Victory needs no explanation, defeat allows none.
Dawn of War: Soulstorm is supposedly the third and final expansion of the successful franchise Relic created through hard work, dedication and the Emperor's guidance. This time around however it is the creators behind Titan Quest; Iron lore, making their first and only supplement to the RTS genre, and it sadly shines through like a sun through a magnifying glass.
I have quite a few points to explain why the game is not like its predecessors. I could simply wrap it up with "I really wanted this game, looked forward to it immensely, thirsted for its new features and everything, and what I got wasn't even git of what they promised", but I'm a bastard with a sense of humor, so I'll have to be more detailed than that.
Size
Dawn of War: Soulstorm's creators Iron Lore took a look at the Dark Crusade map and smirked, vowing to create something so vast that people will shake in their little spaceboots. What we got was 4 planets and 3 moons, which indeed sounds like something in comparison to Dark Crusade's one single planet. This however is where you go a bit more in-debt into the game and actually start criticizing, I started doing so by counting the zones avaliable. Dawn of War: Soulstorm gives us, counting the moons and planets, a total of 31 zones. Dark Crusade had 24 zones, on a single planet. So it does not come as a surprise that one of Soulstorm's greatest flaws when it comes to the campaign is the rediculously small map size. Races have their fortresses strangely close to one another, making it seem more like a feud between neighbours than an actual battlefield. Personally I took out the orcs during my second round (2:nd!), destroying their HQ and punting them from the game. Being capable of attacking an HQ during round two (assuming you win round 1) is a rediculous concept that shows how really small of a god damned game this is.
Additionally, due to the cheer punity of the map, taking over zones does not feel important any more, and you'll actually spend more time murdering the race's respective HQs than it took you to fight your way to it. Wrapped up the map setting only creates a claustrophobic feeling of panic, forcing you to swiftly jump from planet to planet in a craze to cut off your enemies from one another so that they won't annihilate the HQ's of the race closest to them (Assuming you, like me, want to kill them all by yourself). If you're unlucky when playing on the Hard setting, you may end up with half the amount of competitors for Kaurava as early as round 3, if not 2.
Story/Presentation
After seeing the all too obviously polished up in-game models of the intro I chuckled some and a small feeling of uncertainty crept down my spine, "You can't have everything" I thought. As the Commander of the guardsmen in the intro exclaimed "We've got to win this!" I must admit my eyebrows started hovering somewhat. Perhaps the man was delusional, thinking this was a game of football they were playing with the Tau, or a party of chess?
While I was surprised by the vigor and zeal of the Soritas sisters, the intro left me with a feeling of dread that hovered right next to my eyebrows. I shrugged it off and decided on starting a campaign, Normal difficulty. This is where it all began. Excuse me while I rant.
The Sisters of Battle are supposedly sent there to purge every living being in the system, even becoming willing to go up against Space Marines in the process of their zeal, not impossible but extremely far-fetched. The explanation of why the Marines and the Guard would attack one another is pretty much shrugged off and Iron Lore instead mumbles like a drunkard and points into Kronus (The staging of Dark Crusade) general direction, expecting you to understand. Now, fiction in all honor, but I want a bloody good reason for my favorite races to go up against one another. In Dark Crusade they presented a somewhat far-fetched idea as well, Segmentum Command refusing to back down from the might of the Astartes, but this is fully possible and even makes sense. The Imperium might not hold the brightest lanterns on the street, but as far as I'm concerned they're not bound to make the same stupid-ass mistake once again, in the same setting, especially not with so many enemies around. The entire aspect of a warp storm and whatnot is acceptable however, and I'll let that lie.
The cutscenes of the entire game are edgy, terribly lame and utterly fails at bringing any feeling of involvement to the player with characters standing around idly, staring into the open in rigid poses, all too obviously waiting for their next scripted line to be forced through their lips. Units and buildings spawn unmoved on-screen, or not at all, and fighting is spread thin with units and characters running in directions without purpose. A follower of Chaos Undivided, the Alpha Legion's leader, despite wearing a Khorne Chainaxe, is a frickin pansy. Every voice trying to be a soldier, fanatic, commander, wise-ass or whatever just eternally fail at delivering the right setting and feel to the universe. I thanked the gamer-gods as Iron Lore broke up and dissolved after the release, wondering why they had not done so sooner and thus spared the poor Dawn of War series from their wrath, but the Gods of Gaming move in mysterious ways.
On a sidenote, the pre-HQ assault quests reek with desperation and you can almost hear the writer freaking out behind the screen, making up shit as he goes. Even the good voice of the previous games reading the "intros" fail at giving any feeling of anticipation before the actual battles, and if you pay it any heed instead of drinking coffee you'll find yourself rapidly growing more annoyed by the minute. This increases until the only feeling you will have left is the wish to go into combat and beat the living crap out of your enemy and your own units with equal measure. It sadly all just go down the drain. My Chaplain's voice is a bright lantern in the dark that is this expansion.
Balance/New Races/Additions
With Soulstorm comes the brilliance of having discarded every bit of tweaking, patching, and hot-fixing that Relic had done with Dark Crusade and the previous games, throwing the game further back than the stone-age. A pretty good example would be that a fully upgraded Space Marine squad with an Apothecary have the same amount of HP as an Imperial Guard Baneblade, which kind of is supposed to be the single most powerful unit in the game.
Coming to this game are also the Sisters of Battle and the Dark Eldar. You may sum up the two races with extreme simplicity.
Dark Eldar are Eldar, but riddled with Chaos and corruption, having thrown away their old ways entirely. They hold the same characteristics (for a reason) and fights pretty much the same way, but lack the invisibility stuff of their fellow un-corrupted brothers and sisters, and thus solemnly rely on speed and the odd torture. Soul Essence, their own little reagent used for battle can give them an edge at times, but overall it is a gimmick (Like the Sister's Faith) that should not have been included into a game whereas the 7 other races have nothing like it. Aside from this what keeps the Dark Eldar from being plain Eldar (in the game, mind you, I am familiar with the lore) is the darker design, the lack of defensive turrets and a single powerful unit instead of an assortment of pew-pew laser cannons on skimmers.
Sisters of Battle are battle-hardened maidens with lots of fire at their disposal. Eating lead and drinking promethium, they supposedly shit gunpowder and use it all to do good in the name of the Emperor. While they sometimes manage to convince me that their ways are indeed that of badassery, some of the voices are capable of immediately crushing those feelings by reminding me about hung-over and desperate feminists, or just someone who is in terrible need of visiting the loo. Although they stay true to their initial design, the Tyranids would have been a much more viable choice (even more so when it comes to the Dark Eldar). But then again, I wouldn't want Iron Lore to touch the Tyranids at all. Aside from this, the Sisters of Battle give me the impression of being terribly nerfed, their units having an even bigger cannon-fodder role than that of the Guard at times, which in my eyes and ears is terribly wrong.
Air units is also introduced into this game, something I never really liked the thought of from the start, seeing I usually prefer the "Turtle" approach of RTS (Building up defenses, holding untill you´ve got the highest tech avaliable, build an elite army and just steamroll your opponent) and Dawn of War has always been friendly to defensive tactics. Air Units however proved to not be as revolutionary as I had initially feared they would be, seeing anything in the game having a ranged weapon can successfully shoot at them, and they're not really capable of taking a lot of damage either. They may be good for a quick hit-and run at times, but they won't turn the tide of battle, and one could perhaps even say that they're a pretty damn stupid addition that was included to make the fanboys drool over their keyboards while being oblivious to the blasphemies this meant to the series.
Summed up
No matter from what direction or angle you try to look at Soulstorm from, you will not get a product that is even close to being worthy carrying the Dawn of War name, not to mention the Warhammer 40k stamp. 90% of the expactations I had were crushed immediately during my first campaign, and as I gave the game chance upon new chance, skirmishes, difficulty settings, multiplayer and more campaign with different races, I realized that perhaps it was all in vain.
This is not Warhammer 40k, this is an extremely cheap copy of Dark Crusade that has been glued on top of a working franchise. I suggest you stay away from Soulstorm, or just don´t play any of the other Dawn of War games before trying this one out. Perhaps then, thanks to oblivion and the ever-present excellence and foundation of the other games in the series, this can be seen as a half-assed or perhaps even decent stand-alone expansion, and not just a failure of game creation.
I won't forget this, Iron Lore.
For the Allfather!
- Asrahn
I have quite a few points to explain why the game is not like its predecessors. I could simply wrap it up with "I really wanted this game, looked forward to it immensely, thirsted for its new features and everything, and what I got wasn't even git of what they promised", but I'm a bastard with a sense of humor, so I'll have to be more detailed than that.
Size
Dawn of War: Soulstorm's creators Iron Lore took a look at the Dark Crusade map and smirked, vowing to create something so vast that people will shake in their little spaceboots. What we got was 4 planets and 3 moons, which indeed sounds like something in comparison to Dark Crusade's one single planet. This however is where you go a bit more in-debt into the game and actually start criticizing, I started doing so by counting the zones avaliable. Dawn of War: Soulstorm gives us, counting the moons and planets, a total of 31 zones. Dark Crusade had 24 zones, on a single planet. So it does not come as a surprise that one of Soulstorm's greatest flaws when it comes to the campaign is the rediculously small map size. Races have their fortresses strangely close to one another, making it seem more like a feud between neighbours than an actual battlefield. Personally I took out the orcs during my second round (2:nd!), destroying their HQ and punting them from the game. Being capable of attacking an HQ during round two (assuming you win round 1) is a rediculous concept that shows how really small of a god damned game this is.
Additionally, due to the cheer punity of the map, taking over zones does not feel important any more, and you'll actually spend more time murdering the race's respective HQs than it took you to fight your way to it. Wrapped up the map setting only creates a claustrophobic feeling of panic, forcing you to swiftly jump from planet to planet in a craze to cut off your enemies from one another so that they won't annihilate the HQ's of the race closest to them (Assuming you, like me, want to kill them all by yourself). If you're unlucky when playing on the Hard setting, you may end up with half the amount of competitors for Kaurava as early as round 3, if not 2.
Story/Presentation
After seeing the all too obviously polished up in-game models of the intro I chuckled some and a small feeling of uncertainty crept down my spine, "You can't have everything" I thought. As the Commander of the guardsmen in the intro exclaimed "We've got to win this!" I must admit my eyebrows started hovering somewhat. Perhaps the man was delusional, thinking this was a game of football they were playing with the Tau, or a party of chess?
While I was surprised by the vigor and zeal of the Soritas sisters, the intro left me with a feeling of dread that hovered right next to my eyebrows. I shrugged it off and decided on starting a campaign, Normal difficulty. This is where it all began. Excuse me while I rant.
The Sisters of Battle are supposedly sent there to purge every living being in the system, even becoming willing to go up against Space Marines in the process of their zeal, not impossible but extremely far-fetched. The explanation of why the Marines and the Guard would attack one another is pretty much shrugged off and Iron Lore instead mumbles like a drunkard and points into Kronus (The staging of Dark Crusade) general direction, expecting you to understand. Now, fiction in all honor, but I want a bloody good reason for my favorite races to go up against one another. In Dark Crusade they presented a somewhat far-fetched idea as well, Segmentum Command refusing to back down from the might of the Astartes, but this is fully possible and even makes sense. The Imperium might not hold the brightest lanterns on the street, but as far as I'm concerned they're not bound to make the same stupid-ass mistake once again, in the same setting, especially not with so many enemies around. The entire aspect of a warp storm and whatnot is acceptable however, and I'll let that lie.
The cutscenes of the entire game are edgy, terribly lame and utterly fails at bringing any feeling of involvement to the player with characters standing around idly, staring into the open in rigid poses, all too obviously waiting for their next scripted line to be forced through their lips. Units and buildings spawn unmoved on-screen, or not at all, and fighting is spread thin with units and characters running in directions without purpose. A follower of Chaos Undivided, the Alpha Legion's leader, despite wearing a Khorne Chainaxe, is a frickin pansy. Every voice trying to be a soldier, fanatic, commander, wise-ass or whatever just eternally fail at delivering the right setting and feel to the universe. I thanked the gamer-gods as Iron Lore broke up and dissolved after the release, wondering why they had not done so sooner and thus spared the poor Dawn of War series from their wrath, but the Gods of Gaming move in mysterious ways.
On a sidenote, the pre-HQ assault quests reek with desperation and you can almost hear the writer freaking out behind the screen, making up shit as he goes. Even the good voice of the previous games reading the "intros" fail at giving any feeling of anticipation before the actual battles, and if you pay it any heed instead of drinking coffee you'll find yourself rapidly growing more annoyed by the minute. This increases until the only feeling you will have left is the wish to go into combat and beat the living crap out of your enemy and your own units with equal measure. It sadly all just go down the drain. My Chaplain's voice is a bright lantern in the dark that is this expansion.
Balance/New Races/Additions
With Soulstorm comes the brilliance of having discarded every bit of tweaking, patching, and hot-fixing that Relic had done with Dark Crusade and the previous games, throwing the game further back than the stone-age. A pretty good example would be that a fully upgraded Space Marine squad with an Apothecary have the same amount of HP as an Imperial Guard Baneblade, which kind of is supposed to be the single most powerful unit in the game.
Coming to this game are also the Sisters of Battle and the Dark Eldar. You may sum up the two races with extreme simplicity.
Dark Eldar are Eldar, but riddled with Chaos and corruption, having thrown away their old ways entirely. They hold the same characteristics (for a reason) and fights pretty much the same way, but lack the invisibility stuff of their fellow un-corrupted brothers and sisters, and thus solemnly rely on speed and the odd torture. Soul Essence, their own little reagent used for battle can give them an edge at times, but overall it is a gimmick (Like the Sister's Faith) that should not have been included into a game whereas the 7 other races have nothing like it. Aside from this what keeps the Dark Eldar from being plain Eldar (in the game, mind you, I am familiar with the lore) is the darker design, the lack of defensive turrets and a single powerful unit instead of an assortment of pew-pew laser cannons on skimmers.
Sisters of Battle are battle-hardened maidens with lots of fire at their disposal. Eating lead and drinking promethium, they supposedly shit gunpowder and use it all to do good in the name of the Emperor. While they sometimes manage to convince me that their ways are indeed that of badassery, some of the voices are capable of immediately crushing those feelings by reminding me about hung-over and desperate feminists, or just someone who is in terrible need of visiting the loo. Although they stay true to their initial design, the Tyranids would have been a much more viable choice (even more so when it comes to the Dark Eldar). But then again, I wouldn't want Iron Lore to touch the Tyranids at all. Aside from this, the Sisters of Battle give me the impression of being terribly nerfed, their units having an even bigger cannon-fodder role than that of the Guard at times, which in my eyes and ears is terribly wrong.
Air units is also introduced into this game, something I never really liked the thought of from the start, seeing I usually prefer the "Turtle" approach of RTS (Building up defenses, holding untill you´ve got the highest tech avaliable, build an elite army and just steamroll your opponent) and Dawn of War has always been friendly to defensive tactics. Air Units however proved to not be as revolutionary as I had initially feared they would be, seeing anything in the game having a ranged weapon can successfully shoot at them, and they're not really capable of taking a lot of damage either. They may be good for a quick hit-and run at times, but they won't turn the tide of battle, and one could perhaps even say that they're a pretty damn stupid addition that was included to make the fanboys drool over their keyboards while being oblivious to the blasphemies this meant to the series.
Summed up
No matter from what direction or angle you try to look at Soulstorm from, you will not get a product that is even close to being worthy carrying the Dawn of War name, not to mention the Warhammer 40k stamp. 90% of the expactations I had were crushed immediately during my first campaign, and as I gave the game chance upon new chance, skirmishes, difficulty settings, multiplayer and more campaign with different races, I realized that perhaps it was all in vain.
This is not Warhammer 40k, this is an extremely cheap copy of Dark Crusade that has been glued on top of a working franchise. I suggest you stay away from Soulstorm, or just don´t play any of the other Dawn of War games before trying this one out. Perhaps then, thanks to oblivion and the ever-present excellence and foundation of the other games in the series, this can be seen as a half-assed or perhaps even decent stand-alone expansion, and not just a failure of game creation.
I won't forget this, Iron Lore.
For the Allfather!
- Asrahn
