The Dawn of War II beta is freely available to anyone with a Steam account, which is freely available to anyone who wants to simply sign up. It's a rare game that gives you so much content utterly free of charge. The beta consists of all four races -- the Space Marines; the Eldar; the Orks; and the new kids on the block, the Tyranids, pictured above doing a Rodney King on a Space Marine commander -- playable across several different maps, against AI opponents. That in and of itself is enough to be a full game. Throw in the multiplayer and you've got something nearly limitless. At least until the beta expires.

At the very least, this is a great way to see if the basic gameplay works for you. If you're a fan of Relic's real time strategy games, you'll recognize here a hybrid of the gritty Warhammer 40,000AD vibe from the first Dawn of War with the meticulously tactical gameplay of Company of Heroes. It's a promising combination, but not without some problems at this beta stage. Many of the problems (horrible AI, interface shortcomings, balance weirdness) will hopefully be ironed out in the final version of the game, due on February 18th.

However, in keeping with the maxim that there's no such thing as a free lunch, you'll have to install the odious Games for Windows Live. Ouch.