The third expansion to the DOW Series breathes new life into the game.
-Races
-Campaign
-New units
-Bugs
-The new races:
The first of the new races I shall discuss are the Dark Eldar. These are basically the evil versions of the regular Eldar, who love nothing more than to torture, kill and burn. To my surprise, this race was extremely well portrayed. Their very design, which is hit and run is well established within their army. The Dark Eldar units are fragile by nature and are not made for full frontal assaults but instead hit and runs. Not to mention their voice work really gives a feel that these guys are really psychotic nut cases.
They are my favorite out of the two new races introduced, mainly because they seem to be done so well. With the notable exception of the Dais of Destruction but I will get onto that later.
The Sisters of Battle are the second race introduced. How to sum up....nuns with guns. The entire army is consisting of virtually all females suited up in power armour. They also seem to have an extreme case of Pyromania. By comparison to the other two imperial factions, the Sisters are by far the most fanatical which is immediately noticeable once you click on their basic trooper unit.
As I mentioned, they are pyromaniacs, and a large number of their weaponry and vehicles are focused around, you guessed it, fire. They are the middle road between SM and IG, but are also very enjoyable to use due to a new introduced faith system which allows them to use special powers during battles.
Overall I was very impressed with the handy work of the two new races introduced and am more than satisfied in this particular areal
-The Campaign:
The Campaign is roughly the same as DC, an identical system but instead is set in the Kaurava system which consists of four planets. The territories number roughly the same as before [31] and unfortunately the majority of the maps are skirmishes.
This can be, for many people, extremely tedious and boring. However for the die hard Dawn of War fans it should be no real bother. The stronghold missions however are another package all together. If you thought the DC stronghold missions were difficult, you are in for a serious surprise.
It is not the main highlight of the campaign and is more down to personal preference. Though I was just happy getting an opportunity to use Gorgutz and his Waaagh again,
Another problem accodring to many players is the abscence of diaologue during t he Stronghold missions. The beloved bantors between the leaders from DC are now non existant. This does take away a lot of the atmosphere within the missions and no doubt many will feel dissapointed.
-New units:
SS introduces a new type of unit called Air units for all races bar one. There has been much controversy the introduction of these units, from poor implementation to just crap. Thankfully they are far from game breaking and add a little bit of more flavour to the originally all ground assault gameplay. Not for everyone and not a necessity but they are reasonable enough. Not game breaking not smashing either unfortunately.
-Bugs:
Ah...the bane of all games. Bugs. Unfortunately SS is not exempt of this, two particularly game breaking ones. You will be happy to know, if it is of any consolation, it will only really effect you online. The first bug is not actually that serious considering that it requires an observer in the game. Suphise to say, an Observer can use the DE powers in-game whilst watching, which can drastically effect the outcome of the battle for either player.
The SOB one however is quite game breaking. I am not sure of the precise method, but it grants the SOB near unlimited resources.
Considering I am more of a casual LAN/SP person, this does not matter to me as much, but for those who love your online play, hang tight and hope it is patched soon.
-Balance:
Balance is possibly the best it has ever been with the introduction of SS. There, has of yet, not been a serious balance issue found with the very notable exception of one. The DE have a uber unit called the Dais of Destruction which has this insane ability which I shall call the "LAZOR OF UBER MASS PWNAGE!!!!111" which does as I have said. It can be seen as somewhat of a game breaker, as can not only this baby almost eradicate everything and anything it touches, it can be fired....TWICE! Best advice is to stun this baby with a Big mek shokka or the SM AT stun.
Other than the insane "LAZOR OF OMFG I WIN!" everything else seems to be in good shape.
-Conclusion:
SS is the third expansion of the DoW series and delivers yet more races to the already staggering amount. It cannot go without saying the game could require a bit more polish, and the two bugs I mentioned are indeed a serious nuisance when it comes down to multi-player. But for those who are not multi-player nut heads and just want a bit of fun OR you love DoW I would highly recommend this game.