"For The Emperor!"

Here it is, the third and final expansion for Relic's epic Warhammer 40,000 RTS series, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm!

The main additions to the expansion are two new races. They are the Sisters of Battle, the female warriors of the Inquisition, and the Dark Eldar, the twisted and corrupted Eldar that live on the souls of their victims.

Both of the new races are fun to play, and bring about some unique, yet minor, features into play. The Sisters have a new resource called Faith. By using "Holy" units such as the Canoness and the Seraphim Squad, you gain Faith. You can unleash some interesting new powers using this resource. The Sisters of Battle are fairly standard in terms of gameplay. They function as a cross between the hard hitting Space Marines and the force en masse Imperial Guard. This still makes for good game play, and who wouldn't want to use an army of space nuns in battle?

The Dark Eldar get Souls as their special resource. By collecting the souls of their fallen enemies(or from the slave chamber), they can use devastating powers, including the deadly Soul Storm. The Dark Eldar are the more unique of the two new factions. They have fragile units, but they strike hard. Their transport, the Raider, is swift, and allows the troops it is carrying to fire out.

All the previous factions gain a new airborne unit. These are mostly a mixed bag, ranging from awesome, to not worth the resources. Standouts include the Chaos Hell Talon and the Space Marine Land Speeder Tempest.

The new campaign isn't much to write home about. Instead of fighting on a single planet, ala Dark Crusade, you take the war across several planets in the Kaurava System. But this just feels like a larger version of Dark Crusade. Bases do not stay constant however, so defences can feel very frustrating.

The graphics in the game are a bit spiffier than the previous expansion pack, Dark Crusade. But the game's engine is showing it's age, as the original game was released in 2004.

Overall, Soulstorm is a wonderful game. It has many glitches and bugs, but none are too major. However, the game costs US 40$, which is expensive for an expansion. But for someone who doesn't have the other games, this is quite the treat, as you get ALL the races to play in single player. But for mulitplayer, you must own the other games. If you already own the other games, this expansion is a must buy only if you were a huge fan of the previous games.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/16/08

Game Release: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm (US, 03/04/08)