Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm is the third expansion to the real-time strategy video game "", developed by Iron Lore Entertainment. Like its predecessors, "Soulstorm" is based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame "Warhammer 40,000", and introduces a multitude of new features to the "Dawn of War" series, including two new playable factions in the form of the Imperial Sisters of Battle and the Dark Eldar. It is a stand-alone game and does not need the original "Dawn of War" disc to run, but players must have the prior games installed and  valid cd-keys in order to play as anything but the two new factions online. Gameplay. Gameplay features real-time strategy interaction. Game operation is similar to previous Warhammer titles, except for the new aerial units that do not follow these rules, and new campaign gameplay features. Each race is given a new aerial unit that does not obey the normal rule of engagement in the "Dawn of War" series. These units are mostly specialists in engaging and destroying enemy vehicles and/or infantry. As with its predecessor "Dark Crusade", "Soulstorm" features a "meta-campaign" featuring 31 territories spread over four  planets and three moons. One difference, however, is that unlike Dark Crusade, there are no persistent bases. Once the player conquers a province, the base structures the player has built up will not be present in future conflicts. This can be remedied by reinforcing provinces with buildings and units in between battles, or by establishing a forward base using the Sisters of Battle army ability. Each Stronghold has a unique ability, each race starts with that ability. Another difference is that the strength of an attacking enemy army is no longer based on strength of province they're attacking from , but their army size. Multiplayer. Multiplayer remains the same as in previous titles, with players given the ability to either play via LAN or on the GameSpy network. A new 'medal' system has been added that provides rewards for certain player milestones (5-to-1 kill ratio, etc.), but there is no means of viewing the complete collection of medals a player has earned. It is assumed this problem will be addressed when an official patch is released along with other various bug fixes and corrections to the game, such as the current issue restricting certain masses of players from joining  online multiplayer games. Plot. The Kaurava conflict began after a sudden appearance of a Warp Storm near Kaurava IV. Previously, the system was held entirely by the Imperium of Mankind and defended by the Imperial Guard, except for two areas—the Ork infested jungles of Kaurava II and the underground of Kaurava III, holding Necron tombs in hibernation. The warp storm leads to the awakening of the Necrons, and the arrival of Ork warboss Gorgutz, who absorbs the indigenous Orks with his own forces. Six other factions appear in the system. The Eldar under the leadership of Farseer Caerys arrive  in response to the Necron awakening, their ancient enemy. The Imperial Guard comes under suspicion by the Imperium's Blood Ravens chapter of the Space Marines, and the Sisters of Battle, for suspected heresy. This forces a conflict between the three imperial factions. The Chaos warband of the Alpha Legion arrives using the warpstorm. The Tau arrive, intending to annex the system into the Tau Empire. Finally, the Dark Eldar, usually avoiding large-scale warfare, sees the chaos and confusion of the conflict as an opportunity to capture prisoners and souls. Several endings exist: The fate of the Kaurava System  depends on the actions taken by the various factions fighting over it, but the only known details on the canonical ending initially came only from dialogue in the sequel, "". Scout Sergeant Cyrus states that the Kaurava campaign was a failure, and that the majority of the Blood Ravens led by Captain Indrick Boreale were wiped out, costing the chapter half of its manpower in a single campaign. As a result, the severely undermanned Blood Ravens cannot afford to lose their recruiting worlds in sub-sector Aurelia and must defend them at all costs. It is revealed in that the  Orks led by Gorgutz were the canonical victors and the ones responsible for Indrick Boreale's defeat, but Gorgutz became bored with the conquest and would later go to Cyprus Ultima to serve under Gitstompa after hearing of the planet Acheron while battling the Eldar on the Kaurava System. Development. "Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm" was developed by Iron Lore Entertainment as the third expansion to the "". On January 13, 2008, Relic released a 1.12 GB demo of "Soulstorm" on several gaming websites. The demo allows players to play a tutorial, as well as one skirmish and one scenario  map as the Dark Eldar. The demo's loading screens also show the new additional flying units added in the expansion. The demo scenario simulates an assault on the Space Marine stronghold if one were playing the Dark Eldar in the campaign game. On March 4, 2008, "Soulstorm" was released first on the North American market, some days later everywhere else. After the end of patch support, the game's community continued the support with own made unofficial patches. Reception. "Soulstorm" received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. As of November 2012, the game had an average score of  74% based on 35 reviews on the review aggregator GameRankings. On Metacritic, the game had an average score of 73 out of 100, based on 37 reviews — indicating mixed or average reviews. IGN gave the game a score of 7 out of 10, citing solid gameplay but lack of anything innovative.