Z biegiem lat uniwersum Warhammera 40k stało się niezwykle wdzięczną bazą dla wszelakiej maści książek czy gier. W przypadku tego ostatniego setting ten doczekał się naprawdę ciekawej reprezentacji. Strategia czasu rzeczywistego Dawn of War stanowi już niemal kultowy tytuł. Obok niej znajduje się trochę zapomniany, lecz również wart uwagi Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior.
Over the years, the Warhammer 40k universe has become an extremely grateful base for all sorts of books and games. In the case of the latter, this setting has a really interesting representation. Dawn of War real-time strategy is almost a cult title. Next to it is a little forgotten, but also worthy of attention, Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior .
A long time ago, when I was still a carefree teenager, I watched a gaming channel on TV. If I remember correctly, his name was Hyper . I also remember that for every kid fascinated by computer games it was a real treasure of knowledge about games. It was there that I saw Warhammer 40k: Fire Warrior for the first time and, as I played all kinds of shooters at the time, I liked the production of Kuju Entertainment studio (which does not have too ambitious projects). For those times and my teenage Fire Warrior tastes presented interesting, the game with its cosmic shell made a really great impression. Of course, I had no idea that there is a much larger universe behind the title and it is not just an isolated production. Unfortunately, getting Warhammer was a huge problem then, because in my area this game was not known to absolutely anyone. Well, you had to get around the taste and wait for better days. When, after all these years, I had an opportunity to finally play Fire Warrior , I couldn’t deny myself it. Nevertheless, somewhere deep inside, I was afraid that I would be able to enjoy the game in such an old title? We will see.
PEW! PEW! PEW!
It is worth starting with the fact that Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior is a typical FPS of those years, so there is no point in expecting non-linear plot development paths, extensive equipment or moral choices. The production of the Kuju Entertainment studio is a typical shooter in terms of gameplay with first-person view. What does it mean? More or less, stage by stage, we traverse the tunnel levels in which we eliminate the herds of enemies. From time to time you have to go to a button to open a gate or a trapdoor, but basically that’s it. Oh, I would have forgotten – sometimes stronger opponents will jump under the barrel, who may have a key with them. Then we kill, take and go on. That’s it now. Doesn’t look impressive, does it? It’s even worse than bad by today’s standards, but in 2003, when Warhammer 40k: Fire Warrior premiered ,it was basically standard so nothing to complain about. Fortunately, the developers did not try to reinvent the wheel, so in retrospect it was without any major quirks. I admit that even the controls were quite intuitive, which is undeniably a plus.
Trail by fire
But what is it all about and who is our protagonist? Considering the fact that we are in the world of Warhammer 40,000 , the most likely option is a representative of the Empire. Well, not this time, because the producers of the game put us on the other side of the barricade in an endless war. Fire Warriortells the story of a young representative of the Tau race fighting against the Empire. Our protégé goes straight from the training to the middle of the conflict and, on a good day, gets a special task that involves freeing the kidnapped diplomat from the hands of the people. Without further ado, the producers throw us into the trenches, where the corpse is thick and the bullets whistle over our heads. As you can see, it is quite fast, and even though the production has been around for years, you have to be careful not to overpay with a host of enemies. Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior does not have an advanced system of hiding behind obstacles, but it does not mean that we can carelessly run around the battlefield. From time to time you will just have to figure it out a bit. Nevertheless, by playing inFire Warrior, I got really hooked and lost track of time, which I haven’t had in quite a while in games.
Cosmic Gate
Let’s make an agreement – the production from 2003 will not look good nowadays. I will say more, it will not be even the least acceptable. The models are really clunky, and their animations leave a lot to be desired (where that’s a big understatement anyway). The levels are quite interesting, you can see that they are designed with a certain amount of panache, but also feel like a mouse. It is even worse in the case of the sound layer. Low-quality crackles, which were originally supposed to imitate the screams of the fallen, or the sounds of the mechanisms make it clear that Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior is already old and has not aged well.
On the other hand, the over sixteen-year-old game now has a right to some archaisms, which are not the most terrible (sometimes it was worse, for example Parkan II) . It is also worth looking at the production through the prism of others from 2003. Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior is not so bad again. Yes, it may not be the level of Polish Chrome , which in its time was technically dazzling, but there is no tragedy.
You can buy the game at GOG.com
