IGN's Steve Butts takes a look at a recent build of Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar and posts his impressions of the upcoming expansion to one of the top strategy games of 2006.  The preview takes  a look at features such as the new races in the expansion (Korath Clan and Krynn Consulate), the new espionage system, and the new additions to the star map. 

If you aren't in the beta, of particular interest is how with Dark Avatar you can not only create your own custom race to play yourself, you can now create custom enemies to populate the galaxy with.  This preview really hits all the high points of the game and is definitely worth checking out.