You can live without aerial units in solo play, although smart human players online tend to use them a lot for the aforementioned lightning strikes on key map points.Consequently, this stand-alone add-on has a been-there, done-that vibe.
Only the presence of tried-and-true action-packed gameplay, along with the introduction of two new factions and an expanded nonlinear campaign, elevates the proceedings above a feel-good exercise in recycling, and these elements are so similar to those introduced in Dark Crusade that youre guaranteed to have a couple of flashes of deja vu. Guts, gore, and plenty of gunplay are the hallmarks of every campaign mission. ![]() The big additions to the Warhammer 40K family are, once again, two more factions and a nonlinear campaign based on a Risk-style turn-based tactical map. Here, the two new sides are the fanatically religious Sisters of Battle, a group of pissed-off space nuns who take Catholic guilt to a whole new level, and the sadistic Dark Eldar, who chow down on souls for fun. The Sisters are most notable for such downright spooky units as the Penitent Engine, which consists of a heretic strapped to the front of a crucifix bot loaded with flamethrowers, and a faith resource that juices what amounts to battlefield spells. The Dark Eldar are almost as memorable, due to a nifty slave-and-demon thing going on with regard to units, and a new soul-essence resource that powers enemy-blasting combat abilities. But even though these features give the factions plenty of personality--particularly the Sisters, whose Canoness leaders screech loony battle cries like Witchcraft, heresy, and mutation--neither brings much new to the table when it comes to gameplay. If youve already developed solid playing styles for the Imperial Guard or the Orks, you dont have to make too many changes to be effective while fighting as the Sisters or the Dark Eldar. Few surprises are on offer in the campaign structure, either, which is a straight rip of the one in Dark Crusade. The only change here is that your war rages over territories spread between four planets and three moons in the Kaurava system, which gives the campaign more of an intergalactic atmosphere. Regardless, there arent any serious differences between the single-planet campaign in Dark Crusade and the multiplanet one here. ![]() So the only real difference is the turn-based map screen in which you plot out moves, which is an attractive rendition of a solar system instead of simpler planetary terrain. Furthermore, a lot of story seems to have been sacrificed to provide a nonlinear campaign. The flimsy plot deals with a warp storm that draws the interest of the games nine factions to the Kaurava system, setting up a battle royal that plays out more like individual skirmishes than an integrated campaign. You build a base, set up some plasma generators, crank out troops, and then head off to conquer and secure strategic points on the map to boost the requisition resource--over and over. Chances are awfully good that youll lose interest in figuring out the mystery behind the warp storm long before you conquer a couple of planets and start getting some answers. In many ways, a fully scripted campaign would be more intriguing in a game like this. It would probably be a better way to tackle the soap-opera intrigue and craziness of the Warhammer 40K universe. Enemy AI is spectacularly dumb on easy difficulty and a pretty stiff challenge on normal, which makes for a big leap if you start on the bottom rung of the ladder. Aerial units have been added to all factions, including both of the two new ones as well as the seven existing ones, but they dont make any serious impact on gameplay. Combat aircraft just seem to give you a boost in speed, letting you pull off quickie attacks to seize critical strategic points and relics.
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