After reading alot of the player reviews I was expecting to be sorely disappointed when finally getting around to purchasing and playing the addon to DAWN OF WAR. Fortunately this turned out to be a case of people complaining too loudly about minor things.
The Sisters Of Battle are really done well and properly fleshed out. The sound effects for them are amazing bringing out the extremism of their religious fanaticism. The male troops such as the Confessors are also given the treatment sounding just as devoted in their faith.
Graphics are top notch and much more better then they were in the Demo version. The Penitent Engine is highly detailed with a very intricate mechanical look. Yes the sound effect as one excellent reviewer has mentioned does sound obscene but then again it fits in perfectly with the holy orgasmic rapture spoken so much about in religious books on how serving God will be as being in a constant state of ecstacy. So I have no qualms with the sound effects for the Penitent Engine.
One sound effect which really caught me off guard in its menacing beauty was the artillery unit called Exorcist which fires from its church organ like tubes creating a very buetiful church organ musical sound. Having many of these firing at slightly different rates side by side is quite inspiring.
Graphics for other units like the Sisters Of Battle,The Confessor, The Missionary, Sister Repentia Squad etc are stunning and capture the look of the Warhammer40k universe perfectly. Especially notible is the Living Saint the giant angelic Godlike being of the Sisters Of Battle which one can summon after having build many other needed structures to lay waste to enemy units. Vehicles are also top notch and its nice to the Rhino taking a prominent place in combat once again.
Music is great with some new tracks adding to the religious mood of the Sisters Of Battle.
Combat seems much more balanced and reminds me of the unpatched version of DAWN OF WAR. For the first time in ages I could play on standard difficulty and not have to worry about it becoming a bum rush situation with the Sisters Of Battle being able to hold huge numbers of enemies at bay. Why they changed combat in WINTER ASSAULT and DARK CRUSADE to a bum rush situation after the first patch I dont know. Am just happy to see combat once again feeling balanced without having to resort to playing at the Easy setting.
Complaints about aircraft are a bit exaggerated but I do agree with them being more like hovercrafts land units then actual air units. I was expecting some cool strafing runs and fly by bomb drops but there were none which was a surprise since they had this in a previous old Warhammer40k game called FINAL LIBERATION. Other then this I have no complaints about this expansion and it is well worth the money I paid for it.