Excellent RTS
Dawn of War Dark Crusade is not an expansion. It plays as a standalone game and add's 2 races on to the original equalling 7 races in total that can all be played in solo missions.. But you would need the other Dawn of War game's to access all the race's online. Both new race's are balanced enough so none are too overpowered
The game's storyline set's off as a introduction for 2 new races. The Necron's, a zombie like metal junk race that can regenerate has slow moving but strong units and the Tau, which is a balanced faction but primarily focus's on ranged attacks. The Planet Kronus originally occupied by the Tau Empire is up for grabs by all the 7 races. The Necron's laying dormant in the undergrounds of Kronus have awakened to slaughter the living. The campaign is done in a simple Risk like turn based scenario. You have an army you attack other territories and you zoom in for Tactical RTS battles which haven't been changed from the original. You capture control point's for Requisition and build generator's the generate power. There's no resource gathering here. the game inspire's quick and early conflicts. The main objective is to be the last man standing so you may rule Kronus. There's alot of territories that have no major storyline and some that have thick lore filled cnimatic's. There are some new unit's for the original races and new race's that have new units.
The graphic's in the game haven't changed a bit. They still look polished clean and dark for the inspiring "War" mood. The new battle animations for the unit's are still spectacular in there bloody setting's. Kraut cannibal's rip Space Marine's to piece's and eat there corpses while the Necron's beat there dead enemie's relentlessly.
The sound in the game is still fantastic. Battle voice over cries depend on the situation. If your unit's are fighting in an obviously losing fight they will give remark's regarding the situation. Gun's and the voice acting is still epic sounding and perfect for the environments
Multiplayer is great online but one of the thing's I found annoying is that the Tau are still hard to control a bit as they can lose easily to rush tactics.
All in all Dark Crusade is a great successor to the original Dawn of War.