RTS gamers repent! Soulstorm is here!

Game: Dawn of War Soulstorm
Platform : PC
Publisher : THQ
Age Rating : 16+

Yes ladies and gents, the latest expansion to the 2004 hit game, Dawn of War developed by company Relic has teamed up with Iron Lore to release yet another anticipated expansion to the series. Like the previous title - Dark Crusade - Soulstorm can be used as a stand-alone expansion.

The game is set in the Kauriva system, a set of planets in deep space where all of the 9 armies duke it out to become the ultimate ruler of the Kauriva system.

The two major updates this has the the series have got to be the two new races - the Sisters of Battle (fanatical loyalists to their Emperor) and the Dark Eldar (as I like to call them the "Space Gimps" - they aren't bad, I just like to poke fun at them :) ). The other is the addition of Air units for every race adapting to each style of play the armies adopt.

But despite the praise I may give it, there are a few issues. Firstly, the Campaign doesn't differ much from Dark Crusade where you have turn-based movement phases when attacking parts of the system but on a slightly larger scale than DC. Also it needs at least 512MB RAM which is double the RAM needed to run the last version and if you have a med-low spec PC - like mine! - you may experience loading issues.

To summarise, it may be a more updated take on Dark Crusade and may take up a bit more system resources, but having more armies and hardware to play with is rather satisfying for online gamers or those that like to play Skirmishes against AI players - like me! Also the game itself is worth around £20 GBP, which is not much to grumble about.

Whether you are an newbie wanting to buy into RTS games or a seasoned DOW veteran, this game will not disappoint!

Score : 8/10

PS: RIP Iron Lore! Unfortunately, shortly after this game was developed, Iron Lore Entertainment on 19 Feb 2008 went out of business due to money shortages. LINK

Oh no We're running around Creedless!!

Platform - X360, PS3
Developer - Ubi Soft
Rating - 15 (UK)

The year 2007 has been a good year for gaming titles and one of the anticipated launches was Assassins Creed. The game is all about infamous assassin Altair where you have to - no surprise - assassinate key figures in the year 1191 during the 3rd Crusade.

Good points

* Intersting plotline
* Mini cutscenes when assassinis great fun
* AI is reactive to your movements, behaviour in the streets

Bad points

* Combat/assassinations can be repetitive at times
* Gaining intelligence on targets involves the same process

Overall, I found it rather good and you could be playing it for a good few hours, but I feel that intelligence gaining activities and combat is a tad repetitive. But if you're the one that is into cutscenes relative to Tenchu, the agility of Prince of Persia and the fact you can climb on to almost every structural crevice, this game will do you just fine.

Score: 8/10

welcome all

Hello everyone. Welcome to the Blogger version of Russky's Game Zone.

I have been playing Video games for way over 10 years and have gained a good amount of experience from it.

Fairly recently, I have developed a passion for writing about them and the idea of posting it on a website came about.

This may take some time as I am in the process of making drafts to put on this site so if I take some time before posting something else, it's either I am either too tired /lazy or can't think of anything decent to come up with.