March hits the ground running with a week packed with solid releases.
 Pick of the Week: Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War: SoulstormReal-Time Strategy | PC You shouldn’t just buy Soulstorm as a memorial to the recently deceased Iron Lore Entertainment (though, admittedly, that’s a pretty good reason). No, you should buy Soulstorm because it promises to be the best Dawn of War stand alone expansion yet, and given the quality of Dark Crusade, that’s really saying something. Like Dark Crusade, Soulstorm brings with it a non-linear single player campaign, two new playable races (The Dark Eldar and Sisters of Battle), and a new unit for all seven of the game’s already existing races. That’s right, Soulstorm brings Dawn of War’s playable roster up to nine completely unique races. Best RTS since Starcraft? You better believe it. |
 Runner-Up: Army of TwoThird-Person Shooter | 360, PS3 Army of Two’s come a long way; looks like the delay into ’08 has done it good. As is often the case these days, players take control of an army operative in an nondescript Middle Eastern country. However, this time around you’ll have a buddy at your side from start to finish. Offline, the game’s AI will pick up the slack and take control of your partner-in-war, but you can also jump online and play through the entire game cooperatively with a friend. We love cooperating. Army of Two also features some needlessly in-depth weapon customization and fully-destructable environments, according to this press release here. |
Hit the jump for the rest of the week’s multiplayer offerings.
Also available this week:
 Major League Baseball 2K8Baseball | 360, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, PC Ah, America’s favorite pastime: The smell of the freshly cut grass, the crack of the bat, the yearly roster updates and bug fixes. This is simple, really; Major League Baseball 2K8 is slightly better than Major League Baseball 2K7 but slightly worse than next year’s Major League Baseball 2K9. Adjust your spending habits accordingly. |
 MLB 08: The ShowBaseball | PS2, PS3, PSP Packed with more baseball-related features than a single game ought to have, MLB 08: The Show is the perfect alternative to baseball fans that don’t like buying games with a “K” in the title. |
 Ninja ReflexMinigame Collection | Wii, DS Ninja Reflex is EA’s minigame collection for the hardcore gamer. What that means, exactly, is unclear to everyone but EA. Like the million or so other minigame collections on the Wii, the game offers too few shallow minigames at too high a price. In short, this thing’ll sell a million copies just like all the others. |
 StrangerReal-Time Strategy | PC Mixing the RTS and RPG gameplay in a high fantasy setting is nothing new (see: Warcraft 3, Warlords: Battlecry, all those Lord of the Rings games), but it’s never quite looked this pretty. Sure, sure, it looks nice, but is it fun to play? I don’t know. My job’s to be sarcastic and dismissive, not to actually play any of these games. Good thing there’s a demo to answer that all-important question for you, eh? |
 Tom Clancy’s ChroniclesTactical Action Compilation | PC In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t noticed Tom Clancy’s name popping up in front a dozen different video games, this refresher course includes the original Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon as well as Rainbox Six 3: Raven Shield. It’s hard to say exactly who this box is for though. Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell are nearly six years old; that’s ancient by video game standards. So, if you’ve lost that CD to those old Tom Clancy games you never play anymore, clearly this is the package for you. |
