Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm

"Just killing time before DoW 2?"

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War: Soulstorm -to give it it's full name is the 3rd expansion to the series and the last before Relic release Dawn of War II. So, is it worth the money or just the same old game we played years ago?

Firstly, the new content. There are two new factions to the game:

The Sisters of Battle (Adepta Sororitas).

The Sisters of Battle are another human race and play very similar to the Space Marines but are generally weaker. They are more powerful than the Imperial Guard however, making a more balanced out gameplay experience. They have their own special resource, Faith. Faith is generated by some units and Listening Posts if you build an add-on. Faith can then be used to activate many special abilities in some units.

The Dark Eldar

The Dark Eldar are the twisted and evil versions of the Craftworld Eldar which have appeared in every game. Like the Eldar, they rely on speed and stealth to fight, often avoiding outright conflicts. They are quite a unique race overall though, should you look at the Eldar and Dark Eldar in a conflict there are very little similarities between them. They also have a special resource, Souls. Yes, these debased people harvest the souls of their victims and then use them to fuel their dark powers, the most powerful of which is the mighty Soulstorm.

New Units

All nine factions in the game now have their own aerial fighter. These are specialised vehicles that can move over all terrain and are unaffected by melee (close combat) attackers, such as Assault Terminators. The air units are mostly different however, for example, the Eldar and Sisters of Battle have fighters, which are designed to attack other air targets. The Imperial Guard and Orks have bombers which can deal serious damage to ground targets. Personally, I've never found much use for these, except for surprise attacks. They make for good support units, as they can quickly move across the map.

Campaign

The Soulstorm campaign is basically the same as Dark Crusade i.e. you move across the map and attack enemy provinces individually. In Soulstorm however, you fight across four worlds with fewer provinces in each. Again, you receive wargear after fulfilling certain objectives in battle which you then use to pimp your commander, that is, outfit him/her with better weapons, better armour and other accessories to give different effects. Unlike Dark Crusade, after you conquer a province, your base disappears, so you must construct it all over again if you are attacked. This gets pretty frustrating, although, once you have a large enough honour guard, you can sometimes rush them early on without needing to build a base. Instead of this, you can reinforce your territories with bases from the overworld screen, which costs planetary requisition.

Now, the review

Gameplay -- 8/10

What can I say? It's pretty much the same as the first games; Build your base, capture those Strategic points, build an army, crush your opponent. It's the same great stuff from the previous games, but it's aged a bit. The air units concept makes it a bit different in terms of strategies, but you may find yourself outright ignoring them.

Graphics -- 7/10

Again, there isn't a great deal of difference from the earlier games, the older units look pretty much the same. However, I have given it a score of 7 because of the design of the new factions. Instead of reskinning the old factions or throwing a few polygons hastily together, the designers have taken the time to create whole new looks for them. And I have to say, they fit the races perfectly. Okay, so the Sisters of Battle building system is the same as the Imperial Guard, but the religious cathedral looking buildings fit them perfectly. The same with the Dark Eldar, they possess eerie purple pointy buildings that suit them fine, and are also greatly different to the Eldar.

Audio -- 5/10

While the game has some good music, you only really listen to it in the menus. The sound effects are still nice, but what irks me occasionally is the constant shouting of the troops whenever you reinforce them. Then, when you have an army of maybe 4 or 5 squads strong, they can be shouting "For the emperor!" or "Point us at our targets!" ALL THE TIME.

Lifespan -- 8/10

This game's kept me interested for ages. Perhaps it's just me being a big DoW fan that keeps me replaying it. Suffice to say, if you liked the first game and completed all the missions then you'll probably play this over and over aswell. I gave it 8 out of 10 because it doesn't really get tiring. Okay, so you may, after several battles, get tired of base building and just start rushing them early on, but that's usually a sign that you've played for too long in one sitting. If you don't feel like doing the campaign again, you can play skirmishes against the computer or head online to find some other humans to play against.

Total -- 7/10

If you like DoW and all it's expansions up to now, you can't go wrong with Soulstorm. It's a fun game and, in my opinion, worth the money. Although some people would say that it's really the same game as the previous games, the new factions are great to play as and the campaign is good fun, if a bit erroneous, with the developers trying to rack their brains to think up a good excuse why the Space Marines, Sisters of Battle and the Imperial Guard are fighting each other. If you've never played Dawn of War or Warhammer but like RTS games, try it out and see what you think.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/08

Game Release: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm (EU, 03/07/08)