Reader Reviews

Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (PC)

by Kami

I was so looking forward to running some cool, modern games on my new PC. Fire Warrior seemed a great idea - I parted with Grandia 2 DC for this game. And now, I'm wishing I hadn't...

Obviously, it tries to imitate Halo in many respects - shield recharging and health, for example, and the fact you can only carry the two main firearms. And you'd think, like Halo, this would make for an engaging, strategic element. Wrong. Where Fire Warrior fails is in the core gameplay. And plot - young Tau fire warrior goes on first mission and it all goes very wrong... [Yawn] My brother collects Warhammer and even he can could up with a better plot than that!

The game is extremely linear, and very very claustrophobic. Halo, you had wide open expanses with a compass to guide you around. You don't need that in FW, since the whole game feels like the early days when it was just corridors - you're just being guided around, and where you can't go is conveniently blown up or blocked in some way. So you feel restricted, and at times very bored since there's not a lot of detail or visually stunning areas...

The weapons are very uninspired (even the sniper rifle sucks, and that is usually the high point to a FPS!), and the enemies... Well, the game should have been dubbed "Attack of the clones". No inspiration at all... seems like they couldn't muster any inspiration at all... When you're at war, a little variation would be nice. Instead it's masked soldiers, a few commanders and space marines who look like rejects from some TV talent show.

Online play is dreadful. I'm very disappointed that the game is populated with fools and generally unpleasant people. Mind you, we're talking Warhammer here, so I guess I should have expected that. (Ooh, the Warhammer fans won't like that! Who cares?)

Basically, I'm a little disappointed. The whole concept should work, but linear levels, no quick save (Which at times can really get on your nerves), a really, really dull plot and little variety just rounds up what is a really mediocre game. I'm not a Warhammer fan, and this is hardly going to raise my opinion of those sad people locked in their rooms painting little metal figures and playing with them like they were little dolls. It all seems... bland. Uninspired. Like it wants to be Halo, but just couldn't capture that spark.