and sometimes need to defend your claimed territories against a counterattack from the enemy.

You can fight every scenario yourself or use auto resolve to calculate the outcome of the battle. This could come in handy when defending against a desperate little territory that you just do not have the time for.

Each faction has a unique ending when conquering all of Kronus. Every other faction, which is off course kicked off the planet, all have a different reaction and cut scene.

Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade includes the Imperial Guard from Winter Assault and adds two more playable races. Those are the Necrons, which the Eldar failed to stop in Dawn of War: Winter Assault, and my personal favorite: The Tau Empire.

The new approach of “just conquering a planet” and doing this in every order you like, is yet again, a fresh new idea. It gives you a break from the linear story missions from the previous games and laid the foundation to the last expansion of Dawn of War, and the absolute best one, in my opinion: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm.

In terms of graphics and sound, nothing changed from the earlier games. This is fine however, the focus was mainly on the new factions, units and way of playing. I do like the detail in the world map tough.

The action, tension and adrenaline rush I got from the previous games is back in full in this game and, it is even more present with the added objective of conquering, defending and managing your territories.

Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is an excellent game and although I like Soul Storm more, purely because it has two more factions, it will always be one of my favorite Dawn of War games, along with Winter Assault.

Definitely recommend this gem.