Customer Reviews

Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War Soulstorm

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm a huge fan of DoW, and in no small part against having two new races to play until Relic gives us the sequel. Unlike lots, I didn't scream and cry that the Tyranids aren't in Soulstorm, and I'm perfectly happy with DE and Sisters.

The gameplay itself is still superb, the type of RTS you'd expect from Relic by now. Aside from a bit more slowdown in the actual gameplay than in previous DoW titles, it's everything that DC was, plus the two new races.

What's disappointing is that this was clearly a rushed job. There are huge issues with the game engine itself, resulting in massively absurd load times and unexplainable slowdown. I consider myself more patient than most, willing to wait 20ish seconds for something that should really only take two to three. Unfortunately, twenty seconds would be a blessing as far as Soulstorm is concerned.

On a system that loads a Dark Crusade map in just over five seconds, and runs the largest DC maps on maxed settings with no apparent slowdown or freezing, the wait is over a minute for your average Soulstorm map to load. Medium sized maps produce the random jerky motion when more than eight or ten squads are fielded at the same time. Fourty-five seconds is the wait which I counted while twiddling my thumbs after clicking on the "Campaign" button from the main menu before the DC-style Campaign interface began to load.

The most irritating thing about this all is that there are so many re-used aspects of the game. From interfaces, to sounds, and textures (expect to see and hear high imperial guard influence in SoB), you can tell that the engine is beginning to meet it's limits. That's fine too, but the game itself shouldn't suffer the way it does right now. The campaign interface is just a slightly retextured version of DC's, which loaded in the blink of an eye, so why does the Soulstorm one take nearly a minute? I wasn't expecting anything ground-breakingly new this late into the DoW series, but it just doesn't justify the load times.

It's really too bad that the game is in it's current condition. It's nothing a patch or two won't fix, but for now I may just put the game down until a patch is released to speed up this clunky engine.

While Soulstorm keeps the key gameplay elements that have kept me playing the DoW series for 4 years after it came out, this game mostly just offers more of the same, without too much that is new. The two new races are pretty cool, but with 9 races now, it almost feels like there is too much in the game, and not enough to distinguish the different races. The Sisters of Battle play to me like a compromise between the Imp. Guard and the Space Marines. I have also encountered a number of graphical glitches and crashes that I never saw in the previous installments of the game, which suggest to me that this game was rushed out a bit. The insane load times mentioned by another reviewer are a bit of a drag. Not a bad game, by any means, but for $40, we deserved more.

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.

My rig isn't on steroids, so I expected the same if not identical gaming experience I had with Dawn of War Series. I have the recommended requirements well above the recommended requirements, and yet, the game runs choppy, sloppy and the load times are unacceptable compared to Relic's last stand alone expansion, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. The units are more aggressive in the single player campaigns making troop build up difficult and sometimes impossible. The Dark Eldar have no perimeter defense that I can see, and their pop cap is low, so it's hard to build a formidable army. Not to mention the pathing problems. I enjoyed the whole DOW series, but the newest installment in the DOW series has heavy load times, poor pathing and general bugs that make the game a loser.

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.

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.

I can't get enough Warhammer products. I first played Rogue Trader on my neighbor's ping pong table in 1988 with lead figures purchased in GB pounds. Against my better judgment, I continue to buy Black Library novels well into my middle age. There is something thrillingly atavistic about the game's values. Very few contempory institutions openly celebrate willful ignorance, blind faith, intolerance and martyrdom. Warhammer allows me to indulge my inner stormtrooper in a safe and secure environment.

But even I have to admit that this expansion adds very little to the gameplay of Dark Crusade. Again, gameplay occurs at two levels: strategic map and the tactical battlefield. Soulstorm's strategic map is slightly larger, with several moons and planets, and a limited number of connections between territories. This means that capturing stategic hubs is much more important and it further reinforces the first-mover advantages of Dark Crusade. Start winning and you'll keep winning. Start losing and you're cooked. I like this, because it seems to me to mirror a crucial aspect of actual warfare (and, unfortunately, life). Even more challenging is the "lumpy" nature of the rewards and incentives the designers have created. Armies are unequal in strength, territories unequal in value, making for some interesting emergent strategic challenges.

Bottom line is that it's tons of fun, but it's also the logical conclusion of this incarnation of the game. Rumor is that it's the last expansion pack for DoW 1, and that the next thing coming down the pipe is DoW II. This is probably a good thing.

No real flaws as this game was clearly made for existing fans of the series. Yes everyone has whined about this but I bring this up again simply because of this. Dawn of War II has come out and it sucked BAD. This means we can expect NO future expansions for the orginal DoW including the Tyrannids.

My only other complaint is that the campagin does not allow you to customize your army. You know, if you are going to give us the feature to customize, why can't we utilize it? How difficult is it to alter dialouge to instead of calling the player's group "The Alpha Legion" to simply "The Chaos Space Marines" and so on and so forth. Also I found it odd that in the skirmishes we can't upgrade our heroes like we could in the Campaign. How hard is it to add an upgrade button either in the character's menu or in the damn armory?!

Nonetheless if you are a fan of the game, You must play this if only to try out the Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle. Two AWESOME races.

title says it all--the game has awesome action, the AI is beefier, but I have to wonder if it is too much so. there are some levels on medium, i find, that are nearly impossible and thus could turn off casual players. Aside from this, the load times in my opinion are unnecessarily slow and it should have been fixed before releasing it as a final product.
Still worth buying.

on a completely different note: to all game makers:
When I buy a game, it's fine. I should not have to scramble for disks. I inherently dislike, nay, loathe any business modal that assumes it's customers are crooks and need to be treated as such. I should not have to jump through any hoops to enjoy my product--god forbid someone should lose the disk or it should be scratched somehow.

Dawn of War: Soulstorm, is a modified expansion of Dawn of War similar to Dark Crusade. Rather than battle for a planet, you now contest an entire solar system. Areas and groups are more broken up more this way, connected by Eldar webway gates(starports). The storyline involves every group up this point, which now includes the Dark Eldar and the Sisters of Battle, a zealotrous church of the Emperor.

The storylines for each group are entertaining, voice acted well, and have their own interludes, which are beautifully narrarated. Each faction thats defeated has its own "death story" depending on who defeats them. However, the final stages of each faction are repetitive, and once you know the secret, its a matter of hammering them with enough troops. This gets exponentially harder as the game increases in difficulty.

The graphics are solid, with minimal repition in the faction holdings, but limited to generic city, forest/jungle, or desert waste. The sprits are fun to watch, and several have their own unique attacks. The Dreadnoughts and Warwalkers still are my personal favorite. The game has similarly expanded to include simple air units, that have varying levels of usefullness depending on the faction being played.

The game is fun in that the storys are worth playing, but this game serves to epitomize a famous line of Sun Tzu's: Know thyself, and know thy enemy, in 100 battles, 100 victories. Once you figure out how a faction is supposed to be played, and once you are exposed to each faction HQ, and know how they need to be attacked, the gameplay becomes mechanical. The learning curve varies, but is overall rather short, and so the game quickly becomes more like work. Thankfully, the HQ levels are frustrating and engaging in equal measure, so they manage to remain appealnig even in light of their repetitiveness.