A great present for the Dawn of War series fans...but it really is time for Dawn of War 2 now!
The Space Marines are the Emperor's Elite soldiers.Trained to fight with honor & courage,but all the same equipped with the finest weaponry & armor,it is said that one Space Marine is a match for 100 Imperial Guardsmen. They are my favorites,& they've been introduced in the original Dawn of War game.
The Chaos Marines are Space Marines fallen to the dark side...making sacrifices to Khorne ,the Blood God & other evil gods.They were tough in the original game,but they suffered downgrades & are quite weak now.
The Orks need no more introduction.Numerous,stong,green,& very funny in the same time, these guys know only battle.But they're not too good,I'd say they're the weakest faction. They were introduced in the original DoW game.
The Eldar are some kind of gay robots,& the most technologically advanced faction in the DoW universe.They started up in the original game,& I'll say they're really good in battle,but only if you know how to use them,which I don't.
The Dark Eldar are one of the two new races in Soulstorm.They're Eldar fallen to the dark side & they're similar to Chaos in their beliefs,but they're much much stronger in battle,in fact they're one of the best races yet in the DoW games.
The Imperial Guard are common soldiers fighting for the Emperor, "the regular army". But they have some very good vehicles & a bunch of genetically mutated soldiers that kick a$$. As long as you use them correctly & progress in upgrades.They were introduced in Winter Assault,but also seen in the original game.
The Necrons are metallic skeletons that were once human,& have fallen to worship the C'Tan deities.They're not evil like the Chaos or the Dark Eldar,but they don't like being disturbed & they want to eradicate all life.They're not too tough at the beggining,but after they do their Awakened Monoliths & summon the Nightbringer,they're hard to defeat.They were introduced in Dark Crusade.
The Tau are specialized in ranged combat,but they also have specific mercenaries for melee combat & bait.Again,they look weak,but if you know to use them,you can do great things alongside them.They were introduced in Dark Crusade.
The Sisters of Battle are the second new faction in Soulstorm.They can be called "chicks with boltguns",because they're the only women in the DoW games,fighting for the Emperor.They seem really like the Space Marines,but they're very weak in defense.
So,you met the races,let's start with the campaign.A warp Storm has taken place in the Kauvra System,& all the factions have started to battle each other for supremacy.Not much of a story,as it was in DoW & Winter Assault.Soulstorm is almost exactly like Dark Crusade,but here you have four planets & three moons to conquer, nine factions & some new stuff.The commanders are a little bit changed,I mean some new wargear added.The teritorries you conquer aren't all "Anihilate" skirmishes,some need a take & hold victory,but some of these non-stronghold missions were better designed in Dark Crusade.But the Strongholds are really greatly done.The Dark Eldar one reminded me of the last mission in Dawn of War...Speaking of new things,they've added air combat & aerial units.The Tau & the Space MArines were granted the best ones,but the Sister of Battle & Imperial Guard ones are also usefull,& the Ork one looks really funny.This air combat is not the best,but it was a necessary upgrade.Also,the Necrons got a new C'Tan deity,the Deceiver,who won't fight,but confuse the enemy & things like that.Oh,& the Dark Eldar harvest souls as a resource,so the management is quite complicated...
Well,Soulstorm again sounds...perfect.The same manner of superb music & proffessional voice acting,plus improved sound effects.Greatly done!
Let's not forget about the multiplayer.It now features 9 factions,considering the fact that you have all the other three games installed.You can play in singleplayer with all of them only with Soulstorm,but in the multiplayer you'll be having only the Dark Eldar & the Sisters of Battle.Going back to the idea,the multiplayer has really improved,there are A LOT of new maps & also some achievments & medals similar to the ones in Battlefield 2142.
Despite Iron Lore's great success with this game,I'd like the expansion packs to stop. OK,these were high end graphics in 2004,but now it's 2008...they still look good,but they would need a change.Second,the same style of the game gets boring after a period,considering the fact that you've played & replayed Dawn of War, Winter Assault & Dark Crusade.As a conclusion,thanks for everything Relic,Iron Lore & THQ,but now we want Dawn of War 2.