First thing's first, Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop
war-game set on a
tactical/squad level. The miniatures are made from plastic or lead and you
must paint your own army before fielding it
for play. In the Warhammer 40K Universe,
you have an extremely bleak and grim setting. The Imperium of Man,
which
resembles a not-so-holy Roman Empire with a good dose of the Spanish
Inquisition
thrown is, rampages across the galaxy exterminating any perceived
threat under the pretense that it is demonic and heretical. But
this isn't a
review of the tabletop game I have come to love so much.
Warhammer: Fire Warrior is set in that same universe
where it is the 41st
Millennium
and open warfare of an epic magnitude, the likes of which no one
can even
fathom, sweeps across the galaxy where entire planets are scoured
of all life.
To make matters worse you have the forces of Chaos lurking in
Hyper Space,
waiting and trying to get into Real Space where they can use
their
nefarious powers to corrupt all sorts of people. On top of all this
you have Orks
and Eldar and Necrons and Tau armies running around taking shots
at each other and the like. You would think that in such a universe,
the natural
game design choice would be that of a Civilizations type strategy
game or at least an RTS type game along the lines of Empire Earth
or at least
Starcraft. Games Workshop Interactive instead have gone the
route of the
first person shooter and have plopped you down into the four
toed boots of
a Tau warrior named Kais. It is in these boots that you will
endure the
Trial by Fire, lasting a brutal twenty-four hours in the young
Tau Fire
Warrior's introduction to war.
Warhammer: Fire Warrior (herein referred to as WFW)
capitalizes on the
game's
biggest strength: its setting. Games Workshop has about twenty years
of table top
gaming and fiction to draw from in order to create a fully fleshed
out and functioning universe. Any question you have about the
Warhammer
40,000 universe you may find an answer to in any of the numerous
sourcebooks
published on a plethora of topics. Oddly enough, the Tau are a
new addition
to this universe. In any event, the rich background world helps
create a
mythical and edgy game-world for the player. The
gameplay mechanics are straightforward. If you have played an FPS on a
console then
you will find the controls relatively easy to slip into. There
is a wide
variety of weapons but you begin with Tau plasma based weaponry.
There is a
carbine with a grenade launcher and an assault rifle to start off
with. You
begin with grenades and you are equipped with a suit of battle
armor which
also provides you with a shield that regenerates on its own. As
the game
progresses you are able to get into better armor and better weapons
such as
autocannons or lascannons. While the Warhammer arsenal certainly
does not
disappoint, the weapons do seem rather mundane. As with all FPS
games there is
a pattern of weapon types in which WFW adheres to diligently.
Oddly enough,
you are equipped with a katana like sword from the get-go, something
I did not notice on the other Tau warriors, but melee weapons do
figure heavily
into the game. Wait until you cross an Imperial Guard Commissar
wielding a chainsword�
I was bred on the mouse and keyboard format for
FPS games and have always
had
trouble performing well when playing FPS with console pads. In the case
of the
Dualshock 2, WFW performs as adequately as the Dualshock 2's analog
stick will
allow. Minute adjustments are touchy and anything that is above
or below your
immediate plain is difficult to engage, however I did not find
aiming to be
too overbearing as with other FPS games I have played on the
PS2. The
controls are enhanced with a duck and jump function which lead to
some jumping
puzzles. Being able to lean would have been nice. In
terms of graphics and sound, WFW comes up somewhat bland. Early
screenshots of
the game did not look promising to me so my expectations were
low,
especially for low-res PS2 graphics. The textures are muddy and the
lighting
effects are very generic. The models, whether they be the early
Imperial
Guardsmen or Space Marines later on or even the Chaos Marines left
me
disaffected. I am very familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 iconography and
in that
department WFW nails everything down to the bibles next to the
Adeptus
Mechanicus podiums and workstations, however the lack of graphical
flare and low
grade texture work doesn't make any of this dazzling to someone
who is not familiar with the game's universe. The
games sound effects and voice acting are again passable, but not
stellar. There
are some curious accents affected by the actors which fall in
line with the
Samurai flavor that inspires the Tau overall design, but in
the end it
leaves little impact on the experience. Your foes make grumbles
and grunts but
these mutterings are not varied and do not add very much flavor
to the game. Music is only a feature for the menus and so you are
left with the
din of battle as your only soundtrack. Weapons have their usual
clattering and staccato bursts and the explosions reminded me of Half
Life for some
reason.
All in all, WFW is a great game if you are a fan of the
tabletop franchise.
There
are many references to pick up on and the game creators paid very
close
attention to details. You'll see clunky Leman Russ Battletanks lumber
about. Space
Marines address each other as "Brother" or "Brother
Sergeant". The
overt racism of the Imperium of Man is flagrantly displayed in Man's
loathing of
anything alien or heretical. When everything is said and done
the game's
environments and atmosphere match that of the game's origin which
is one of the
game's best strengths. Its weakness is derived from its otherwise
mediocrity. Unless you are a fan of Warhammer 40,000 or a diehard
FPS console
gamer, you will find little to hold your attention. The multiplayer
aspect of the game can only be tapped into if you have a broadband
connection and the possibilities of a WFW online community are
dubious at
best. Right there that cuts off, or rather considerably hems in,
one of the FPS
genre's best gameplay strengths: blasting the snot out of people
you don't know. I
liked WFW, but I admit to my bias. From an objective standpoint, this game
would be a
recommended rental. Its fun for a while, but doesn't exhibit
staying power.
The game designers capitalized on the game's lore, but could've
done better in that department if they had chosen a different race
to focus on.
Granted the Space Marines and Imperial Guard are human-supremists,
they do have some really cool characters to play around with.
The Dark Angels make for a very tragic and compelling band of
warriors. The
Ordo Malleus' Grey Knights are fearsome in their Tactical Dreadnought
Armor as they use their psychic powers to combat demonic hordes.
The
Ultramarines would make for a fun time in their long running battles
with the
hideous Tyranid swarms and Hive Fleets and let us not forget the
temperamental
if not misinterpreted charm of the Ork Warbands. Everybody loves
Orks. In the end, Warhammer: Fire Warrior rates best as a cult
classic. If
you are a fan, check it out, if not then borrow you friend's
copy or give
it a whirl at the rental desk. Who knows, you might discover
its charm as I
did.