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Solid expansion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 24
Date: March 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

While the game play is exactly like that of the previos DOW's that is in no way a bad thing. Instead of trying to fix what wasn't broken to begin with the developers focused on the implementation of new units, features and races.

With the addition of the air units the player now has a unit that can quickly respond to any point on the map to harrass the enemy or defend territory.

The campaign works very much like that of Dark Crusade but instead of fighting on one planet there are four. To get to another planet you have to control a section of the planet with a "warp gate." Another change is that each race has a unique bonus power, the Space Marines can use drop pods to bring in their troops, the Necrons can have some of their fallen Honor guard restore themselvs after the battle is over without buying them again, the Imperial guard has reduced production costs, and the Tau have a cannon that can be used to "soften" up the enemy forces when invading their territory.

Both of the new races have their own strengths and weaknesses. The sisters aren't as tough to kill as the Space Marines but they can be devistating to infantry and buildings with the amount of flame throwers and melta weapons they can field at once. The Dark Eldar lack the ability to make base defences but are quick at producing units and move very quickly across the map.

In all I have enjoyed this addition to the DOW series and do recommend it.

Love it!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: March 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I love this game! The air units are a blessing to the Imperial Guard who can not maneuver as well as the other races plus it adds new strategies to the game. People complain about the load time but is 30 more seconds really that big of a waste of life? The new maps are awesome and who can complain about more maps? Sure there are some bugs but this game just came out. I'm sure there will be patches to correct the pathing problem which is my only real complain. Also I hope or rather wish they would return the assassin to his former glory. Actually I would have liked to have seen a few more units such as bikes, noise marines, swooping hawks, mortar teams, piranhas, and a larger troop and vehicle cap but hey who knows? Maybe another DoW with Tyranids? Either way though this is worth the buy and is a fun experience especially with 2 or more people playing multi player. Even the campaign itself is a blast. All in all total worth it.

A Jolly Good time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game isnt perfect,sure. But it was very fun.The new Air units are fun to use and helpful.The Multiplayer is good.This is my first RTS game and i enjoyed so i definately plan on buying more thanks to this game!

Sweet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have to say, I had my doubts about this from what I had read, but I've been playing it, and it rules! Obviously there isn't a huge amount of new stuff here, but the campaign is actually really solid and interesting; the Dark Eldar and Sisters are both really exciting to fight against, at least, and are totally new. I'm not a hardcore RTS strategist and mainly play the game for the atmosphere and polish, and those are both really great here. The visual and thematic elements are great, and this campaign easily equals or even exceeds Dark Crusade's. Too bad Iron Lore is dead :( Hopefully warhammer stays this good!

because you play the game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 15
Date: March 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

You buy this because you play the game and for no other reason. This is not a good introduction game to DOW 40K. Warhammer Down of War Platinum is the introduction purchase you want to make. After you have played those games, buy this to complete the set and pick up some new options.
This is an expensive expansion. The two new races have some interesting extras and add something to the system. The new campaign and maps are good. Air support for all races is a major improvement and something that is needed.
I agree that this "feels rushed" and expect a patch ASAP. One very good thing is that THQ and a huge fan base support the series. This means that problems are fixed, questions can be answered and a constant stream of maps and modifications are available. This is a fun game. The AI is good and your units have enough sense to fight without having to be ordered to do so.

Give me more!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: March 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

No there isn't anything terribly new or progressive with this game, but with so many lame RTS's out there I'll take a new dawn of war expansion any day!

Until Dawn of War 2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: March 18, 2008
Author: Amazon User

We all know why we bought or are going to buy this expansion-- it's to acquire the next two races which would otherwise complete a whole series that all equivalent races in the Warhammer 40K realm exist on; the Tyranid being a sad displacement (and THQ claims the game engine for DoW just can't support them...) but about the game itself? It's a revival in the DoW franchise with an unprecedented NINE races to be played which makes skirmishes all the while fun though you'll most likely be skimping out on one spare race out supposing you skirmish all 8 races in a maniacal Free For All is all fun and games.

The addition of air units is a surprising addition though control over them is a bit tedious if you ask me; it almost feels unnecessary at times but they do make up for good measure in the diversity of tactics you choose to use, they're invaluable hit and run maneuvers prove worthy for last ditch efforts to mix things up and can actually save your life when you least expect them to.

The best fun of the 2 new races is to be dealt with first hand-- exporting my experiences to anyone reading this review now does no justice. There's just so much diversity with them as well as an even better, improved feel to just how far THQ has gone with the character model and interaction in combat and movement. Movement? If anyone remembers how WH40K felt when moving an army en masse, you had to actually move them individually, micromanaging them, while if you're an avid RTS gamer, that's fine, but if you simply just want the job done with less effort, it can be a hassle and it was about time THQ had worthily dealt with the trailing movement; now movies move as one large force and actually act alot smarter than I last remember them. In all honesty, it really does feel more like a battle is going on, just as DoW should have been from the beginning when all the excitement about its gameplay died down.

I play this game for the singleplayer aspect. I used to be big on multiplayer, but whenever I do it's usually to play against the computers with someone as tactics seem to become cookie-cut with everyone, seeing to whoever can rush who first and win the battle in less than 2 to 5 minutes in the game... I see no fun in rushing the experience of combat not even being able to get through the second or third tier of technologies so campaign was all the way to go for me. This is where I felt the franchise was skimped on... just slightly. The Dark Crusade expansion implemented an awesome End of Turn style campaign where you moved across battlefields as anyone whose played it can remember, and I actually liked that one, in fact, LOVED how that game played.

In Soulstorm however, it's like the campaign size was scaled down to complement the immense diversity of races now present and accounted for. There are four planets to conquer in the campaign, and in about an hour or two you can clear one planet if you chose to do so, and it almost feels like that's how you should play it. In comparison to Dark Crusade, tactically choosing where you wanted to go and subverting your direction made it feel like an awesome chess game, or Risk. In Soulstorm, not so much. They did keep some of the cool aspects of Dark Crusade with the Crusade such as the hero upgrades, the special 'Honor Guard' unit acquisition; but it really doesn't matter when you begin to play through the skirmish. If it weren't for my previous experience to Dark Crusade, and had I played Soulstorm for the first time through the skirmish, perhaps I'd thought Soulstorm's campaign to be an awesome experience, but since my run through Dark Crusade, it just doesn't feel the same.

In all, if you're a continuous fan to the DoW franchise, more than likely you will or have already gotten this game and I needn't say more on that. As such there really isn't anymore to add on to this except that if you haven't hopped on the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War bandwagon yet, you might say you're missing out on a bit of RTS fun in ways not many games as such get to see-- diversity, continuity, commitment and just all sorts of good fun to be had.

9 Races to play with, lots of awesome eyecandy to look at, if you're a fan of Warhammer 40k this definitely won't disappoint, and it's all we have till THQ figures out a way to make the Tyranid work for their DoW franchise... but of course there's always DoW2, whenever that may be ;) until then though, we'll still have all that THQ has to offer with this invaluable addition to Dawn of War.

A nice way to finish the series

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have thoroughly enjoyed Dawn of War, plus all three expansions. With the addition of the Sisters of Battle and the Dark Eldar, the game now has 9 fairly unique and fun races. This expansion is at least as good as the other two, though it is not without flaws.

Gameplay: Same great, over-the-top, explosive action. Just more races to cause havoc. The campaign is based on the meta-map concept from Dark Crusade, where you move about a turn-based strategic map and engage in real-time battles. The new maps look great, but it does get tiring having to fight the same skirmish on the same maps during the campaign. Each race has a stronghold mission, which are challenging and well done. There is really not a lot of reasons to play through the campaign more than once or twice, but it is a nice diversion.

Skirmishes against the AI are generally great fun. My only quibble is that the AI is merely decent; Relic really does need to get more serious about AI programming for Dawn of War 2. While it can sometimes put up a good fight, at other times computer opponents will do some outright goofy things, like not tech or build necessary buildings. Thankfully, there is a good player-made mod forthcoming that should greatly improve the AI. Still, Relic, which has built its reputation upon real-time strategy games, should take more care with its AI. Anyhow, I only rarely play multiplayer and haven't played it with Soulstorm yet. However, there are supposed to be some improvements, like better connectivity, metals, etc.

Graphics: The game still looks great to me. The Dark Eldar and the Sisters are well done. The game adds air units to the mix which also look good. I personally like them, though they don't have a large impact on the core ground-based gameplay.

Sound: As much personality as ever. The Dark Eldar are especially wicked in their voice acting. All other sounds--explosions, weapon fire, etc.--is convincingly done.

Technical issues/documentation: Beyond minor AI bugs, I have not experienced any technical issues with the game in single-player modes. The game comes with a manual that adequately describes the new races.

Replayability/Value: Since this game will continue to get some high-quality, player-made mods and maps, I will probably be playing it for years to come. The Dawn of War series is my favorite RTS game, and Soulstorm just reaffirms that. Since it is a stand-alone expansion, I highly recommend it to anyone who likes strategy games or the Dawn of War series.

Pros:
+2 new and well-done races
+Slightly improved campaign
+Many more maps
+Still looks, sounds, and plays well
+Has a talented modding community

Cons:
-Not the best skirmish AI, even after all of these expansions
-Only slightly improved campaign

Another good DOW game with a few quirks..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First off, I am a die-hard 40K fan (of the games and the books, not a big table-top gamer)and I have been looking forward to the (promised) new 40K game. I have enjoyed the game,it is IMMENSE adding yet more new races and a few new units to the existing ones. There are a few things that annoy me about this game though. A lot of units will say the same things over and over..when you click on them, send them to fight, pretty much anything. And when it comes to races like the Sisters of Battle where they yell everything they say it gets old and you will find yourself starting to get annoyed by it. Another thing is that through the past games..Load times have goten progressively longer and longer..I know I expect longer load time with all the races but when I finish a battle, I have time to go make a snack, use the restroom, and call a friend before it gets back to the Map screen, and my computer is no slouch. I run Crysis on High settings with 2 Gigs of DDR Ram and a New Geforce card. (which is the only reason I dont give this game 5 stars)
Other than a few things..I highly recomend it..and like I said before, it is immense (with 4 planets and 3 moons all with their own territories and 8 races) and will take quite a while to play all the way through...if not getting just a little bit repetetive. Another good game from THQ, another good addition the vast library of Warhammer 40K products.

Soulstorm rev

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: April 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

haveing played the previous installments of soulstorm, im fairly pleased w/ the game overall. the two new races were neat and the new aircraft for the others races were ok. one of my favorite rts games, my only bone to pick would be that the races arent too well balanced

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