Just like the demo, Soulstorm starts with a neat, though extremely short, intro cinematic. Good enough to get in the mood because there's a new war taking place in the Karauva star system and you're invited to joing the (big) party.

Whereas the two previous DoW addons each introduced a new campaign style, Soulstorm firmly sticks with the Dark Crusade (DC) approach. That means a turn-based campaign map filled with a whole bunch of skirmish 'missions' in which you need to destroy one or two enemy bases or capture and hold strategic points for a certain time, and some special missions which are always the other races' strongholds. The battles are now spread across a whole star system (Karauva) instead of a single planet but that doesn't change anything to the formula except for more varied paths to attack certain regions.

I'd even say the campaign in general lost some of the finer details of Dark Crusade, at least if nothing will be changed in the final version that is. Buildings you have made during a won battle on a campaign map will now be gone if you have to defend the same map in a next turn, something that makes defending your expanding empire an even more cumbersome task. The DC campaign map also had the odd area with a special bonus from time to time which you had to conquer in a proper RTS mission with unique goals, in Soulstorm these regions have merely become regular skirmish assignments. And even the sparse story elements have been toned down as opposing factional heroes won't taunt(/talk to) each other at the start of a stronghold mission. It's as if the increase in scope (several planets to conquer, nine races competing with each other) has urged the Iron Lore/Relic/THQ trio to trim certain aspects.

Still present in this singleplayer part though is a vast array of Wargear upgrades for your main hero. It's always pretty cool to see him/her in-game with all those attributes. Also back are the delightfully exaggerating narrator for the stronghold mission (de-)briefings and, a bit less enjoyable, the Honor Guards, who once again take some challenge away in the skirmish missions since these extra troops don't count to your population limit. So, as expected you'll definitely love this if Dark Crusade was your cup of tea but for others it will probably be too one-dimensional after a while nor do I see many folks willing to invest time to play with all nine races through the whole campaign.

Offering something else than a linear storyline is interesting because you can carve your own path to victory but in the end it's only a choice of who you're gonna eliminate first. There are no intrigues, big events or temporary alliances, it's just one big deathmatch with nine players. Of course, this is Warhammer 40.000 so it shouldn't be about peace but seeing how the writers have twisted themselves in all possible ways to make the Imperial factions (Space Marines, Imperial Guard and Sisters of Battle) fight amongst each other for example is a ridiculous sight. I think the lore and the game deserve more than this simplistic approach. Fighting for the billionth time on the same skirmish map can become pretty tedious as well.

It's not all bad news because after a while you know again why Dawn of War and its offspring were such good RTS games. What a joy it still remains to play around with the mini-factory squads, hearing the screams of battle, getting all those upgrades and seeing some of the best and most bloody unit animations in the genre. Even though Company of Heroes and other recent RTS's have upped the ante with physics and more detailed graphics, a game like Soulstorm still holds its ground pretty well because of the superb and colourful setting.

This really shows through what has always been the best thing about this franchise; the races themselves. In addition to the old stuff (Space Marines, Chaos Marines, Orkz, Eldar, Imperial Guard, Tau, Necron) there are now two new factions, Sisters of Battle and Dark Eldar. They don't exactly look as exotic as the Necron and the Tau from the Dark Crusade expansion but they are both a fine addition to the expansive gamma of playable races and if anything the two biggest reasons to consider a purchase of Soulstorm.

Dawn of War, Winter Assault and Dark Crusade were mostly men's games. You had the Farseer, Harlequin, the Banshee and Fire Dragon squads of the Eldar race and that was about it for the female presence in the DoW universe. The developers clearly wanted to change that since they are introducing an excellent "women power!" faction with the Sisters of Battle (SoB). These girls strap themselves onto terrifying machines (Penitent Engine), call out vengeful angels and have a true love for cleansing fire. This fanatical 'battle nun' society does have a few male units in their ranks with the Confessor hero and the Missionary sidekick for squads. Especially the Missionary can improve a SoB infantry squad in a big way through a devastating ability like Emperor's Touch (for a short time all nearby infantry shoot holy flames). For such a power there is a cost though, namely Faith, a unique resource for the SoB which they can accumulate by putting up a standard on their Listening Posts.

The Dark Eldar (DE) then are cruel slavedrivers which prefer their enemies to die a slow and painful death. These guys rightfully have a space pirate feeling to them, the fear that they wouldn't be different enough from the equally sadistic Chaos Marines or the normal Eldar in looks and/or playstyle should be dismissed, they really have their place on the DoW battlefield. The DE main hero, the Archon, looks like a mix of Highlander's Kurgan and Louis XIV, he also has a great sadistic yet somehow civilised voice that fits him perfectly. The Archon starts out relatively weak with only a small maximum retinue of Incubus personal guards but as the game goes on he'll be able to get more guards and abilities that allow him to let enemy infantry fight amongst each other.

Dark Eldar also need to consume souls for their unique general special abilities (which you can activate on top of the regular interface) like the damaging Soulstorm. Every corpse in the game now has a purple glow to it ("Soul Essence") so it can be harvested by engineers -euh, I should say 'Tortured Slaves' of course- or the Talos vehicle. Talking about vehicles, DE specialise in fast-attack craft as you can even put DE infantry on a Raider from which they can fire their own weapons. Further up the tech tree there is the Dais of Destruction, a magnificent unit with clothless female slaves, thundering cannons, a protective energy shield for nearby units and an ultimate scythe-like attack that surely wins the award of greatest new graphical effect in Soulstorm.

So, we have two new, great races to play with, do the older races get something as well? Yup but it's not as shocking as you might expect. 'Air units' sounds cool and you definitely shouldn't underestimate their power in Soulstorm but they don't feel like a proper fit for the game engine. These planes clearly make some odd trajectories if they have to fly over very high ground (sometimes they can't even fire then). Each race receives a single air unit and while their roles are different with each faction, it's not as memorable as some of the new units that were in the previous DoW addons. If you're a Necron you'll be in for a disappointment since they didn't even get a new unit (Scarabs have just been transformed to have an anti-air role).