Command and conquer will most likely continue for years to come as the self-appointed ruler of the real time strategy genre but hot on their heels with quite a number of genre defining titles are Relic. Relic created both Dawn of War and Company of Heroes, two titles that undoubtably reinvigorated the RTS arena.
The latest Dawn of War expansion comes courtesy of Ironlore as Relic begin development on the first official sequel to Dawn of War. This is likely to be the final expansion to the Dawn of War universe after Winter Assault and the Dark Crusade.
As you may know, the Dark Crusade expansion was a huge update to the game with a new campaign mode spanning all races and allowing upgrades to your warboss. Soulstorm builds on this campaign with different planets as opposed to fighting to control a single planet whilst adding new airbourne units for each race and new races in the form of the dark eldar and the sisters of battle.
The previous games have held the distinguished title of being the most solid LAN game of recent times and allow for the most immersive multiplayer experience since C&C: Red Alert. This game adds a few new maps but really doesn't push the core gameplay any further than the Dark Crusade.
The only problem, the Dark Crusade added a lot! Winter Assault acted as a bolster for the first game and Dark Crusade added enough to survive as a stand-alone game. Soulstorm just doesn't reach these heights and it's new races add little that we hadn't seen earlier from a combination of the eldar, space marines or imperial.
Had a new race been used with such difference as the necrons or tau from the previous game the game could've seemed a much more worthwhile development. Had genestealers been added we could've potentially been looking at the expansion pack with awe instead of fatigue.
What is there is solid though, there's no mistake it's another set of levels for an extremely solid game and it's not expected that the refinements of the gameplay gained through Company of Heroes could've dripped into this update though it would've been heavily appreciated.
As a game that still looks good there's no doubt that if you enjoyed the previous games this one'll be on your wishlist but others new to the franchise I'd either get the original cheap and play it's unforgettable campaign or wait just a while before the new fully fledged sequel and hope your computer can run it!
Soulstorm is a fair expansion to the existing game and will suck up a fair amount of time if you persue the lengthy campaigns available. If you're into the multiplayer side of things you'll find an essential buy here on the basis that everyone else in your community is getting in on the action. Any outsiders to the series should really look elsewhere or you'll not find that C&C crown taking monster I mentioned at the beginning of the article.
Verdict:Average
