Warhammer 40000: Dawn Of War - Soulstorm

This is the final expansion in the dawn of war series as dawn of war 2 is currently being developed. Dawn of war in my opinion has been the best series of strategy games i've ever played. The balancing of armies is as close to perfect as you can achive while also staying as true to the warhammer 40k lore as possible. The latest and last in the series also introduces 2 new armies. Sisters of battle and dark eldar. Sisters of battle sitting somewhere between space marines and imperial guard and dark eldar being the chaos version of eldar. The demo allows to to play dark eldar only and from playing it first hand i found it almost incredible that the developers where able to come up with something fresh and new while also keeping the new army relevant and non over powered. The only problem i have with the new content is that myself and i know a lot of the community would have loved to seen tyranids being introduced to the dawn of war universe. Hopefully the community will get it's prayers answered with the launch of dawn of war 2
Anyone who has not played the series i can't recommend a game any more highly. Also Soulstorm is a stand alone product so you dont require the original to play.

I really loved the previous DOW games so I was really looking forward to this but was left feeling a little deflated by it. Firstly they have put the Dark Eldar in which is probably the least popular army in 40k. The hell with the 'plot' they should have put Tyranids in instead. As for the plot, some of the voice acting is laughable, especially the Imperial Gaurd's level where there are long pauses between dialogue and the characters are poorly scripted. You have to watch it to see how bad that scene is between the Commissar and the General.

My biggest problem though is that there isn't really any change from DC. the aerial units are a cheap add on that offer no real update to this francise. There are a few strange annoyances like when you conquer a territory anything you built is gone if it comes under attack which makes defending a tedious chore.

Also the single player gets really monotinous as there are 39 territories to conquer which involve the same routine every time. Attck area, build base/army, destroy enemy base, move to new area and repeat. With 9 armies in the game it is a little too big and I got seriously bored after trying the single player during the 3rd army. I haven't even bothered with the other 6 cos they are exactly the same as in DC.

I'm not saying it's a bad game, far from it. I really like the Sisters of Battle. It's just that this is just DC with 2 new armies 'tacked' on and that's it. It has a very rushed feel to it. Also the load times are horrendous and I have had issues with my copy crashing and losing the saved data, which was a bugger playing as Tau as I was on the very last level and have to start all over again.

If you haven't bought any of the Dawn of War games yet I can only really recommend getting the 1st 3 (Dawn if War, Winter Assault & Dark Crusade), get the anthology edition as it's cheapest option to get all 3 in 1. Everything in this game is exactly the same as in DC so a bit much to ask to fork out the money on buying.

I am eagerly awaiting Dawn of War 2, I just hope to god that they put some effort into it unlike Soul Storm.

First up, Im no fanboy of DoW, I think its a very fun game though so im a fan of the series but im not blinkered and frustrated that I have to justify my purchases even if they turn out to be poor so what I say is honest.

Soul Storm sounded like it would be a good sign of for the DoW franchise alas its not the case.
Ok graphically its pretty old but still looks decent enough but the graphics in soul storm are pretty sloppy in places, buildings and most new units are undetailed exception for the new Dark Eldar commander.

The new air units sounded likea good idea but have been poorly implemented, why do my air units need to cross a river by going over a bridge? why do they get cought in terrain?

The campaign seems like a good idea but looks downright poor, a single planet would have sufficed ala Dark Crusade, its not like theres a huge amount of territories with the 4 planets and moons - maybe 5 on each planet and most maps are ridiculously big when your fighting 1 opponent and get tedious, whats worse is that the enemy can have 2 bases yet again just to make those maps even more of a slog instead of a fun challenge.

The voice overs are ok I thought, except for the sister of battle 'scout / priest' unit which has a rather annoying nerdy chant when you take a requisition point, makes me cringe every time. Also theres no more banter amongst enemy commanders this time which sucks abit of the vitality of the game away oh and lets not forget the laughable chaos commander voice over METTEL BOXES!

The most disappointing part though, well it would be nice if the campaign map would load up in under a minute instead of waiting around for a track to play through before it loads and also if the same was the case for each battle within the campaign mode itself as it stands its a bore to load up and play the campaign which is the main element of a game for me.

So why does it take so long to load? well I wouldnt be surprised if Iron lore tried another DRM check like they did with the awful Titans Quest game afterall, with this expansion pack you need the dvd in the drive to play unlike the previous DoW games which got quick patches to remove this.

Shame on Iron Lore, I hope relic can at least patch this game up to a reasonable state so that it honors the warhammer 40k universe and Dawn of War franchise.

this is the third expansion for the original dawn of war ( the other two being winter assault and dark crusade). this game introduces two new races to the series, the infamous dark eldar and the sisters of battle.Why the sisters of battle were included is a bit odd as they are reletively new to the table top game and everyone was expecting the tyranids to be the new team.This expansion was developed by a seperate studio to the previous game, which goes some way to explaining the new air units and slight tweeks to the unit stats.The addition of air units should add a nice new aspect to the game without ruining it entirely.
This expansion builds on the territory control system introduced in darkcrusade, except on a much wider scale with 4 planets and a smattering of moons to fight over.If you succed in capturing a new planet you will gain a large buonus to your force too.There is also a new resource for the dark elder and sisters to fight over, souls (or faith in the sisters case), these souls allow access to the races most powerful abilities such as filling the battlefield with the sound of toutured prisoners or praying for 'acts of faith'.
overall this game will be a good expansion to the existing series, but isnt it about time to make dawn of war 2 not more expansions?
P.S dont listen to the review who clames to have played as sisters of battle in the demo, its dark elder only and says so on the THQ website

Firstly, im not a major fan of Warhammer 40k, but i do like the Books and the Storylines of this future, and have been interested in the litterature of this universe for some time, When Dawn of War was released i was extatic as im a Real RTS fan! DOW, Winter Assault, Dark Crusade have got progressively better as the series continued, Sadly, it stops there.

Soulstorm is basicly Dark Crusade all over again, but minus some of the Polish that made DC so great.

I shall start with its negative points.

For example, when taking an Enemy stronghold, there is little or no dialouge or banter between any Faction leaders like there was in DC.

Also, the Battle map view of the planets, its like looking at a 1980's RISK board game, none of the finer touches of DC's campeign map, and with only a few territorys on each planet, not really many more territorys than its preddeccesor. Also, many of the maps are in fairness, Too big!!

Also, the variation of battle type. Like in DC, the Servitor mission, the convoy mission, Soulstorm lacks this variety, for the most part, the majority of Soulstorms missions are plain and simple "kill the enemy" type missions, also, all the Stronghold missions are more or less the same.
Another mission gripe is all of the warp gate missions are "Take and hold Critical locations". Theres only so many times you can do that and call it fun with a straight face.
Generally overall, the storyline was less involved, and had less dialouge than its preddeccesor. Also, the new races, as entertaining as the Dark eldar are, they are nothing radically new, and the sisters of battle are a bit too samey samey.

If your well into skirmishing and Multiplayer in DOW, then Soulstorm is deffinately for you, Apart from that, i Feel Soulstorm took too many steps back, and not enough forward.

I cant help but feel the Developers and publishers just used Soulstorm to cash in on a thriving franchise.