Dawn of War meets flying... and the series crash-lands because of it (Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm Add-On (PC))

Member Name: DaveAshton

Product:	Warhammer: 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm Add-On (PC)
Date:	02/10/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: New flying units, 2 new armies

Disadvantages: Flying glitchy, poor campaign mode

Bring in the bombers! The Dawn of War saga continues (and ends) with this, the final expansion for the original Dawn of War. Soulstorm takes the series out with a bang though, giving you not just 2 new races to play around with, but it also gives you aircraft for all of the existing races. It also gives you a 4-planet map to conquer in the campaign mode.

I'll cover the new races first. First up, the Sisters of Battle. Basically, the Sisters are like a female version of Space Marines. However, they have a secondary role as witch hunters, so the majority of their special weaponry is taken up with flamethrowers, meltaguns, and other things that lob very hot flames over long distances.

Secondly, you have the Dark Eldar, a race that thrives on the souls of the freshly butchered, and are not averse to taking slaves to kill later on. Personally, I like the look of the Dark Eldar. Unlike some 40k armies which hide their intentions behind subtlety and deceptively ornate armour, the Dark Eldar seem to have given everything in their possession sharp, pointy bits. Even the wings on their jetbikes look like they're sharp enough to cut a space marine in half without slowing the bike down.

Both of these races have a new resource to accrue, along with collecting Power and Requistion in the same way as the previous games. The Sisters of Battle have a Faith resource, generated by having holier troops and sanctifying ground (by upgrading your listening posts). The Dark Eldar collect the souls of the fallen. This is easier to increase, just kill enemy troops and harvest the souls with your vehicles. You can also create a building which sacrifices innocents on a regular basis.

Filling these new resource bars will give you some very powerful units, such as the Sisters of Battle's Living Saint, which is basically an angel which fights for you.

New air units:

Chaos: Hell Talon
Eldar: Nightwing
Imperial Guard: Marauder bomber
Necrons: Attack Scarabs can fly. They also get the Deceiver god add-on for the Necron Lord.
Orks: Fighta Bomba
Space Marines: Land Speeder Tempest
Tau: Barracuda
The Dark Eldar: Raven
Sisters of Battle: Lightning figher

It has to be said though, that while Dawn of War: Soulstorm undoutably adds a few things to the Dawn of War series, it's only really worth getting for the new armies. The aircraft don't really work that well (often getting stuck on scenery during bombing runs, for example, which means the timer has to recharge again despite not actually doing anything) and are pretty useless at killing... well, anything, and the campaign just feels tacked on.

Summary: Worth buying if you like the new armies or want flying units. Otherwise, don't bother.