Readers that have read my WH40k Firewarrior review of sorts should already know of my… uhh… fondness of all things Warhammer 40,000. The rest of you, well, you apparently just found out. Oh, and while we are at it, let me tell everyone how much I’ve enjoyed the original Warhammer 40k Dawn of War and -almost- all of its expansions too. I could easily claim it’s my favorite RTS to date, you know. Yes, despite still being quite hopeless at online multiplayer even after four whole years of practise.

Anyway, on to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm, the latest and quite possibly final installment in the DoW series and a game that just(-ish) got released. Soulstorm allows players to take command of two new factions, the Imperial Sisters of Battle and them pointy-eared baddies the Dark Eldar, introduces a new resource and the ability to fully customize characters, offers a truly big new campaign, 29 new multiplayer maps, includes all DoW maps released so far and can be played both as a standalone offering and as an expansion to be combined with any of the previous games. It is thus as content rich a product as they get, and, what’s more, its content is of the highest quality too. Seasoned gamers just can’t afford to miss it really. Guess they shouldn’t expect anything groundbreaking either, mind.

As for those that have never played a DoW game, before, well, I guess it all depends on whether you like real time strategy games or not. If you don’t ignore it, if you do I would suggest you give it a try. Download the hefty demo at least. Chances are the lovely graphics, the fast paced gamelpay, the subtle innovations, the glorious cartoon violence, the variety in missions, the ridiculously rich multiplayer options (complete with vibrant community and amazing servers) and the rich Warhammer 40k setting will win you over. If not, you could try Company of Heroes. It’s from the same team you know.

Posted on March 19th, 2008 by konstantinos